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Contents

FOREWORD

I. INTRODUCTION
I.1. PECULIARITIES, ODDITIES FROM THE CULTURES OF THE HUNGARIAN AND OTHER FINNO-UGRIC PEOPLES
I.2. CULTURAL-HISTORICAL OBSTACLES TO BROACHING THE SUBJECT SO FAR
II. OUR OBJECTIVES, THE MATERIAL STUDIED
III. COHESION BETWEEN THE PEOPLES OF THE FINNO-UGRIC (URALIC) LANGUAGE GROUP
IV. DIVERSE LINGUISTIC, MUSICAL THINKING AND IMAGE PERCEPTION STRATAGIES IN THE LIGHT OF COGNITIVE NEUROPSYCHOLOGY STUDIES
V. FINNO-UGRIC "HALVES" BETWEEN EACH OTHER - THE COGNITIVE, EMOTIONAL AND VOLITIONAL ATTITUDE OF THE FINNO-UGRIC SOCIAL PSYCHE
V.1. THE COGNITIVE (LINGUISTIC) ATTITUDE OF THE FINNO-UGRIC SOCIAL PSYCHE AND THE FORMS IN WHICH THIS IS MANIFESTED
V.1.1. On the peculiarities of Hungarian and Finno-Ugric linguistic thinking in general
V.1.2. The mentality of the Finno-Ugric peoples relative to a concrete speech situation, and the reflection of this in the morphology and phonetics of their language - speaking partners and the three directional nature of the Finno-Ugric languages
V.1.3. The mentality founded on a concrete approach and on correlation in ideation and the use of concepts
V.1.4. Correlation in word sequences, sentence formation, between sentences and phrases
V.1.5. Correlation in Finno-Ugric text composition
V.2. THE VOLITIONAL (SOCIAL) ATTITUDE OF THE FINNO-UGRIC "SOCIAL PSYCHE" - "MY HALVES"
V.3. THE EMOTIONAL (ARTISTIC) ATTITUDE OF THE FINNO-UGRIC "SOCIAL PSYCHE"
V.3.1. The foundations of a general Finno-Ugric art theory, the art theory of halves - based on Ady's life-work, as well as Karácsony's and Lükó's endeavours
V.3.2. The Finno-Ugric mentality in graphic, cinematic and theatrical art
V.3.3. The mentality of Finno-Ugric peoples in music
VI. THE WORLD OF A FINNO-UGRIC LANGUAGE SPEAKER - THE PHILOSOPHY OF OBJECTIVE AND PRIMITIVE COORDINATING THINKING
VI.1. THE LOGISMS OF FINNO-UGRIC LANGUAGE SPEAKERS AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS - BASES FOR THEIR PHILOSOPHICAL THINKING
VI.1.1. The logisms of Finno-Ugric language speakers
VI.1.2. Characteristics of the logisms of Finno-Ugric language speakers
VI.2. PHILOSOPHICAL PROPOSITIONS OF FINNO-UGRIC LANGUAGE SPEAKERS IN THE LIGHT OF WESTERN-EUROPEAN PHILOSOPHY - CONTOURS OF A THEORY OF FINNO-UGRIC CULTURE
VII. THE FINNO-UGRIC LANGUAGE SPEAKER AND HIS LIFE IN SPACE AND TIME - POSSIBLE CONTOURS OF A FINNO-UGRIC PHILOSOPHY
VIII. BROACHING PHILOSOPHICAL AND EDUCATIONAL QUESTIONS WITH FINNO-UGRIC AND INDO-EUROPEAN VIEWPOINTS
IX. SUMMARY IN THE LIGHT OF STUDIES DEALING WITH THE COGNITIVE ACTIVITY OF THE HUMAN BRAIN (COGNITIVE BRAIN RESEARCH)
X. EPILOGUE
  LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
  LIST OF FIGURES AND ANNEXES
  PROFESSIONAL LITERATURE USED
XI. PENTATONIC PATTERNS OF CONSTRUCTION
XII. MUSICAL CULTURE OF THE FINNIC NATIONS
XIII. IS THERE A REASON FOR THE EXISTENCE OF AN INDEPENDENT FINNO-UGRIC MUSICOLOGY?
1. CONFRONTATION OF DIFFERENT EAST-EUROPEAN MUSICAL CULTURES - A SHORT HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
2. ON WHAT SUB-AREAS DO FINNO-UGRIAN AND WEST-EUROPEAN MUSICAL CULTURES DIFFER?
3. COMPOUND THINKING - THE MOST IMPORTANT CHARACTERISTIC OF FINNO-UGRIAN MUSICAL CULTURES
3.1. Defining compound thinking
3.2. The subordinating way of thinking in the conceptual structure of the Finno-Ugrian languages
3.3. The compound thinking in the Finno-Ugrian language and poetry
4. The compound way of thinking in the Finno-Ugrian music
  Comments
  References
XIV. ON THE INTERVALLIC ASSOCIATIONS OF THE CHEREMIS MUSICAL CULTURE - CHEREMIS MUSICAL CULTURE AND WESTERN MUSICAL THINKING

