Worlds of Social Reality

Culture

The term "culture" is derived from the Latin word cultura, which originally meant "cultivation" and primarily referred to land in its agricultural use. However, it soon began to be employed in a more figurative sense. Thus, the classical figure of Latin philosophical prose, the renowned Roman orator Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BCE), utilized "culture" in the context of the cultivation of the human mind through education and upbringing. By the 17th to 19th centuries, it designated the refinement of human qualities, contrasting cultura and natura, signifying what is created by humans as opposed to what grows autonomously, appearing as a natural given. Today, the concept of culture is fraught with complexities, lacking a universally accepted interpretation (the specialized literature lists several hundred different definitions of culture). How much more so in our time, when even J.G. Herder lamented at the end of the 18th century: "Nothing is less defined than this word - 'culture', and nothing is more deceptive than applying it to entire ages and peoples. How few cultured people there are in a cultured nation! And in what traits should we recognize culture? Does culture contribute to human happiness?"

In selecting from numerous definitions of culture to find a more suitable one, or providing one’s own after critical analysis of others, it is essential to consider its functional role in the holistic framework of social-philosophical knowledge, paying attention to the gaps in understanding society and humanity that are not covered by other concepts. Thus, we might agree on the following definition: culture is a social program of human activity. This definition, although somewhat abstract, at least confirms that animals, unlike humans, primarily possess genetically inherited behavioral programs. If we aim to represent "culture" substantively, that is, define it through a listing of components, then culture is a collection of values, worldviews, and behavioral rules shared by large groups of people.

As a program of activity, culture serves as a specific informational code for transmitting experiences of communication and distinctly human manifestations of activity, functioning as a sign system that is transparent in all its meanings to the members of a particular social community. The earliest, most archaic forms of social life were based on the imitation of behavioral models, where experiences and skills of the elders were replicated during direct communication. From the outset, the human body, with its postures, movements, gestures, and expressions, situated within stages of productive activity, rest, ritual practices, military campaigns, and even sleep, was a significant and evident center of the coding system. All of this could be conditionally termed the techniques of the body, which the French social anthropologist Marcel Mauss (1872-1950) understood as the ways in which individuals utilize their bodies, differing across various cultural systems and times, and which require specific learning, as they are not innate. Mauss proposed several approaches to classifying body techniques: by gender; the variability of body techniques according to age; based on productivity; and through the trajectory of an individual's biography (from infancy, through childhood and youth, to adulthood and beyond - into old age).

The development of language established a new sign system for coding cultural achievements and their imitation. Spoken language served to accumulate and record experiences and knowledge, functioning as a means of communication among individuals for cooperation in productive activities, integrating primitive collectives into a cohesive whole. Approximately from the mid-2nd millennium BCE, alphabetic writing was created (prior to this, pictographs and various signs for syllables were used for messages), with the alphabet appearing around 800 BCE. Writing facilitated the enhancement of collective memory, eliminating the risk of losing acquired knowledge, fostering the expansion of trade, and meeting the demands of economic development and state administration. In the mid-15th century, printed books emerged in Europe. Although printing was invented in China as early as the 11th century, these achievements of the Eastern people, like many others, remained unknown to Europeans for a long time. The advent of printing significantly accelerated the dissemination of knowledge, the advancement of science, and made education more effective in academic institutions. All this indicates an acceleration in humanity's informational development leading up to the creation of computer-based information systems. Today, the informational resources of humanity have reached gigantic proportions, and the means of preserving and transmitting messages and knowledge are soon likely to ensure accessibility to information on a planetary scale for nearly anyone who desires it.

Culture encompasses not only programs of activity in the form of a system of functioning knowledge but also the embodiment of knowledge in artifacts (from Latin arte - artificial + factus - made) and the demonstrative expression of knowledge in the form of skills and abilities to conduct productive activities. Herein lies the cultural evolution of humanity from primitive forms of gathering nature’s ready-made products and hunting to agricultural culture and further to modern scientific-technical culture. Cultural phenomena should also include the values, rules, and norms that, in their assimilated form, determine the directions and parameters of individual activities.

Regarding the definition of culture as a social program of human activity, one can agree on the meaning of what is commonly referred to as "culturedness." Culturedness expresses the extent to which an individual has assimilated the culture of their time and community, which must necessarily be evident in the orientation of their activities and behavior.

