The Universe Concept in Kate Silverton's Work “There's no Such thing as Naughty” in the Context of Problems of Semiotics of Culture

Abstract

The article is devoted to concept «cosmos» in the worldview of a modern scientist examined at the example of «There's no such thing as “naughty”» by Kate Silverton. The book is considered in the background of cultural contexts and problems of intercultural communication. The study is based on the works of O. Spengler, Levi-Strauss, R. Barthes, M. Lotman, A. F. Losev and others. Based on the achievements of these scientists, researchers use the. Methodological: Principles of the semiotic approach to the study of culture. The study is based on methods of description, interpretation, questioning, correlation of the concept "universe" with the rhetoric of actions. The connecting link of the modern semiotics of culture and the tradition of medieval realists and nominalists is noted. The authors raise an issue of semiotic translation of the text inscribed in the structure of culture, which is perceived as a system not so much of texts as of actions, with their rhetoric and axiology. On this scientific basis, the researchers. Aim: To indicate the place of the concept "universe" in contemporary culture.  This concept can be tested by referring to scientific papers and factual material cited in this work. The concept "universe" remains unstudied in the context of semiotics problems. Thus, the article has some. Novelty: The novelty of the research is based on the systematization of already existing the universe concepts. The authors of the study develop the tradition and strive to supplement it with new, strictly substantiated conclusions. As a result, the researchers. Conclude that there is an archetypal connection between representations of the universe, the Heavenly Father and the earthly. The concept "universe" is in direct interaction with the concept "personality". Based on the works by A. Losev, researchers point out that ancient man correlated himself with the cosmos and comprehended his personal existence through the cosmos. For the Middle Ages, the antithesis of the impersonal cosmic darkness and the Christian personality was relevant. Human being identifies himself/herself as a individuality and became a Christian personality because he stopped associating himself with the cosmos and his internal processes with its processes. The "psychological" parallelism typical for ancient cultures, full of plots of metamorphosis, has been broken, and ancient cosmopolitanism has been overcome. Without destroying the semiotic system of culture established during the period of antique Christianity to its foundations, modern culture has begun to turn back to the antique type of mentality. Culture-forming antithesis of the Creator's heavenly person and man's earthly person remains, being modified into the antithesis of the earthly and the heavenly, with the personality being moved to the periphery of culture. The impersonality of the universe leads to a crisis of man's personal consciousness, which manifests itself in the rhetoric of his action. In Kate Silverton's work, universe has become the highest substance with which man communicates. O. Spengler argued that modern man replaced God by universe. If in the modern semiotic system of culture the impersonal cosmos takes the place of the Creator, who is a Personality and who is now located on the periphery of culture, then the human personality does not acquire a correlate, it is lonely, experiencing a crisis. The semiotic system of culture determines the crisis state of the individual.