Traditionalism is a rather rare concept, and not everyone knows its meaning. But, despite this, every person on the planet depends on it. It played a big role in the political development of his country, in shaping the way of life and many other things. But what is traditionalism and how has it affected the modern world?
Defining traditionalism
Traditionalism is a philosophical and religious movement that emerged in the 20th century. Its founders are Rene Guénon, Julius Evola, Titus Burkhard and others.
Contrary to popular belief, traditionalism is not a full-fledged religion, but a worldview, a philosophy that has its own principles.
Basic principles of traditionalism
Traditionalism has several principles that the followers of this movement strictly follow.
- The essence of traditionalism is that all the traditions and religions of the world have a common root, that is, they have a single origin and principle. This principle can be comprehended only in the traditional way, namely, by transferring knowledge from one generation to another. This is called tradition.
- Philosophy and religion take first place in the construction of the state system and the management of the people. Traditions must be in everything and must be respected by citizens. Since all customs were created according to God's plan.
- Traditionalists oppose modernization, based on the fact that modern society does not honor traditions at all and does not know their origin. Customs have become a habit and the natural order of things, which is fundamentally contrary to the philosophy of traditionalism.
What is the feature of integral traditionalism
Besides ordinary traditionalism, there is such a thing as integral traditionalism. It denotes a philosophical and religious movement that is opposed to innovation and change in the life of society. And also believes in an integral part of all world religions. That is, each religion has a common tradition that has been lost in the course of human development. Traditionalism is not a religion, but rather a philosophy of life or worldview. According to which, tradition is a model of behavior compiled by ancient ancestors, which is truly correct. But during the modernization, the model was lost, and now the traditions have begun to be forgotten and, consequently, the ancient wisdom too.
Traditionalism in music and visual arts
Traditionalism plays a role in culture. It is characterized by artistic genres that are opposites of postmodernism and avant-garde. Traditionalism opposes modern trends in art. Especially those who refuse the normsand rules for painting. For example: surrealism, expressionism, futurism.
Followers of traditionalism prefer directions from past centuries, in which the norms for conveying reality on canvas have been preserved, that is, the real proportions of objects, the color scheme is similar to the natural one found in real life. For example, if an artist draws a cat, then this should be visible in the drawing. A cat cannot be green, blue, or blotchy. Traditionalist art forms include Romanticism and Classicism. As well as relatively modern types of fine arts, such as modernism and impressionism. They entered the list of traditional destinations.
But contrary to the precepts of traditionalism, classic and avant-garde sometimes intersect. There were such directions as metaphysical painting, magical realism, postmodernism and varieties. The artists who worked in the avant-garde classical style include Picasso. In 1920, he tried to combine two opposing styles in his paintings, and he succeeded. He entered the list of the world's greatest artists.
Music preferences have also changed. At present, people have practically abandoned the works of Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and other great composers. Now the most preferred music styles are rock, pop, hip-hop and others.
The opinion of modern traditionalists about the modern world. Is it fair?
Adherents of thisphilosophical direction argue that in the modern world there has been a complete rejection of values and traditions. That religion, norms of behavior and long-standing customs no longer exist. The thread of traditions passed down from generation to generation has been broken. But is it really so? Modern philosophers do not agree with this and believe that traditions have simply changed, but not disappeared.
If we consider modern traditionalism on the example of religion, we can see that in essence nothing has changed. Traditionalists say that there is no more religion. In fact, she is. Many simply stopped going to church. Most of them have objective reasons for this, such as work. But, nevertheless, many are very religious, and going to church on Sundays is an integral part of their life. There are Sunday schools in America. In Russia, the subject of religious studies was introduced into the school curriculum. Of the entire population, 90% baptize their children. Those who have not been christened do so on their own, at an older age. From the above, we can conclude that people have not stopped believing in God, but simply stopped attending church regularly.
How modernization influenced Russian traditionalism
Traditionalism and modernization have had a huge impact on the existence of progress throughout the world, in particular in Europe and Russia. But it happened in different ways. The reason for this was the difference in ideology, traditions, religion of Europeans and Russians.
The norm of Russian traditionalism was consideredthat if a person is rich, it means that he is evil, stupid and objectionable to God. A poor person is kind, honest and worthy of heaven. We alth has become synonymous with sin. And even the rich themselves thought so. To save themselves from a terrible fate, they distributed land, money, property to poor peasants and churches.
