The semiotics of culture of Viktor Zhivov: to the social discussion in arcadia

An analysis of the semiotics of culture of Viktor Zhivov is proposed. Viktor Zhivov criticized structuralism from the inside, demanding a more flexible approach to the study of culture, that takes into account the achievements of sociology and philosophy of culture of the 20th century. The article proves that Zhivov’s approach was integral, and the elements of modern philosophy and sociology that were part of it were themselves criticized. Zhivov did not act as an adept, but as an interlocutor of Husserl, Heidegger, Foucault and Bourdieu, indicating not only the possibilities, but also the limitations of their approaches. The article analyzes how such a dialogue with ideas became possible while maintaining the models of text interpretation that were created by Tartu-Moscow structuralism. Zhivov used separate key images, like the image of Arcadia, combining cultural nostalgia and existential reflection, and certain key problems, such as “balance of power” and “liturgical image”, explaining how not only a consistently semiotically thought out experience is possible in culture, but and sequential action. Therefore, Zhivov finds the general principles of semiotization of action, for example, in the era of iconoclastic disputes and in the Russian Enlightenment. The semiotics of Zhivov’s culture is productive in the study of the semiotics of emotions and the philosophy of law.