2026 № 1 (56)
Soviet Aesthetics of the 1960s in Defense of Humanitarian Values
UDC 7.01
LBC 87.8
DOI: 10.51678/2226-0072-2026-1-64-83
For cit.: Ustyugova E.N. Soviet Aesthetics of the 1960s in Defense of Humanitarian Values. Hudozhestvennaya kul’tura [Art & Culture Studies], 2026, no. 1, pp. 64–83. https://doi.org/10.51678/2226-0072-2026-1-64-83. (In Russian)
Ustyugova Elena N.
D.Sc. (in Philosophy), Professor, Department of Cultural Studies, Philosophy of Culture and Aesthetics, St. Petersburg State University, 7–9 Universitetskaya Emb., St. Petersburg, 199034, Russia
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7453-2585
ResearcherID: V-1276-2017
Scopus Author ID: 57195838121
Soviet Aesthetics of the 1960s in Defense of Humanitarian Values
Abstract. The article analyses the main directions of theoretical and methodological inquiry pursued by Soviet aestheticians in the 1960s and assesses their contribution to the development of domestic aesthetics. It examines the key debates between positions that construed the aesthetic as having an objective social and epistemological nature and those of axiological aesthetics. The content of Yu.B. Borev’s views is revealed concerning the historical dynamics of value-laden perception of aesthetic categories and the system of oppositions in figurative thinking. The principles of a systemic methodology in the aesthetics of the 1960s are identified. The author performs a critical analysis of the contradictions within a number of positions of the axiological aesthetics of the 1960s, in particular, the underestimation of the sensuous nature of the aesthetic. It is noted that the broadened understanding of the humanitarian content of the aesthetic and of art prepared the cultural-studies phase in the development of aesthetics at the end of the 20th century and continues to serve as a reference point in defending the fundamental premises of aesthetics as a philosophical discipline in contemporary debates about the nature of the aesthetic.
Keywords: ideological canons of Marxism, epistemological interpretation of aesthetic consciousness, humanitarian values, axiological aesthetics, creativity, systemic approach, Yu.B. Borev
References:
Borev Yu.B. O komicheskom [About the Comic]. Moscow, Iskusstvo Publ., 1957. 232 p. (In Russian)
Borev Yu.B. Osnovnye ehsteticheskie kategorii [Basic Aesthetic Categories]. Moscow, Vysshaya shkola Publ., 1960. 445 p. (In Russian)
Borev Yu.B. O tragicheskom [About the Tragic]. Moscow, Sovetskii pisatel’ Publ., 1961. 391 p. (In Russian)
Borev Yu.B. Chetyre akhillesovy pyaty [Four Achilles’ Heels]. Oktyabr’, 1961, no. 3, pp. 209–213. (In Russian)
Borev Yu.B. Vvedenie v ehstetiku [Introduction to Aesthetics]. Moscow, Sovetskii khudozhnik Publ., 1965. 326 p. (In Russian)
Borev Yu.B. Ehstetika [Aesthetics]. Moscow, Politizdat Publ., 1969. 350 p. (In Russian)
Borev Yu.B. Komicheskoe, ili O tom, kak smekh kaznit nesovershenstvo mira, ochishchaet i obnovlyaet cheloveka i utverzhdaet radost’ bytiya [The Comic, or About How Laughter Punishes the Imperfection of the World, Cleanses and Renews a Person and Confirms the Joy of Being]. Moscow, Iskusstvo Publ., 1970. 269 p. (In Russian)
Borev Yu.B. Ehstetika [Aesthetics]. Moscow, Vysshaya shkola Publ., 2002. 511 p. (In Russian)
Dneprov V.D. Problemy realizma [Problems of Realism]. Leningrad, Sovetskii pisatel’ Publ., 1961. 371 p. (In Russian)
Eremeev A.F. Lektsii po marksistsko-leninskoi ehstetike [Lectures on Marxist-Leninist Aesthetics]. Parts 1–4. Sverdlovsk, Ural’skii gos. un-t im. A.M. Gor’kogo Publ., 1969–1975. Part 1. 1969. 150 p. Part 2–3. 1971. 358 p. Part 4. 1975. 270 p. (In Russian)
