Traditionalism is what?

Traditionalism is quite a rare concept, and not everyone knows its significance. But, in spite of this, every person on the planet depends on him. It played a big role in the political development of his country, in shaping the way of life and still had a lot to influence. But what is traditionalism and how did it affect the modern world?

Definition of traditionalism

Traditionalism is a philosophical and religious movement that arose in the twentieth century. Its founders are Renee 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 principles.

Basic principles of traditionalism

Traditionalism has several principles to which followers of this movement strictly follow.

1. The essence of traditionalism is that all traditions and religions of the world have a common root, that is, they have the same origin and principle. It is possible to comprehend this principle only in the traditional way, namely, by transferring knowledge from one generation to another. This is called tradition.
2. Philosophy and religion occupy the 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 in accordance with God's plan.
3. Traditionalists oppose modernization, based on the fact that modern society does not at all respect traditions and does not know their origin. Customs became a habit and a natural order of things, which fundamentally contradicts the philosophy of traditionalism.

What is the feature of integral traditionalism

In addition to traditional 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 he believes in the integral part of all world religions. That is, each religion has a common tradition that was lost in the course of human development. Traditionalism is not a religion, but rather a philosophy of life or a worldview. According to which, tradition is a model of behavior compiled by ancient ancestors, which is truly correct. But in the course of modernization the model was lost, and now the traditions began to be forgotten and, consequently, the ancient wisdom too.

Traditionalism in music and the visual arts

Traditionalism in culture plays a role. It is characterized by artistic genres, which are the opposites of postmodernism and avant-gardism. Traditionalism opposes modern trends in art. Especially those who abandon the rules and rules when writing a picture. For example: surrealism, expressionism, futurism.

Adherents of traditionalism prefer directions from past centuries, in which the norms of transfer of reality on canvas, that is, the real proportions of objects, the color scale similar to the natural one that occurs in real life, are preserved. For example, if the artist draws a cat, then this should be seen from the figure. A cat can not be green, blue or blotchy. The traditionalist types of art include romanticism and classicism. And also relatively modern types of fine arts, such as modernism and impressionism. They are included in the list of traditional directions.

But contrary to the behests of traditionalism, the classic and the avant-garde sometimes overlap. There were such directions as metaphysical painting, magic realism, postmodernism and varieties. To the artists, who worked in the avant-garde-classical style, refers to Picasso. In 1920, he tried to combine two opposing styles in his paintings, and he did it. He was included in the list of the greatest artists of the world.

Music preferences have also changed. At present, people have practically abandoned the works of Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and other great composers. Now most preferable are such musical directions as 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 today's world there has been a complete rejection of values and traditions. That religions, norms of behavior and long-standing customs no longer exist. The thread from the traditions handed down from generation to generation was interrupted. But is it really so? Modern philosophers disagree with this and believe that the traditions have simply changed, but have not disappeared.

If we consider modern traditionalism on the example of religion, we can see that in essence nothing has changed. Traditionalists claim that religion is no more. In fact, it is. Simply, 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. In America there are Sunday schools. 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 baptized do it themselves, at a more adult age. From all of the above, it can be concluded that people did not cease to believe in God, but simply stopped regularly visiting the church.

How Modernization Affected Russian Traditionalism

Traditionalism and modernization had a huge impact on the existence of progress all over the world, in particular in Europe and in Russia. But it happened in different ways. The reason for this was the difference in the ideology, traditions, religion of Europeans and Russians.

The norm of Russian traditionalism was that if a person is rich, then evil, stupid and disliked 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 rid themselves of 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, and the newest equipment for processing fields. This could not but affect the country's economy. This is how modernization began in Russia. But unlike the European, Russian priests did not teach people development, self-development and did not motivate to work, which will bear fruit. In the end, the poor man remained the ideal, which will necessarily be taken to heaven.

The Influence of Modernization on Traditionalism in Europe

In Europe, traditionalism and modernization were not separable from each other. Europe followed a religion such as Protestantism (a kind of Christianity). The church taught a person that, whether he falls into heaven or not, is determined even during life. Therefore, people tried to work hard, develop, earn a lot of money. If a person achieved success in life, then the attitude of people to him immediately changed for the better. A rich man was considered worthy of paradise. And because the opinion of others was always very important, the population worked tirelessly. And consequently it developed, and so the states did not stand still. So industrial progress and the bourgeoisie came to Europe. They changed traditions and destroyed traditionalism.

It can be concluded that religion taught the Europeans to work, thereby creating a tradition: to be enterprising and rich. In Russia, despite the arrival of modernization, the traditions have not changed.

Traditionalism and its emergence in Russia

Traditionalism in Russia appeared more than twenty years ago. When the works of the founders of the philosophy of traditionalism began to translate into Russian. But the first conference devoted to traditionalism was held not so long ago, in autumn 2011. It was a major congress of adherents of this philosophy. There were both Russian thinkers and guests from Europe.

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 were actively interested in this philosophy. Her followers were students, graduate students, scientists and many more talented people. They not only could understand one of the most complex movements in philosophy, but also they were imbued with the idea.

Concepts of traditionalism and conservatism. Than they are 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, then 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 acceptance and preservation of the best traditions.

Traditionalism is the doctrine of the transfer of traditions from generation to generation.

The confusion between these two concepts is due to the fact that they are both fighting for the preservation and transmission of traditions, but in different ways. Conservatism presupposes the preservation of only the most viable traditions that will fit easily into the modern world. For traditionalism it is unusual to divide into bad and good traditions. They are all holy and can not be lost. This attitude towards traditions has caused conflict and rivalry between these philosophical teachings.

Traditionalism in Political Culture

Traditions are the basis of human society. They set norms of behavior, values, knowledge, formed during many centuries of existence of the state. They tell people how to act in a certain situation. We can say that behavioral stereotypes are formed from traditions, which are passed on 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 the adequate interaction of government and population.

Political traditions are defined as a type of thinking based on the preservation of values, norms and traditions in the politics of a particular state.

Traditionalistic 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 method. With the help of political traditions, a model was created, a pattern of behavior that citizens of the country relied on on a daily basis.

Russian traditionalism existed for many centuries, despite the fact that the notion of traditionalism appeared only in the 70's. XX century. Thanks to him, a certain type of political culture was created, for which there is a lack of self-awareness of oneself as a citizen of the country, a lack of desire to exercise one's rights and, in the event of their being on the ruin, to fight for them. Another tradition is that the interests of government bodies are more important for citizens than for 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, there is a slowdown 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, it will be necessary to update traditions, replace old stereotypes with new cultural norms. For example:

• Development of civic consciousness.
• The change in the model of behavior and attitude of citizens towards the authorities.
• The fundamentals of the rule of law are binding.
• The title of a democratic state must be confirmed.

This is only a small part of the list of what Russia needs to fully develop and raise competitiveness in relation to Western countries.

At the end of the article, we can conclude that traditionalism has had a great impact on the development of countries. For some, it was useful, but for others it was not. But he helped to form cultural values, moral norms, stereotypes of thinking, behavior patterns. Thanks to him, man has become as he is now.