The role of mentality in the ethnos world culture forming: philosophical aspects

Introduction. The mentality is the integrated characteristic of the people living in the certain culture describing their peculiar vision of the world around and explaining specifics of response to it. The phenomenon of mentality is revealed through a frame of reference, of the estimates, norms and moods, which are based on knowledge, beliefs, and traditions, available in this society. It sets together with the dominating requirements and archetypes of the collective unconscious the beliefs, the characteristic of the nation, ideals, tendencies, interests distinguishing one ethnos from another. Materials and Methods. The existence philosophical interpretation method is a key method used in the present research. It is based on comparison of different nations ethnic pictures. Results. There is presented the analysis of studies covering issues relating to the term “mentality”, its role in the cultural and philosophical identity formation. There were compared the following concepts: “mentality” vs “mindset” and “mentality” vs “ethnic identity”, those are close in their meanings but are not the same in their pragmatics. Discussion and Conclusions. Ethno mentality is fixed materially in art through the incorporation of ethnic values. The study of the mentality from the philosophical point of view provides opportunities for research introducing conceptual elements and solving complex issues.