COMPARATIVE STUDIES AND THEORETICAL PROBLEMS OF THE SPHERE OF PHILOSOPHICAL CONCEPTS.

Abstract

In the problem field of the postmodern transformations the good as the concept has been and still remains in the focus of many scientists' attention. This fact accounts for the importance and topicality of the analysis  of the meanings of "the notion", "the idea", "the phenomenon" and such like along with their representations in the philosophy and culture of Western Europe. As the specificity of philosophy is to search meanings in the general knowledge of human existence, to understand the meanings and find the ultimate foundations of their relationships, so comparing the special directions of thought is one of the objectives of this study, namely: the comparison of "blago" and  that which in the English language is its translation  and how it differs from the analogous concepts in Russian.

As a rule, in accordance with Russian-English dictionaries, "blago" is translated as "blessing" or "the good". At the same time, the reverse translation gives the following: "blessing" – благословение, благо, благодеяние, блаженство, счастье, i.e. the core of the concept is "bliss", "happiness". In its turn, "the good" is translated as "добро", "благо". The Oxford Encyclopedic Dictionary defines "the good" (noun) as follows: "what is morally correct or acceptable". The English-Russian dictionary gives the translation of the word "the good" as "благо", "добро". Thus, it is obvious  that in English  we will work with the noun "the good", with the concept defined by this word.

Despite the complexity of the interpretations of "blago" in the Russian language and the concept of "the good" in English, the ontological status of these concepts is indisputable within the framework of postmodern transformations. Treating concepts as mental representations which reflect both public and individual experience we claim that such philosophic, cultural and historic concept as "the good" reflects that sociocultural experience which is accumulated by nations during the periods of their existence.

Key words: culture, meaning, utmost concepts, good, virtue, moral.