EPILOGUE / EPILOG

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Foreword

In forums, congresses and conferences of the Finno-Ugric peoples, the discussion of every problem closes with the conclusion that, "The most important objective for representatives of the Finno-Ugric peoples in the future will be to promote the preservation of the language and development of the culture by means of literature and philosophy." But what is this philosophy, this Finno-Ugric or Uralic philosophy? Before I set about writing the foreword for this publication, I asked an expert about Uralic philosophy. He was very surprised by my question, but he asserted that the existence of such a philosophy is questionable even for purely theoretical reasons, as the Uralic or Finno-Ugric peoples live in isolation from one another, they don't even have a unified state. But I wonder whether a prerequisite for the existence of such a philosophy is the statehood of peoples having similar roots and mentality in their ideology and world view, or perhaps the size and contiguous nature of their living space. Irrespective of whether the existence of a Uralic philosophy is accepted or not, so much is certain, that there exists a mentality, a perception of the world, there are forms and means of cognition, which distinguish the Finno-Ugric peoples from other nations and ethnic groups. In any event, knowledge acquired on the basis of alien philosophy (western for eastern peoples or eastern for westerners) remains lifeless learning coming from outside which few are able to apply, and those who do so, merely act under the influence of some powerful incentive or necessity. In contrast, the life of the average person is grounded on notions and concepts inherited from his ancestors, irrespective of his intentions.

We finally need to admit that the Finno-Ugric peoples, particularly those living in the central areas of Russia, have been and are subject to powerful assimilation (formerly aggressive, at present voluntary and of free will). And whilst they call themselves Russians, in their consciousness, or still more their subconscious, where the grassroots of their world view is shaped and preserved, they remain the same as their ancestors were: Mordvins, Komis, Udmurts, Maris, etc.

We are compelled to draw the apparently bold conclusion from this that the population of the central and northern part of Russia is made up for the most part of assimilated Finno-Ugric peoples, who still feel close to the Uralic philosophy of life. It will be very interesting for these Finno-Ugric people to read this work. They may discover something in it which they can recognise and feel as their own, something in which they feel themselves to be kinfolk. Here is a pertinent example: I was talking to a (Russian) candidate involved in linguistics, about how paired body parts are referred to in the singular in the Finno-Ugric languages, to which she responded in surprise, but (translated literally: 'half foot, half hand') in Russian also means 'one hand, one foot'. We then clarified that, for instance in the Mari language "half hand" is "one hand" and "half leg" is "one leg" (peljolan - 'half-legged', pelkidan - 'hand-handed'), indeed, in Russian too there is which means 'to squint, to look with half closed eyes', as in the Mari language pelshincha dene onchash - 'look with half an eye', pel shinchan - 'half-eyed'. We cannot consider it a coincidence that in the subconscious of our colleague there survived a morsel of the approach of her distant Finno-Ugric ancestors. (It turned out that her ancestors came from the Vladimir Oblast, and etymological research into their surname also evidences a Mordvin origin.)

