“Culture” (from Latin culture - cultivation, education, development, etc.) means the cultivation (development, planting) of certain characteristics of an object, which is consciously carried out by a person. This definition still retains its meaning when it comes to crops grown, or when talking about the degree of culture of an individual. Regarding social development, culture is understood more broadly, as a specific way of organizing and developing human life, represented in the products of material and spiritual labor, in the system of social norms and institutions, in spiritual values, in the totality of people’s relationships to nature, among themselves and to themselves. This understanding of culture allows us to point out the specific nature of human activity, which is conscious and active in nature, in contrast, for example, to the development of presocial forms of life in biology, where it is subject to biological laws.
In its original meaning, the concept of “culture” is quite close in content to the concept of “civilization” and in many cases they are used as synonyms. “Civilization” (from the Latin civilis - civil, state), although it can be used as a synonym for culture, is etymologically a concept that is narrower in content. We can say that this is a certain special stage in the development of human culture, which is necessarily connected with society and is constituted in the form of a state. Civilization is not any society, but only one that is built on reasonable principles, i.e. certain principles consciously introduced into his management.
We can distinguish two main lines in the interpretation of the development of culture, one way or another connected with a comparison of the concepts of culture and civilization. In the universalist approach, culture and civilization are most often considered as synonyms. Here, the formation of human culture is a single directed process, which allows us to talk about its progress. Moreover, culture includes the results of both material and spiritual activities to create a set of cultural values. In some cases, these two types of activities are considered in isolation from each other. As a result, concepts emerge that are based on the primacy of either spiritual or material activity.
The materialist version of the interpretation of cultural development, on the contrary, is associated with the absolutization of the role of material activity. Within the framework of this approach, the Marxist model of understanding culture is implemented, which is based on the principle of a materialist understanding of history and explains cultural phenomena and cultural development based on the determining role of productive forces and production relations. Accordingly, research into the spiritual sphere is proposed to be studied as a certain reflection of the processes that occur in society itself. Culture here acts as one of the characteristics of society and expresses the level of historical development achieved by humanity, determined by man’s attitude to nature and society. There are two layers in culture - the spiritual sphere and the sphere of material production, which are in relation to the above-mentioned subordination and reflect the corresponding types of activity (production). Material culture includes all types and results of material activity. Spiritual culture is the sphere of consciousness.
The civilizational approach comprehends the historical process as the formation and change of civilizations. So, for example, with NL. Danilevsky civilizations found in world history represent different cultural and historical types, which within themselves are united by a single language, representing a separate identity. The condition for the emergence and development of civilization is the political independence of a given people. Thus, not every nation is capable of acting as a civilization at this stage of its development. Civilizations are closed, local entities. The beginnings of a civilization of one cultural-historical type are not transmitted to peoples of another type. Each type develops it for itself under the greater or lesser influence of alien, previous or modern civilizations.
The German philosopher Spengler laid down the tradition of considering civilization as the final stage of development of a given culture, at which, along with the development of science and technology, the destruction of spiritual culture (literature, art) occurs. “The decline of Europe,” according to Spengler, means the decline of classical culture based on ancient traditions and the emergence of civilization. Civilization is a stage of attenuation of creativity, when people’s activities are increasingly pragmatic in nature, which inevitably leads to reproductive forms of production; not a holistic organic life, but a formalized, strictly ordered and compulsorily regulated existence acquires significance.
Man, as an element of the social system, realizes himself in a variety of relationships. Culture in this regard is a special form of human existence, which arises as a kind of “second nature” created by man himself along with nature as such. But a person can create something (in the form of products) only by using nature, transforming it. As a result of special cultural activity, man transforms nature according to his spiritual needs, thereby realizing his inner essence. Humanity is constantly expanding its own cultural world, realizing the growing spiritual needs of man.
Since culture is a social phenomenon, it would be logical to consider it also as a special kind of system. Based on a systematic approach, it is possible not only to capture what is truly specific, which is included as elements in the characteristics of culture, but also to understand its essence as a special sphere of existence. In this aspect, culture is a special kind of complex system that not only has a fairly strict internal structure, but at the same time bears the features of individual, purposeful creative activity of people.
Culture is at the same time a self-organizing system, which determines such a feature as the active generation of new subsystems, objects that did not exist in nature, based on the processing of existing information. However, this is a property of many complex systems. The specificity of culture in this regard lies in the fact that its main structural component is human activity, understood as the unity of biological (natural) and extrabiological (social) components. Based on this, when explaining certain cultural phenomena as the results of this activity, we must take into account the indicated dual specificity of the latter, without reducing everything only to the biological nature or, on the contrary, to the social essence of man. Culture as a system has its own properties that distinguish it from other self-organizing systems. This allows us to point out the social specificity of human activity, which, having its original source including the biological needs of the individual’s life, comes out of the “natural world”, becoming a social activity.
The most important feature of culture as a system is the way of organizing communication between its elements (people), which ensures communication between its relatively local subsystems (individual cultures), individuals within the same culture or at the level of intercultural communication, and even between cultures at different times.
Since culture is, in a broad sense, communication, it is always realized as a dialogue between cultures and individuals who act as its bearers. An individual person as a social being, entering into communication with a representative of another culture, always “dialogues” on behalf of his cultural community, the social “we”, within which his formation as an individual took place.