Eremeev A.F. Lektsii po marksistsko-leninskoi ehstetike [Lectures on Marxist-Leninist Aesthetics]. Part 1: Tsennostno-poznavatel’nye osnovy khudozhestvennogo otrazheniya [Value-cognitive Foundations of Artistic Reflection]. Sverdlovsk, Ural’skii gos. un-t im. A.M. Gor’kogo Publ., 1969. 150 p. (In Russian)
Kagan M.S. Lektsii po marksistsko-leninskoi ehstetike [Lectures on Marxist-Leninist Aesthetics]. Part 1: Dialektika ehsteticheskikh yavlenii [Dialectics of Aesthetic Phenomena]. Leningrad, Izd-vo Leningradskogo universiteta Publ., 1963. 132 p. (In Russian)
Kagan M.S. Nachala ehstetiki [The Basics of Aesthetics]. Moscow, Iskusstvo Publ., 1964. 210 p. (In Russian)
Kagan M.S. Lektsii po marksistsko-leninskoi ehstetike [Lectures on Marxist-Leninist Aesthetics]. 2nd ed., compl., rev. Leningrad, Izd-vo Leningradskogo universiteta Publ., 1971. 766 p. (In Russian)
Kagan M.S. Morfologiya iskusstva: Istoriko-teoreticheskoe issledovanie vnutrennego stroeniya mira iskusstv [Morphology of Art: Historical and Theoretical Study of the Internal Structure of the Art World]. Leningrad, Iskusstvo Publ., 1972. 440 p. (In Russian)
Kagan M.S. O sistemnom podkhode k sistemnomu podkhodu [On Systematic Approach to Systematic Approach]. Filosofskie nauki, 1973, no. 6, pp. 34–42. (In Russian)
Kagan M.S. Chelovecheskaya deyatel’nost’: Opyt sistemnogo analiza [Human Activity: A Study on System Analysis]. Moscow, Politizdat Publ., 1974. 328 p. (In Russian)
Likhachev D.S. Poehtika drevnerusskoi literatury [Poetics of Ancient Russian Literature]. Leningrad, Nauka Publ., 1967. 374 p. (In Russian)
Ryzhkin I.Ya. Stil’ i realism [Style and Realism]. Voprosy ehstetiki, issue 1. Moscow, Iskusstvo Publ., 1958, pp. 250–297. (In Russian)
Sokolov A.N. Teoriya stilya [Theory of Style]. Moscow, Iskusstvo Publ., 1968. 223 p. (In Russian)
Stolovich L.N. Ehsteticheskoe v deistvitel’nosti i v iskusstve [The Aesthetic in Reality and Art]. Moscow, Gospolitizdat Publ., 1959. 250 p. (In Russian)
Stolovich L.N. Predmet ehstetiki [The Subject of Aesthetics]. Moscow, Iskusstvo Publ., 1961. 114 p.
Stolovich L.N. Kategoriya prekrasnogo i obshchestvennyi ideal: Istoriko-problemnye ocherki [The Category of Beauty and the Social Ideal: Historical and Problematic Essays]. Moscow, Iskusstvo Publ., 1969. 352 p. (In Russian)
Stolovich L.N. Krasota. Dobro. Istina: Ocherk istorii ehsteticheskoi aksiologii [Beauty. Goodness. Truth: Essay on the History of Aesthetic Axiology]. Moscow, Respublika Publ., 1994. 464 p. (In Russian)
Stolovich L.N. Filosofiya. Ehstetika. Smekh [Philosophy. Aesthetics. Laughter]. St. Petersburg, Tartu, 1999. 384 p. (In Russian)
Teoriya literatury: V 3 kn. [Theory of Literature: In 3 books], ed. board G.L. Abramovich et al. Book 1: Osnovnye problemy v istoricheskom osveshchenii: Obraz, metod, kharakter [The Main Problems in Historical Coverage: Image, Method, Character]. Moscow, Izdatel’stvo Akademii nauk SSSR Publ., 1962. 452 p. (In Russian)
Ustyugova E.N. Stil’ i kul’tura: Opyt postroeniya obshchei teorii stilya [Style and Culture: A Study of Composition a General Theory of Style]. St. Petersburg, Izd-vo Sankt-Peterburgskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta Publ., 2006. 260 p. (In Russian)
Ustyugova E.N. Sistemnyi podkhod v sovetskoi marsistskoi ehstetike i filosofii kul’tury: tvorcheskaya ehvolyutstiya M.S. Kagana [Systematic Approach in Soviet Marxist Aesthetics and Philosophy of Culture: The Creative Evolution of M.S. Kagan]. Kontury budushchego v kontekste mirovogo kul’turnogo razvitiya: XVIII Mezhdunarodnye Likhachevskie nauchnye chteniya, 17–19 maya 2018 g. [Contours of the Future in the Context of World Cultural Development: 18th International Likhachev Scientific Readings, May 17–19, 2018], sc. ed. A.S. Zapesotsky. St. Petersburg, SPbGUP Publ., 2018, pp. 348–349. (In Russian)
Received 23.10.2025
Revised 23.12.2025
Accepted 24.12.2025