The book you are holding in your hand may be regarded as the first swallow in a series of studies published in the Russian language and dealing with the Finno-Ugric mentality. This profound study of the Uralic philosophy is based on the social-psychological and linguistic-philosophical observations of Sándor Karácsony and Gábor Lükő. For Russian speaking readers, including representatives of the Finno-Ugric peoples, these names sound unfamiliar, but the appearance of books like this in the Russian language is a long awaited development: the desire for self-discovery - who and what are we really? - have long been in the air, but at least for the last two decades, since the doors have opened for every Finno-Ugric people, including those living dispersed and far from one another on the territory of Russia, to have free interaction with one another and with representatives of Finno-Ugric peoples living abroad.

The Finno-Ugric peoples, which had been living on the territory of today's Russia for many centuries before the formation of the Russian state (Rus), came into contact with ethnic groups unrelated to them, by which their traditions and customs intermingled with one another and their languages and cultures were enriched (reciprocally) to the extent which they instinctively required. Despite the interaction of cultures and the spiritual growth, the Uralic peoples were not assimilated into the surrounding ethnicities, but they preserved and improved their own perception of the world and the spiritual roots from which their own philosophy of life was shaped and nourished.

One of the roots of the unity of the Uralic peoples which still survives today is religious beliefs. The ancient religion of all the Finno-Ugric ethnic groups was paganism, which continues to survive in all of us somewhere in the depth of our soul, even if someone considers himself Muslim or Christian. The most important thing for us is that God is present in all of us, we see the being of God in everything which the Creator has made, i.e. in everything which exists. A characteristic of Finno-Ugric people is that they lived and live in harmony with nature, with the surrounding world and with their neighbours.

The chief cause of the disintegration of the Finno-Ugric identity was Christianity being compelled and forced upon them. Despite this, forms of philosophy of such universal impact prevail in the Territory of Russia, in which the presence of the spirituality of Finno-Ugric peoples can be discovered. Evidence of this is provided by attributes typical of a significant proportion of the Russian people (i.e. specifically Russians of Russia, not Slavs), such as extreme kindness, compliance, placidity, a lack of unruly aggressiveness, the effort to get close to others emotionally, to understand their lifestyle and mentality, the willingness to bear with the faults of other ethnic communities. If these world-view attributes were not and had not been typical of the majority of the population of multiethnic Russia, then in the times following perestroika, the number of flashpoints in the country would have been considerably higher.

Deepak Chopra, one of the greatest thinkers of our age, states, "The debate on how to end war, for example, has proved totally futile because the instant I see myself as an isolated individual, I confront "them", the countless other individuals who want what I want. Violence is built into the opposition of us versus them. "They" never go away and "they" never give up. They will always fight to protect their stake in the world. As long as you and I have a separate stake in the world, the cycle of violence will remain permanent." (Deepak Chopra. The Book of Secrets, p. 39)

One of the important lessons in this work is, "(...) the extensive use of the word half existing far and wide in the Finno-Ugric languages indicates that there is an approach and perception of the world here which pervades the whole mentality. Whilst in the approach of the Indo-European peoples the individual person is a separate unit (personality), who has his own language, his own will and his own art, which he must validate as much as possible over against other people in his social life, according to the approach of the Finno-Ugric peoples, my life can only obtain its human nature and meaning when it forms a whole with the life of my other half. Only our joint activity is meaningful. This approach finds it hard to tolerate if another person wants to coerce someone into a subordinate relationship, and wants to force the whole of his own autonomy onto him, if he wants to dictate to him from above, if he stands his ground and will not yield. For a person thinking according to the approach of the Finno-Ugric languages, a coordinating relationship between parties is natural, the most natural form of which in existence, as determined by Sándor Karácsony, is a family-like relationship between people." Both philosophical approaches provide an explanation for why there are no flashpoints in Finno-Ugric areas. In some Finno-Ugric republics, for instance the Mari El Republic, the governing stratum of foreign origin, not being familiar with the people, their perception of the world, their lifestyle and customs, regarding their frugality manifested day to day, in everyday life as backwardness and their acute sensitivity shown in the selection of tools and means for the achievement of productive and positive results in any matter whatever as nationalism, attempted if not to eradicate, at least to ignore the feelings of this ethnic minority. For those leaders who would like to work efficiently with these peoples, this book can provide valuable help.