The concept of culture is central to cultural studies. In its modern meaning, it entered the circulation of European social thought from the 2nd half. 18th century

Culture is an integral part of human existence and one of the fundamental characteristics used to study certain countries, regions, and civilizations. Having emerged together with man, culture evolved along with him, within its framework original and often contradictory ideas and trends were born, flourished and declined, but it itself always remained relatively monolithic.

Culture is a specific way of organizing and developing human life, represented in the products of material and spiritual labor, in the system of social norms and institutions, in spiritual values, in the totality of people’s relationships to nature, among themselves and to themselves.

Culture characterizes the characteristics of consciousness, behavior and activity of people in specific spheres of social life (work culture, political culture, etc.).

The word “culture” comes from the Latin, meaning the cultivation of the soil, its cultivation, i.e. a change in a natural object under human influence, as opposed to those changes caused by natural causes. Already in the initial content one can highlight an important feature - the unity of culture, man and his activities. For example, the Hellenes saw their upbringing as their main difference from the “wild”, “uncultured barbarians”. In the Middle Ages, the word “culture” was associated with personal qualities, with signs of personal improvement. During the Renaissance, personal perfection began to be understood as conformity to the humanistic ideal. And from the point of view of the enlighteners of the 18th century. culture meant "reasonableness." Giambattista Vico (1668-1744), Johann Gottfried Herder (1744-1803), Charles Louis Montesquieu (1689-1755), Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) believed that culture is manifested in the rationality of social orders and political institutions, and is measured by achievements in the field of science and art. The goal of culture and the highest purpose of reason coincide: to make people happy. This was already a concept of culture, called eudaimonic ( direction that considers happiness and bliss to be the highest goal of human life).

From 2nd half 19th century The concept of “culture” acquires the status of a scientific category. It ceases to mean only a high level of development of society. This concept increasingly began to intersect with such concepts as “civilization” and “socio-economic formation”. This concept was introduced into scientific circulation by Karl Marx. It forms the foundation of a materialistic understanding of history.

In the 20th century In scientific ideas about culture, the touch of romanticism, which gave it the meaning of uniqueness, creative impulse, and high spirituality, finally disappears. The French philosopher Jean Paul Sartre (1905-1980) noted that culture does not save or justify anyone or anything. But she is the work of man, in her he looks for his reflection, in her he recognizes himself, only in this critical mirror can he see his face.

In general, there is no single answer to what culture is. Now, according to some researchers, there are about a thousand definitions of culture.

The concept of “culture,” as noted in the philosophical dictionary, means a historically determined level of development of society, creative powers and abilities of a person, expressed in the types and forms of organization of people’s lives and activities, as well as in the material and spiritual values ​​they create.

