Problems of socio-cultural determination of social processes in a transitional society are characterized by the complexity and heterogeneity of source data. Therefore, few dissertations on philosophy and socio-humanitarian sciences are devoted to these problems. Dissertations that deal with this subject can be divided into four groups according to the criterion of perspective on the issue. The first group consists of the thesis in which the focus is on identifying the nature and characteristics of socio-cultural determination in the society of the transitional type. They define the modality of this process and the forms of presentation and their content. The second group consists of the dissertation on factors and institutional mechanism of socio-cultural determination of social dynamics in the society of the transitional type. The third group includes the thesis characterizing the socio-cultural determination of social dynamics and the specifics of the spiritual life of man. The fourth group consists of the dissertation work performed in epitemological line and focus on the problems of modeling of processes of socio-cultural transformations. In general, the appeal to the philosophical analysis of different interpretations of issues, factors and mechanisms of social and cultural determination of social processes in the society of the transitional type allows improve the understanding of transformation processes and contributes to the expansion of space of philosophical

The article considers the Indian pilgrimage as the most important part of the religious life of adherents of the religions of India. The purpose of the study is to reveal the peculiarities of the Indian pilgrimage, to show the impact of historical, geographical, cultural factors on their formation. The following research methods were used in the work: theoretical analysis and generalization of scientific literature, sacred texts, in particular, Vedas and their interpretation, systemic analysis, isolation and synthesis of main components. Pilgrimage can be seen as a form of religious behavior. Veneration of saints and teachers of faith, natural objects, expressed in pilgrimage to sacred places, is one of the main manifestations of the religious life of the Hindus. Some sacred places owe their existence to ancient history and the custom to venerate heroes of numerous eposes and myths. For hundreds of millions of believers in India, a reverent attitude to the object of worship serves the accumulation of grace, and this or that righteous person is an intercessor that helps a person interrupt the cycle of rebirth. The most important places of pilgrimage in India are the seven sacred cities of India, Kumbha Mela centers, sacred objects in the Himalayas, special sacred temples, the seven sacred rivers, relics, graves, and places where the Teachers were cremated. Returning from the journey, pilgrims bring home the formed religious system of views; become distributors of the ideology of pilgrimage among others. This work can be useful for solving urgent problems of interaction with representatives of the world of a deeply spiritual Indian civilization.

Historical memory is viewed as a dynamic phenomenon of social consciousness, based on subjective knowledge, assessments and opinions of individuals about their historical past. Historical memory is one of the key components of culture, maintaining continuity between different generations and preserving connection between the present and the past of a society. The main differences in the perception of past events among three generations of Belarusians are addressed: those born in 1960 and earlier, born between 1961 and 1980, and born in 1981 and later. It is concluded that estimates of the significance of historical events and periods decrease as their chronological distance from the generation age increases. In general, the absence of polarization in the interpretation of events of the past is typical for Belarusian society. The article also provides data on the representation of historical events in the mass media for 2016. According to the results of the content analysis, it is established that the modern Belarusian socio-political media actively cover the most diverse issues related to the Belarusian history, while emphasizing the most significant historical events, and also strive to form in their readers an understanding of the importance and necessity of preserving the accumulated historical and cultural heritage.

 

The article addresses one of the most important aspects of party formation, i.e. the establishment of a multiparty system in Belarus in the period of political transformations. The article shows the political and theoretical basis for the formation of the modern multiparty system in Belarus in the period of political transformations. An attempt is made to identify periods of political development of the Belarusian multi-party system. The article focuses on the establishment of a multiparty system and its chronological development and analysis of both general and specific features of the modern Belarusian multi-party system. Attention is given to the participation of political parties as a socio-political institution. After the monopoly of the Communist Party was overcome, society demonstrated rapid processes to form political pluralism, i. e. to form political parties and movements. Initially, these processes were largely initiated by society itself.

The Principality of Turov was formed in the south of modern Belarus in the 10th century through the administrative reform by the grand duke of Kiev Vladimir Svyatoslavich when replacing the previous ethnic tribal princedoms by feudal principalities headed by the sons of Vladimir Svyatoslavich. The Principality of Turov was formed on the basis of the Dregovichi tribal princedom simultaneously and on the same basis as the Principalities of Novgorod, Polotsk, Chernigov, and Vladimir-Volynsky. The Principality of Turov in the 11th century was one of the most important in Ancient Rus and its princes often occupied the throne of Kiev. In early 12th century the Grand Duke of Kiev, Vladimir Monomakh, temporarily interrupted the political independence and dynastic ownership of the Principality of Turov; they were restored only in 1158. In the second half of the 12th century, feudal disintegration of the Principality of Turov took place. In the 13th century the lands of the Principality of Turov were owned by descendants of Turov princes. In early 14th century, the lands of the Principality of Turov gradually became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

 

The paper addresses a unique item discovered during archaeological excavations in the Svisloch hillfort on the mid Berezina (Svisloch, Osipovichi District, Mogilev Region). This hillfort is an important site on the trade routes that pass along the Berezina and Svisloch rivers. It gives a brief characteristic and description of the site, its location and role in the period when the settlement existed. The main attention is given to a gold сolt found during excavations in 2006 near a burnt wooden dwelling of the mid 13th century. The authors address technological specifics of making such jewelry products.

