M.A.Kukartseva Hayden White and the practice of historical research in the 20th century The article presents an intellectual biography which traces the career of the well-known scholar and thinker. The author analyses the influence of various concepts and life circumstances on the shaping of White's views. Some conclusions on the nature and the aims of contemporary historical knowledge are presented. V.M.Khachaturyan Civilization Utopias and images of 'alien' civilizations The article studies the ideas of Danilevsky, a well-known Russian philosopher of the 19th c. who adopted the concept of cultural and historical types. The author concludes that Danilevsky's ideas were contradictory as he tried to reconcile his Slavophil sympathies with imperialist views on Russia's political interests. D.N.Zamyatin Russia and nowhere: geographical images and the identity of Russian civilization The article studies the views of a Russian philosopher Piotr Chaadaev on his country's historical destiny and its place in the world. Chaadaev emphasized the idea of Russia's space as both positive and negative factor that impeded Russia's historical progress in comparison to Western Europe. O.D.Shemyakina Aristotelianism in Russian studies and the field of sacral meanings of Old Believers The article deals with some aspects of Russian spiritual tradition, namely, with the culture of the Old Believers in the 18-19th cc. The author rejects postulations by a number of Western historians of Russia who stressed backwardness of Old Believers' culture, and its archaic attitude to written word and text. The article shows that polemical works by Old Believers (18th c.) adopted rational discourse that enabled them to re-interpret the text of the Scripture. It the same time the culture of Old Believers preserved traditional popular views and practices. It could be viewed as a model of Russian culture that combines different forms and meanings, both indigenous and accepted from other cultural traditions. A.V.Seregin 'Gorgias' and Humanism The author studies elements of Plato's ethics and interprets his 'idea of injustice' as well as the notions of 'good', 'evil', 'happiness' and 'unhappiness'. It is argued that Plato's notions differed from the later Early Modern definitions that are more familiar to modern reader. According to Plato, just behaviour did not imply taking the interests of others into account, and moral virtues were not connected with humanistic altruism. A.V.Khazina Historians invited to a feast: historical fragments by Posidonius in 'Deipnosophistae' by Athenaeus The article tackles the fragments from the "Histories" by Posidonius of Apamea cited by Athenaeus in The Deipnosophists (The sophists at dinner) and united by the theme of feasting customs of various ethnic groups. It was the philosophical concept rather than the detailed household depiction that underlay the narrative principles of these historical and ethnographic sketches of Posidonius, the Stoic. Telling about the feasts of the barbarian people, Posidonius was mentally crossing the borders of the sacral and the profane. The description of the "alien" led to the spaces of the profane, and at the same time the alien's "sacral" revealed its presence within this profane, and to interpret it the author could only draw upon the Greek-Roman cultural code that he was familiar with. Posidonius did not avoid the "rigour of Aristotle" in perception of barbarians. Nevertheless, he gave the neutral description of the alien's customs and represented barbarians as the people endowed both with virtues and defects. Thereby he showed the deployment of the moral laws subordinating all nations through a lively fabric of the history. S.B.Krikh An analysis of one text: Friedrich Engels and the principles of Marxist history writing The article analyses one of the most influential Marxist text – 'The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State'. The author arrives at a number of conclusions on Marxist philosophy of history, its strengths and limitations as well as its logical consequences. T.N.Ivanova W.I.Guerrier as a historian of the French Revolution The author studies the works by a well-known Russian historian of the late 19th – early 20th cc. It is shown that Guerrier was a pioneer in studying the French Revolution – the field that had been avoided and neglected by other Russian scholars. O.I.Zezegova Traditions of the "ecole russe" in writings by Soviet historians The article present biographies of two Soviet historians, V.Biryukovich and N.Sokolov who were to bring traditions of prerevolutionary Russian historical scholarship (for instance, the schools of Guerrier and Kareev) into Soviet period. The author gives a detailed description of the scholars' careers, their high point and problems. Yu. N.Litvinenko 'Russian Athlantis': on the history of a Platonic myth The author studies the evolution of the Athlantis myth in Russian thought of the 18th – 20th cc. The myth is compared to the Russian legend of Kitezh city. The article presents a classification of different approaches in Russian 'Athlantis studies' that are viewed in the context of political and philosophical thought of a period. L.V.Sofronova The temptation of quantification: the problem of anti-clericalism in the Tudor society in the British historiography of 1970-90s The article deals with revisionist approach to (English Reformation and its causes. Revisionists used quantitative methods in order to question widely accepted idea of popular anticlericalism that had caused the Reformation in England. They argued convincingly that the Reformation was introduced from above, and the majority of parishioners remained faithful to Catholicism. V.N.Erokhin Revisionists in recent British historiography of the religious Reformation in England The article demonstrates how the traditional approach to the history of English Reformation represented by A.G.Dickens was replaced by the more nuanced vision free of preconceptions. The author demonstrates that C.A.Haigh and other historians re-interpret the importance of English Catholicism, the influence of Protestant ideas, the correlation between Protestantism and the religious reforms of the late 15th – 16th cc, he also analyses the ways revisionists formulate questions and the concepts they use. V.V.Puzanov Vladimir Monomakh and Christianity The article deals with the attitude of the Prince Vladimir Monomach and his circles to the norms of bevahiour prescribed by Christian morals. It is shown that events of the Prince's life influenced his religiosity. O.V.Kharitonova 'Public service' of Russian monks The article deals with the theme of the service of Russian saints to the society, that provoked serious debates in the late 19th – early 20th cc. The author shows different approaches to the ideals of monasticism and asceticism viewed from the perspective of Church history and the role of the Church in shaping and defending the Russian state. 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