Rabota posvyashchena rassmotreniyu religiozno-mifologicheskikh istokov predstavleniy o kul'turnom razvitii chelovechestva i vydeleniyu na etoy osnove religiozno-filosofskikh, ratsionalisticheskikh idey i teoriy kul'turologicheskogo kharaktera v drevnevostochnykh tsivilizatsiyakh. Issleduyutsya antichnye nauchnye ob"yasneniya proiskhozhdeniya cheloveka i chelovecheskoy kul'tury v rabotakh Platona, Aristotelya, Demokrita i Lukretsiya Kara. Rassmatrivayutsya ponyatiya kul'tury i kul'turologicheskikh idey v epokhu Vozrozhdeniya i Reformatsii (Italiya, Germaniya, Frantsiya i Angliya). Interpretiruyutsya proizvedeniya Dante, Petrarki, Lorentso Vally, N.Makiavelli. Raskryvayutsya vazhneyshie cherty nemetskogo gumanizma v proizvedeniyakh I.Reykhlina, E.Rotterdamskogo, U.Guttena. Izuchayutsya osobennosti frantsuzskogo gumanizma i analiziruyutsya proizvedeniya Zh.Lefevra d'Etaplya i G.Byude a takzhe issleduyutsya idei frantsuzskikh poetov-gumanistov i cherty politicheskoy i pravovoy mysli. Vyyavlyaetsya soderzhanie razvitiya gumanisticheskoy kul'tury v Anglii na rubezhe XVI-XVII vv. a takzhe religiozno-nravstvennye i pedagogicheskie idei Dzhona Koleta i utopicheskie predstavleniya u Tomasa Mora. Kharakterizuetsya period literaturnogo vozrozhdeniya v elizavetinskoy Anglii.