Actually, every chapter and every page of this work make the reader think. For instance, the part where the author writes about those historians who, "act as though distinctively Central European history, common fate and interdependence had never existed", brings to the reader's mind the question: where is the place of the Finno-Ugric peoples in Russian history starting from the Old Russian period, as it was on the territory of their ancestral homeland where Rus emerged, and they constituted the overwhelming majority of its population, which was later gradually assimilated? There is no reference to this in any secondary school history textbook. Our historians strive for us even as children to view the history of foreign peoples with enthusiasm - rather than our own. A knowledge of ancient Greek and Roman history or the later French and Italian revolutions etc. is naturally useful and necessary for a general education, particularly for those who want to graduate from secondary school and would like to continue with their studies, but in terms of our heart, our mind and our spirituality it would be much more useful if we were aware of the real history of our own homeland, including its earlier periods.

György Kádár, the author of this book, taking the works of Hungarian philosophers as a basis, develops and deepens their concept, demonstrating the peculiarities of the culture, world view, perception of the world, mentality and lifestyle of the Finno-Ugric peoples in music and mathematics, touching on linguistic, linguistic-philosophical and neuropsychological studies, listing examples primarily from the Hungarian and Finnish cultural spheres. Following in the tracks of Gábor Lükő, who laid the foundation for Finno-Ugric comparative ethnography, mythology studies, music research and the Finno-Ugric comparative culture theory, the author presents the kinship of the Uralic peoples from a cultural and linguistic point of view and demonstrates the cultural cohesion of the Finno-Ugric peoples.

Until now, only the mentality of the Hungarians has been studied with scientific exaction, so when he speaks of Pan-Finno-Ugric cognitive-linguistic, volitional-social and emotional-artistic phenomena, the author notes that he cannot present an exhaustive discussion of the questions raised in the given work, but he expresses his hope that in the future, experts from a wide variety of scientific branches will extend the analysis to the cultures of all the Uralic peoples.

The author achieves his own objectives thoroughly, grippingly, working with specific material. He presents what he has to say in a way which arouses the reader's interest and curiosity. He cuts to the quick, transporting many into the depths of the research and prompting them to collective reflection: musicians on the language of music, which reflects the Finno-Ugric emotional realm in a distinctive form; poets, writers, theatre producers and litterateurs on the poetic devices which are peculiar to Finno-Ugric literature, where coordinating thinking is preferred, which presents observed reality broken down into parts and compared with one another; linguists on one of the peculiarities of the Finno-Ugric languages, namely the triple orientation existing in the speaker, who "says what he has to say relative to the location and time of the speech as well as to the party who is listening to him", or the syntactic characteristics of the Uralic language structure, etc. But it also holds many curiosities for substance painters, playwrights and film makers, because it offers an explanation for the peculiarities and mystique of Finno-Ugric art. The book provides ethnographers, psycholinguists, culturologists, sociologists, politicians and students of the humanities with new angles. We must admit that Russian scholars remain indebted to these significant studies in the field of Uralic philosophy. There is a need for "researchers who are familiar with the individual Finno-Ugric (speaking) cultures 'at native language level' to investigate the world view of each Finno-Ugric people thoroughly, and to write trustworthy descriptions in order to inform researchers dealing with the other languages, and to compare the results thus obtained". The solution to the present problems of the Finno-Ugric (and any other) peoples could depend among other things on the lack of suitable analyses, professional literature and information on them. It is possible that studies taking this book as a basis can ascertain and formulate the reason why the sophocracy of the Central-European Finno-Ugric lands as well as the Finno-Ugric republics of Russia have been of foreign origin, and remain so to the present day. Without doubt, one of the most important reasons for this lies in Finno-Ugric philosophy, perhaps, as Sándor Karácsony claims, it is "the formula of freedom". Future studies may provide help with the preservation of the ethnic and civil identity of the Finno-Ugric peoples, and with support for their unique culture. It is our great hope that this extremely valuable work will be the sapling from which the spreading tree of Finno-Ugric philosophy will develop.

Aleksandra Seldyukova
Russian Academy of Sciences
Institute of Linguistics

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