To complete our examination of the concept of culture we have adopted, it is important to mention a related term. In contemporary philosophical literature and other works of the humanities, the term "civilization" is frequently used alongside culture. When civilization is a synonym for culture, there are no issues. However, often the term "civilization" is imbued with a slightly different meaning, which should be considered in our discussion about culture to differentiate these concepts. Researchers of the etymology of the words "civilization" and "culture" assert that the noun civilization first appeared in the French language in 1757 and in English in 1772, becoming prevalent in many European languages from the late 18th to early 19th centuries. At that time, it referred to a specific state of societal development, collectively denoting all that has been accomplished "by the hands and souls of men" (François Guizot, French historian, 1787-1874). Civilization was typically associated with entire peoples, great epochs, whereas culture pertained to something less generalized. Throughout the rest of the 19th century, the term culture became more commonly used, encompassing all scales of human creation. In the 20th century, both concepts became equally prevalent and often synonymous. Currently, there is a trend toward assigning civilization a special semantic nuance; this term tends to reflect the "technical" side of human achievements, successes in the growth of industrial power along with all its components (science, engineering, education systems, giant factories, urbanization, communication and transportation systems, etc.), though it sometimes carries a moral-legal aspect (e.g., in expressions like "civilized behavior," "civilized relations"). While this tendency prevails, attempts occasionally arise to compare "culture" and "civilization" either as aspects or as parts of one or the other. For instance, "Civilization is a certain functional subdivision of culture. If culture is the entire system of meanings of human existence, both ideal and materialized, then civilization can be understood as a part of this system that is specifically related to the material resources of culture. The world of materialized and, accordingly, functional phenomena constitutes the material body of culture, or civilization." Given the longstanding tradition of viewing culture and civilization as closely related, if not even akin, it is reasonable to preserve their distinction, particularly in light of the equally longstanding tradition of differentiating between material and spiritual culture within a single culture. The material world created by humans (artifacts), as carriers of knowledge, skills, and abilities that enable the adaptation of external phenomena and processes to satisfy one’s material needs, can be termed material culture. It is this aspect that characterizes the civilizational side of culture, constituting what is defined as civilization. Ethical, aesthetic, religious, and other spiritual values, while largely materialized, are better included within the framework of spiritual culture. In cases where culture and civilization are still used synonymously, we find no meaning here other than stylistic variation in the text.

The philosophical reflection on culture encompasses a rich palette of problems, which are of particular concern to the philosophy of culture. In universities where courses on cultural studies or the history and theory of domestic and world culture are taught, students become more acquainted with the philosophical aspects of culture. Here, we shall note, in addition to what has been previously discussed, only a few of these aspects.

The long journey to overcome Eurocentric views of culture has led to an understanding of human culture as a multifaceted phenomenon, fostering the conviction that there have never been uncultured peoples on Earth—merely that various nations possess their own distinctive cultures. This diversity of culture, both ethnically and regionally, manifests in types such as European and North American, Far Eastern, Indian, Arab-Muslim, Tropical African, and Latin American cultures. The division between Western and Eastern cultures retains its significance, characterized by the unique dynamics of individual and group relations, as well as attitudes towards tradition and innovation, among other factors. Within a single national culture, one can also discern relatively distinct forms, such as high culture and folk culture. The former has traditionally included fine arts, classical music, and all that has been produced by professionals for consumption by the so-called elite. In contrast, folk culture is more rooted in the everyday existence of ordinary people, who are both its creators and consumers: myths, fairy tales, songs, proverbs, and rituals. In contemporary conditions, where mass media and communication have advanced tremendously, a so-called mass culture has emerged, characterized by the blurring of boundaries between high and folk culture, as well as between regional and national cultures. On one hand, mass culture has made superior cultural achievements accessible to the majority, but on the other, the commercialization and standardization of cultural production often lead market demands to yield to the low tastes of the public.

The diversity of cultures can also be illustrated by the richness of other subcultures within the same culture. Subcultures are defined as the collection of norms, values, and behavioral patterns that distinguish a particular group from a broader community. These may include regional, religious, class-based, age-related, and ethnic subcultures. Among subcultures, some exist in conflict with the prevailing culture; such phenomena are termed counterculture (e.g., "bohemia" as a lifestyle of certain artistic intelligentsia) and sometimes some of them are referred to as "catacomb culture."

The acknowledgment of cultural diversity is merely one aspect of their characterization. Equally evident is the cultural unity of humanity, which can be observed in two ways. First, cultures across various nations and regions share certain common features and similar elements that facilitate cultural contact and interaction. These elements and traits are often referred to as cultural universals. Scholars examining these universals frequently disagree on their specifics. Some identify these universals in the categories through which people evaluate, comprehend, and experience the world, unifying all phenomena of reality (e.g., "space," "time," "cause," "good," "beauty," "faith," "duty," "freedom"). Others regard cultural universals as phenomena such as art, education, scientific research, philosophy, and so forth, proposing a criterion: a universal can only be called such if it is present in some form in all societies at all times. American cultural researcher George Murdock (1897-1985) identified over sixty cultural universals, which include language, tool-making, communal labor, hospitality, religious rituals, education, and many others. Although their specific forms may vary among different peoples, their functional content remains identical, paving the way for intercultural contact and understanding.

Secondly, the unity of cultures and the growing degree of universality of human culture as a whole is currently ensured by the development of economic ties, the evolution of mass media and communication, the universality of science and technology, and the increasing role of the demands of international law.