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 large role in the political development of his country, in shaping the way of life, and much more that influenced. But what is traditionalism and how has it influenced the modern world?
Definition of Traditionalism
Traditionalism is a philosophical and religious movement that arose in the 20th century. Its founders are Rene Guenon, 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.
The basic principles of traditionalism
Traditionalism has several principles that 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 common origin and principle. This principle can only be understood in the traditional way, namely, through the transfer of knowledge from one generation to another. This is called tradition.
- Philosophy and religion occupy first place in building the state system and governing the people. Traditions must be in everything and must be respected by citizens. Since all the customs were created in accordance with 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 turned into a habit and a natural order of things, which radically contradicts the philosophy of traditionalism.
What is the feature of integral traditionalism
In addition to conventional traditionalism, there is such a thing as integral traditionalism. It denotes a philosophical and religious movement that is an opponent of innovation and change in society. He also believes in the integral part of all world religions. That is, each religion has a common tradition that was lost during the development of mankind. Traditionalism is not a religion, but rather a philosophy of life or a worldview. According to which, tradition is a behavior model compiled by ancient ancestors that is truly correct. But during the modernization, the model was lost, and now the traditions began to be forgotten and, therefore, ancient wisdom too.
Traditionalism in music and art
Traditionalism in culture plays a role. It is characterized by artistic genres, which are the opposites of postmodernism and avant-garde. Traditionalism opposes modern trends in art. Especially those who refuse the rules and regulations when painting. For example: surrealism, expressionism, futurism.
Adherents of traditionalism prefer directions from past centuries in which the norms for transmitting reality on canvas are 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 paints a cat, then this should be visible in the drawing. A cat cannot be green, blue, or blotchy. Traditionalist forms of art include romanticism and classicism. As well as relatively modern types of fine art, such as modernism and impressionism. They are included in the list of traditional destinations.
But contrary to the precepts of traditionalism, classic and avant-garde sometimes intersect. Directions appeared such as metaphysical painting, magical realism, postmodernism and varieties. The artists who worked in the avant-garde classic style include Picasso. In 1920, he tried to combine two opposing styles in his paintings, and he succeeded. He entered the list of the greatest artists of the world.
Musical preferences have also changed. Currently, people have practically abandoned the works of Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and other great composers. Now the most preferred musical directions are rock, pop, hip-hop and others.
The opinion of modern traditionalists about the modern world. Is it fair?
Adherents of this philosophical trend argue that in the modern world there has been a complete rejection of values and traditions. That religion, codes of conduct, and long-standing customs no longer exist. The thread from tradition passed down from generation to generation has been interrupted. But is it really so? Modern philosophers disagree with this and believe that traditions simply changed, but did not disappear.
If we consider modern traditionalism as an example of religion, we can see that in essence nothing has changed. Traditionalists claim that religion no longer exists. In fact, she is. Just many stopped attending church. Most of them have objective reasons for this, for example, 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 total population, 90% baptize their children. Those who have not been christened do it on their own, in an older age. From the foregoing, we can conclude that people did not stop 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 in 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 that if a person is rich, then he is evil, stupid and objectionable to God. The poor man is kind, honest and worthy of paradise. Wealth 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 vast territories. And with them the latest field processing equipment. This could not but affect the country's economy. So began the modernization in Russia. But unlike in Europe, Russian priests did not teach people development, self-development and did not motivate them to work that would bear fruit. In the end, the poor man remained an ideal that he would certainly be accepted into heaven.
The impact of modernization on traditionalism in Europe
In Europe, traditionalism and modernization were not separable. Europe followed a religion such as Protestantism (a kind of Christianity). The church taught man 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 in life, then the attitude of people towards him immediately changed for the better. A rich man was considered worthy of paradise. And since the opinion of others was always very important, the population worked tirelessly. And consequently developed, and therefore, the state did not stand still. So industrial progress and the bourgeoisie came to Europe. It was they who changed traditions and destroyed traditionalism.
It can be concluded that religion taught Europeans to work, thereby creating a tradition: to be entrepreneurial and wealthy. 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 devoted to traditionalism was held 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. Its adherents were students, graduate students, scientists and many more talented people. They were not only able to understand one of the most complex movements in philosophy, but also 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 thing. In fact, these two concepts are very different. But since many do not see the difference, the meaning of both concepts suffers. Confusion occurs, the words are not used in accordance with their meaning. What do they really mean?
Conservatism is the adoption and preservation of the best traditions.
Traditionalism is the doctrine of the transmission of traditions from generation to generation.
The confusion between these two concepts is due to the fact that they both fight for the preservation and transmission of traditions, but in different ways. Conservatism presupposes 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 not typical. They are all holy and cannot be lost. This attitude to traditions caused a conflict and rivalry between these philosophical teachings.
Traditionalism in Political Culture
Tradition is the foundation of human society. They establish the norms of behavior, life values, knowledge that have been formed over the centuries of the existence of the state. They tell people what to do in a particular situation. It can be said that behavioral stereotypes are formed from traditions that are passed down from generation to generation.
Traditionalism also includes political traditions. They unite in themselves ideas, attitudes, principles that allow state power to function and help manage the people. Political traditions normalize the behavior of citizens in society, help adequate interaction between government 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 a very important element. It is considered one of the main factors that allow the state to maintain its authority, bureaucracy and preserve the management methodology. With the help of political traditions, a model was created, a model of behavior on which 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 a lack of self-awareness as a citizen of the country, a lack of desire to use their rights and, if violated, to fight for them. Another tradition is that for citizens, the interests of the authorities are more important than their own.
Due to the fact that traditionalism has become an undeniable norm for Russians, and the political traditions that have developed over the centuries are an integral part of life, there is an inhibition in the development of the state. 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, the updating of traditions and the replacement of old stereotypes with new cultural norms will be required. For instance:
- The development of civic identity.
- Changing the layout of behavior and attitudes of citizens to the authorities.
- The foundations of the rule of law are binding.
- The title of a democratic state must be affirmed.
This is only a small part of the list of what Russia needs in order to fully develop and increase competitiveness in relation to Western countries.
At the end of the article, we can conclude that traditionalism had a great influence on the development of countries. For some, it was useful, but for others it was not very. But he helped shape cultural values, moral standards, stereotypes of thinking, patterns of behavior. Thanks to him, man has become what he is now.