Rybakov, V., Kravchenko, E. (2025) Let’s Test It in Practice: How is Practical Aesthetics Possible in Modern Russia? – МЕЖДУНАРОДНЫЙ ЖУРНАЛ ИССЛЕДОВАНИЙ КУЛЬТУРЫ

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Vsevolod V. RYBAKOV
Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University
2, 21st Line, Saint Petersburg, 199106, Russian Federation
Institute of Basic Engineering Education, Department of Philosophy, Associate Professor
PhD (in Philosophy)
e-mail: vsrybakov@yandex.ru
ORCID: 0000-0003-3687-460X

Elizaveta Yu. KRAVCHENKO
Saint Petersburg State University
7-9, Universitetskaya emb., Saint Petersburg, 199034, Russian Federation
Institute of Philosophy, Department of Cultural Studies, Philosophy of Culture and Aesthetics, Assistant
PhD (in Cultural Studies)
e-mail: e.kravchenko@spbu.ru
ORCID: 0000-0002-6632-517

Rybakov, V., Kravchenko, E. (2025) Let’s Test It in Practice: How is Practical Aesthetics Possible in Modern Russia?

Abstract: The article analyses the main studies in the field of contemporary Russian practical aesthetics (late 20th – first quarter of the 21st centuries), as well as the variants of practical action (aesthetic practice) proposed in them. Practical aesthetics in the Russian tradition is compared with the analogues presented in international aesthetics. The growing interest in practical aesthetics is proposed to be thought of in a broader context of the “practical turn” in contemporary philosophy caused by the need to respond to the global problems of our time. Challenges such as the ecological crisis, technological development and the socio-political and economic transformations caused by them deprive philosophy of the possibility of keeping its activities within the framework of academic discussions and the mere “production of knowledge”. Practical philosophy is revealed in two ways: as individual help and as systemic work at the socio-political level, and this duality is also shown to be characteristic of practical aesthetics. It is demonstrated that most types of practical aesthetics in Russia are related to the care of life, practices of adaptation and retention of meaning and spiritual dimension in the conditions of modern high-tech and changeable reality. It is concluded that it is possible to distinguish four main types of practical aesthetics in Russia: descriptive (represented primarily by the studies of Viktor Pigulevsky), ontological (to which the studies of Viktor Bychkov and Sergey Lishaev have been attributed), environmental/ecological (including visual ecology), and socio-political. Prospects for the further development of Russian practical aesthetics are associated with the unfolding of the very logic of practical philosophy, i.e. the further transition from theory to practice, and the increase of aesthetic action, which is extra-academic in nature. It is assumed that practical aesthetics at the level of action can be equally the result of grassroots non-academic initiative and the product of official institutions, including educational institutions.

Key words: practical aesthetics, aesthetic practice, practical philosophy, environmental aesthetics, aesthetics of care, media philosophy.

References:

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For Citation:

Rybakov, V., Kravchenko, E. (2025) Let’s Test It in Practice: How is Practical Aesthetics Possible in Modern Russia? International Journal of Cultural Research, 2 (59). 73–89. DOI: 10.52173/2079-1100_2025_2_73

DOI: 10.52173/2079-1100_2025_2_73