In comparison with history and philosophy, cultural science - young science. However today it found rich metodologicheskimy the device, allowing to conduct competent scientific research.
What does the cultural science subject consist in?
There are two points of view concerning a cultural science subject. It agrees the first, the cultural science acts only as a component of other humanitarian disciplines: sociology of culture, philosophy of culture and others. More progressive is the second approach. It isolates cultural science and gives it the status of an independent system of knowledge.
Really, a subject of cultural science is the analysis of culture in its direct manifestations in which she acts as a unique way of the life of the person. Thus, the cultural science studies not only specific forms of cultural manifestations, but also marks out the general principles of functioning and cultural development.
Methods of studying culture
As the cultural science is sated with various intersubject communications, it includes a set of various culturological methods and also methods of interdisciplinary sciences. And it only deepens its research basis as for studying a concrete subject it is effective to use the whole complex of methods.1. The synchronic method consists in studying a cultural phenomenon at a certain stage of its development.2. The diachronic method analyzes culture phenomena in their temporary development or the chronological sequence. As it is necessary not only to state the cultural facts, but also to generalize, the diachronic method is often used together with synchronic. 3. The comparative-historical method allows to mark out repeatability of various cultural phenomena by means of comparison of different cultures and to generalize scientific data.4. The system method considers concrete culture as a unit which separate elements are in close interrelation.5. The semiotics method interprets the cultural environment as a special sign system.6. The biographic method is devoted to the analysis of products of culture through "lifelines" of their creators.
Principles of the culturological analysis
The complexity of the subject of cultural science and also richness of its cross-disciplinary communications led to emergence of a large amount of the principles of a culturological research. The most important of them are the principles of historicism and integrity. The principle of historicism is based that all separate events, the phenomena and the facts of culture it is necessary to consider proceeding from features of time of their creation and also various social, political and economic conditions. Culture, according to this principle, is "superstructure" over "basis" of the social and economic relations on which it directly depends. Also the researcher should pay attention to the nature of these features. The principle of integrity is that each separate stage of cultural development needs to be studied in all variety of the facts included in it and events of culture. These two principles are the most important because they are directly directed to maintenance of objectivity of a culturological research. It point that no world and political outlooks should operate the scientist in the analysis of difficult and diverse measurement of human culture.