Lukov Val. A. and Lukov Vl. A. The Methodology of the Thesaurus Approach: A Strategy for Understanding
The article is prepared with support from Russian Foundation for the Humanities (project No. 12-33-01055, “The Thesaurus Analysis in Humanities Knowledge”).
Abstract ♦ Many Russian scientists apply the thesaurus approach as a methodology of the humanities and social studies. In the foundation of these investigations there is the definition of the thesaurus as a full systemized corpus of knowledge that a social subject has assimilated. This knowledge is substantial for the subject as a mean of orientation in the environment. Besides, the corpus contains knowledge that is not related to the orientation function directly. This kind of knowledge expands the subject’s understanding of him/herself and the world. It gives impulses for a joyful, interesting and varied life. In the article, the authors set a goal to show how the factor of understanding structures the thesaurus, assures its integrity and effective application by a subject for life necessities and self-development.
The authors argue that understanding exhibits characteristics to unify interacting thesauri and at the same time to individualize them on the assumption of differences between subjects. The subjective organization of human knowledge being the source and basis of understanding eventually obtains it as its purpose and attribute.
Analyzing Igor M. Ilinskiy’s formula “knowledge — understanding — skill” the authors show its features as a nonlinear triad developed in the form of triangle. In the apex of this triangle there is understanding and all of the three elements appear to be the center of gravity for the two others. Then “Ilinskiy’s triad” is considered in the light of the statement on the inter-assistance of subsystems in functional systems. On this basis, a conclusion is made that the rules of the thesaurus approach presupposes the discovery of a) some integral fragments of the reality in the context of which such inter-assistance is considered; b) world view and interpretative schemes applied by the subject for the understanding of the integral fragments of the reality; c) the evidence of the subject’s projection of a renewal of his/her existential world under the influence of the denoted fragments as assimilated and comprehensible.
The article indicates the features of the application of triangulation in the thesaurus analysis. The triangulation transforms from a technique for empirical data processing into a methodological principle of the thesaurus approach. The authors suggest a hypothesis about the diad-like structure of understanding (assimilation of the unfamiliar on the basis of the acquired familiar) in contrast to the triad-like structure of knowledge (one’s own, someone else’s and extraneous). They characterize the process of understanding through its stages: quasi-understanding (the a priori phase), the thesaurus click (the start of understanding), the thesaurus flickering of meanings (the process of enrichment of the thesaurus with new knowledge), and the thesaurus catharsis (the result of understanding). In the conclusion, it is stated that the strategy of understanding establishes the foundations of the methodology of the thesaurus approach.
Keywords: thesaurus, the thesaurus approach, methodology of the humanities, understanding, knowledge
Lukov Valery Andreevich, Doctor of Science (philosophy), professor, the pro-rector for scientific and publishing work — director of the Institute of Fundamental and Applied Studies, Moscow University for the Humanities; the honored scientist of the Russian Federation, full member of the International Academy of Science (Innsbruck, Austria) — vice president of the IAS, full member of the International Teacher’s Training Academy of Science. Postal address: 5 Yunosti St., Moscow, Russian Federation, 111395. Tel.: +7 (499) 374-82-58. E-mail:
v-lukov@list.ru
Lukov Vladimir Andreevich, Doctor of Science (philology), professor, the director of the Theory and History of Culture Center of the Institute of Fundamental and Applied Studies, Moscow University for the Humanities; the honored scientist of the Russian Federation, full member of the International Academy of Science (Innsbruck, Austria), full member of the International Teacher’s Training Academy of Science, member of the Shakespeare Committee of the Russian Academy of Sciences, laureate of the Bunin Prize. Postal address: 5 Yunosti St., Moscow, Russian Federation, 111395. Tel.: +7 (499) 374-75-95. E-mail:
lookoff@mail.ru
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