Moscow, 21 June: The state should devote more attention to the humanities, the deputy head of the Presidential Administration, Vladislav Surkov, believes.

Speaking at a conference entitled "Contemporary issues of teaching modern history and social sciences in education facilities and developing a state standard for public education of the second generation" on Wednesday (20 June), he said that during the last years the state has actively engaged in restoring the administrative system, correcting the political system and building a competitive economy. "I think that the state and society as a whole have been a bit late in addressing issues in the humanities - things like history, philosophy, political science, sociology and so on," he said.

Surkov believes that one possible reason for this is the misconception that successes in other areas, for example the economy, can be achieved separately from culture in general. "The economy is a derivative of human culture and, in my opinion, it is impossible to reach economic achievements separately from the sphere of humanities," he said.

"I think that without answering the questions who we are, how we should live and what we are living for, effective political work and an effective economic system are impossible. Without understanding what societal morale is, what our past consists of and what kind of future we imagine, there can be no forward movement and improving life is impossible," he said.

The answers to these questions, Surkov believes, should be sought in philosophy and, to some degree, history.

"It is of utmost importance that Russia achieves things in this area of intellectual activities and that the state devotes the most rapt attention to it," he said.

"I would very much like us to come up with our own interesting, popular and maybe even in some sense fashionable philosophical doctrines, our own views on how society is organized, so that we, without losing contact with the general context of global development, can be capable of creating some original doctrines and form interesting frames of reference," he said.

He added that this is by no means a matter of someone "at the top" developing some instructions on what morale is, how our history should be read and how we should imagine our future.

Moreover, Surkov added that he does not call for an uncritical attitude to our history.

"We have to see its dark moments and problems, but I presume that it would also be wrong to go as far as to completely deny the successes and achievements of out great country," he said.