Thanks to this, the church began to grow rich. She had money and huge territories. And with them the latest equipment for processing fields. This could not but affect the economy of the country. Thus began modernization in Russia. But unlike European ones, Russian priests did not teach people development, self-development, and did not motivate them to work that would bear fruit. After all, the poor man remained an ideal to be accepted into heaven.
The impact of modernization on traditionalism in Europe
In Europe, traditionalism and modernization were inseparable from each other. Europe followed such a religion as Protestantism (a type of Christianity). The Church taught a person that whether he goes to heaven or not is determined during his lifetime. Therefore, people tried to work hard, develop, earn a lot of money. If a person achieved success during his lifetime, then the attitude of people towards him immediately changed for the better. A rich man was considered worthy of heaven. And since the opinion of others has always been very important, the population worked tirelessly. And consequently, it developed, which means that the states did not stand still. This is how industrial progress and the bourgeoisie came to Europe. It was they who changed traditions and destroyed traditionalism.
Can dothe conclusion is that religion taught Europeans to work, thereby creating a tradition: to be enterprising and rich. In Russia, despite the advent of modernization, traditions have not changed.
Traditionalism and its appearance in Russia
Traditionalism in Russia appeared more than twenty years ago. When the works of the founders of the philosophy of traditionalism began to be translated into Russian. But the first conference dedicated to traditionalism took place not so long ago, in the fall of 2011. It was a major congress of adherents of this philosophy. Both Russian thinkers and guests from Europe were present.
During the congress, guests from the West noted an interesting thing for themselves. Despite the fact that traditionalism appeared in Russia relatively recently, its citizens are actively interested in this philosophy. Students, graduate students, scientists and many more talented people became its adherents. They were not only able to understand one of the most difficult movements in philosophy, but also got inspired by the idea.
The concepts of traditionalism and conservatism. How are they different
Quite often people make the mistake of believing that traditionalism and conservatism are one and the same. In fact, these two concepts are very different. But since many do not see the difference, the meaning of both concepts suffers. There is confusion, words are used not in accordance with their meaning. What do they really mean?
Conservatism is the adoption and preservation of the best traditions.
Traditionalism is the doctrine ofpassing on traditions from generation to generation.
The confusion between the two stems from the fact that they both struggle to preserve and pass on traditions, but in different ways. Conservatism involves the preservation of only the most viable traditions that will easily fit into the modern world. For traditionalism, the division into bad and good traditions is unusual. They are all holy and cannot be lost. This attitude towards traditions has caused conflict and rivalry between these philosophical teachings.
Traditionalism in political culture
Traditions are the foundation of human society. They establish norms of behavior, life values, knowledge that have been formed over many centuries of the existence of the state. They tell people what to do in a certain situation. We can say that behavioral stereotypes are formed from traditions, which are passed down from generation to generation.
Traditionalism also includes political traditions. It is they who combine the ideas, attitudes, principles that allow the state power to function and help to manage the people. Political traditions normalize the behavior of citizens in society, help adequate interaction between authorities and the population.
Political traditions are defined as a type of thinking based on the preservation of values, norms and traditions in the politics of a state.
Traditionalist political culture in Russia
In Russia, political traditionalism is very importantelement. It is considered one of the main factors that allow the state to maintain its authority, bureaucracy and maintain a management methodology. With the help of political traditions, a model was created, a pattern of behavior on which the citizens of the country rely on a daily basis.
Russian traditionalism has existed for many centuries, despite the fact that the concept of traditionalism appeared only in the 70s. XX century. Thanks to him, a certain type of political culture was created, which is characterized by the lack of self-awareness of oneself as a citizen of the country, the lack of desire to use one's rights and, in case of their violation, to fight for them. Another tradition is that citizens prioritize the interests of the authorities than their own.
Due to the fact that traditionalism has become an indisputable norm for Russians, and political traditions that have developed over the centuries are an integral part of life, the development of the state is slowing down. Political scientists and sociologists have recorded the fact that Russia is developing several times slower than Europe or America. To accelerate the pace of development, it will be necessary to update traditions, replace old stereotypes with new cultural norms. For example:
- Development of civic consciousness.
- Changing the pattern of behavior and attitudes of citizens towards authorities.
- The fundamentals of the rule of law must be observed.
- The title of a democratic state must be confirmed.
This is only a small part of the list of what Russia needs for the full development and upliftcompetitiveness with respect to Western countries.
At the end of the article, we can conclude that traditionalism has had a great influence on the development of countries. For some it was helpful, for others not so much. But he helped to form cultural values, moral norms, stereotypes of thinking, patterns of behavior. Thanks to him, a person has become what he is now.