Metaphors of Society: "MAN IN HISTORY": HUMANISTIC ASPECTS OF THE RESEARCH PARADIGM OF A. GUREVICH IN HIS WORKS OF THE 1970-2000s

This article attempts to examine the philosophical basis of A. GurevichÕs research approach to the study of medieval cultural phenomena, to clarify his view of the concepts of ÒpersonalityÓ, ÒindividualÓ, ÒindividualityÓ and to find possible parallels to his views in the works of the famous scholarÕs contemporaries. GurevichÕs view on personality in the Middle Ages differed from the views of many of his colleagues Ñ and to better understand the originality of the position of this historian his attitude towards the idea of the Òorigin of personalityÓ in a dispute with L Batkin should be considered. One should compare his understanding of ÒpersonalityÓ and ÒcultureÓ with the theory of M. Bakhtin, his definition of ÒindividualÓ with the Marxist and religious ones, etc. While the very use of the concept of ÒpersonalityÓ in A. GurevichÕs scientific works has already been covered by historiography, the broader cultural and religious-philosophical context still remains uncovered. In the atmosphere of the relative intellectual authoritarianism of the Stagnation period, the question of personality, the dependence of an individualÕs creative self-expression on economic and social conditions, the correlation between personal and collective opinion was particularly important for many thinkers of the period. To fully understand A. GurevichÕs position on the place of the individual in social and cultural processes, the article compares his reflections on the role of the individual in history with similar concepts of his contemporaries. Despite several monographs that Gurevich devoted to the subject of his research, the concept of ÒpersonalityÓ for many decades has remained extremely vague for him, eluding specific definitions. This underlines humanistic position in his historical works, which grew out of the ÒzeitgeistÓ and historianÕs confrontation with the dominant Soviet ideology.