 

The relevance of the problem is based on the fact that cultural cooperation is an important channel for increasing dialogue between states, and a detailed study of Anglo-Soviet cultural relations in the 1930s allows identifying specific features of such cooperation between states having opposite economic, social, political and ideological systems. Based on a wide range of archive documents, main areas and development trends in the Anglo-Soviet cultural cooperation in the 1930s are analyzed. The article shows the objectives and institutional framework of the USSR foreign cultural policy and identifies changes in the form, content and dynamics of the Anglo-Soviet cultural ties in the period in question. Based on this material, periodization of the Anglo-Soviet cultural cooperation in the 1930s is made. It is concluded that the process of Anglo-Soviet cultural cooperation was complex and inconsistent as it was affected by political and ideological factors in the both countries, which determined its intermittent nature. In the late 1930s Anglo-Soviet decreased sharply. The social base in the UK on which it was possible to carry out contacts in the field of science and culture significantly shrank. On the other hand, the Soviet leadership lost interest to expanding cultural exchange with Britain in the late 1930s.

Despite detailed consideration of the verbal aspect in contemporary grammars the issue of the categorical matter of the verbal aspect and the related manners of verbal action is still considered one of the most difficult in linguistics. The aim of the article is to find out and to analyse the main approaches to the definition of the categorical essence of the verbal aspect and the related manners of verbal action as the main components of the functional-semantic field of aspectuality as a single basis for comparing non-related Russian and German languages. The methodological basis of the research is works by outstanding home and foreign Slavists and Germanists in the field of aspectology. As actual material of our article we have used the verbs of parallel texts of Russian literature in translation into the German language. The main methods employed in the research are descriptive, comparative, analytical methods and elements of quantitative calculations. The article discusses and compares the main approaches to the definition of categories of the verbal aspect and the manners of verbal action in the Russian and German languages, it identifies and analyses the contents and the dominant means of expression of these categories, establishes their relationship. The analysis of different author’s concepts and approaches to the definition of essence and the semantics of the categories of the verbal aspect and the manners of verbal action in the compared languages leads to the conclusion that different perceptions of these categories contribute to their convergence towards a more specific definition of their semantics and functions.

Resting on European and world experience of expressing an idea of an artwork, Chinese artists always included their own national tradition in the context of artworks. It led to re-conceiving European conceptions within their own culture and creating unique conceptions of painting. These include traditional (guohua) and new conceptions (conceptual art, cynical realism, political and cultural pop art, vulgar art, art of the Chinese women’s art). The development of contemporary art in China, like worldwide, has multiple vectors and multiple directions inside of which various conceptions can co-exist being in some ways contradictory to one another. It is difficult to introduce the classification of the spectrum of art conceptions in China. At the same time, it is possible to distinguish three main conceptual vectors in Chinese art: “from-sense-to-image”, “from-image-to-sense” and “from-understanding-to-sense”. Conceptions inside this three vectors existence and develop. All conceptions are in touch with traditional art rules and views: some of them oppose tradition, others rely on it, some of them try to compare contemporary art to tradition, and others try to challenge it. Due to these phenomena, Chinese painting managed to overcome the crisis of conceptual repetition and to avoid limiting the relevance of contemporary art to its superficial plane.

The article deals with the problem of the development of the Belarusian prose of the 20th century in the genre of the story through the prism of the concept of “human idea”. This aspect is confirmed that according to the advanced theory of V. M Golovko, we also consider that the development of the of “human idea” in a work of art is clearly refracted, both through the embodiment of “concept of man”, which is characteristic for the discovery of the novel’s type of works, and in “concept of a person”, which most closely corresponds to the artistic and aesthetic principle of the embodiment of the “archaic” genre of the story. It is proved that the “pathos of subjectivity”, which is typical for the Belarusian story of the twentieth century, has a pronounced and concentrated moral and ethical potential that can allow this genre to have a wide range of issues of social, philosophical and historical questions of life and being. “Archaic” of the story, its conceptual and artistic “core” allows us to reveal the vital tone of being and the manifestation of the human character in its full self-expression and tension with the most optimal means of expression and disclosure of the social “environment”. The point of view that the hero of the story most often remains as “equal to himself”, having fulfilled his artistic and ethical task of incarnation, in contrast to the hero of the novel, who is forever in a position of openness to the present, in the position of “incompleteness”, and therefore as “not equal to himself”. It gets an idea that the Belarusian story of the 20th century has become an active and the most demanded genre of national literature, which is found its embodiment in the works of such bright representatives as Y. Kolas, M. Goretsky, Z. Bedulya, K. Chorny, M. Zaretsky, I. Shamyakin, V. Bykov, I. Naumenko, J. Bril, I. Chigrinov, A. Kaz’ko, I. Ptashnikov, A. Kudravets, A. Fedorenko, A. Kozlov, and etc.

 

The article deals with some scientific and legal aspects in the research of the genesis and formation of the theoretical basis for regulating freight transport by rail. References are made to both national and foreign authors. It covers some unstudied issues of transport-specific legal relations which need to be studied and analyzed by scientists and practitioners in order to improve railway legislation in the Republic of Belarus.

The purpose of the article is to substantiate and formulate proposals for improving the organizational and functional structure of the national innovation system (NIS). Their implementation will strengthen the focus in the strategic management of innovative development and coordination in the interaction of participants in innovation. The author determines the most essential elements in the innovation sphere, the nature of whose participation in the innovation processes determines the cause-effect relations in the national innovation system. It is their improvement that directly affects the overall effectiveness of innovative transformations. The functions of the NIS, the areas of activity, the specific features of the interaction of its subjects are described in the article. The article is intended for specialists in the field of innovation and strategic management. Resolution and proposals can be used in the implementation of public policy in order to enhance and improve the efficiency of the innovative development of the economy.