Therefore, the world of culture is the result of the efforts of people themselves, aimed at improving and transforming what is given by nature itself. One can cite as an example a poem by Nikolai Zabolotsky (1903-1958):

Man has two worlds:

One who created us,

Another who we are from time immemorial

We create to the best of our ability

That. It is possible to understand the essence of culture only through the prism of human activity and the peoples inhabiting the planet. Culture does not exist without people.

A person is not born social, but only becomes so in the process of activity. Education and upbringing are nothing more than the mastery of culture, the process of transmitting it from one generation to another. Consequently, culture means the introduction of a person to society, society.

Any person, first of all, masters the culture that was created before him, thereby mastering the experience of his predecessors, but at the same time he makes his own contribution, thereby enriching him

Culture as a world of human meanings

Culture is a special sphere of social life in which the creative nature of man is most fully realized, and first of all it is art, education, and science. But only such an understanding of culture would impoverish its content. The most complete understanding of culture is one that reveals the essence of human existence as the realization of creativity and freedom.

A person’s relationship to the world is determined by meaning; in turn, meaning relates any phenomenon, any object to a person. If something is devoid of meaning, it, as a rule, ceases to exist for a person. Meaning is, as it were, a mediator between the world and man. The meaning is not always realized by a person and not every meaning can be expressed rationally. To a greater extent, meanings are hidden in the human unconscious. But the meaning can also become universally significant, uniting many people. It is these meanings that form culture.

Thus, culture is a way of human creative self-realization through meaning. Culture appears before a person as a world of meaning that inspires and unites people into a community (nation). Culture is a universal way by which a person makes the whole world “his own,” i.e. turns it into a “house of human existence”, into a bearer of human meanings.

When did the birth of a new culture take place? In order for a new culture to be born, it is necessary that new meanings be enshrined in symbolic forms and be recognized by other people as a model, i.e. became semantic dominants.

Dominant is the dominant idea, the main feature.

Culture is the result of free human creativity, but it also keeps it within its semantic framework. In eras of cultural transformation, old meanings do not always satisfy people. New semantic paradigms are created, according to the Russian philosopher Nikolai Aleksandrovich Berdyaev, by individual creativity.

Culture structure

For culture as a social phenomenon, the concepts of cultural statics and cultural dynamics are fundamental. The first characterizes culture at rest, immutability and repeatability, the second considers culture as a process in movement and change.

The main elements of culture exist in 2 types - material and spiritual. The totality of material elements constitutes material culture, and intangible elements constitute spiritual culture.

An important feature of material culture is its non-identity with either the material life of society or material production.

Material culture includes the culture of labor and material production, the culture of everyday life, the culture of topos, i.e. place of residence (home, house, city), culture of attitude towards one’s own body, physical culture.

The totality of intangible elements forms the spiritual side of cultural statics: norms, rules, patterns, ceremonies, rituals, myths, ideas, customs. Any object of intangible culture needs a material intermediary. For example, books are such a mediator for knowledge.

Spiritual culture is a multi-layered formation and includes cognitive, moral, artistic, legal, pedagogical, religious and other cultures.

According to many cultural scientists, there are types of culture that cannot be unambiguously attributed only to the material or spiritual sphere. These are, for example, economic, political, aesthetic cultures.

In cultural statics, elements are delimited in time and space. Thus, part of the material and spiritual culture created by past generations, which has stood the test of time and is passed on to subsequent generations is called cultural heritage.

Heritage is an important factor in the unity of a nation, a means of uniting society in times of crisis.

In addition to cultural heritage, cultural statics also includes the concept of a cultural area - a geographical area, within which different cultures show similarities in the main features.

On a global scale, cultural heritage is expressed by so-called cultural universals - norms, values, rules, traditions, properties that are inherent in all cultures, regardless of geographical location, historical time and social structure of society.

As already noted, culture is a very complex, multi-level system. It is customary to divide culture according to its carriers. Depending on this, world and national cultures are distinguished.

World culture is a synthesis of the best achievements of all national cultures of the various peoples inhabiting the planet.

National culture, in turn, is a synthesis of the cultures of various classes, social strata and groups of the corresponding society. The uniqueness of national culture, its uniqueness and originality are manifested both in the spiritual (language, literature, music, painting, religion) and material (features of the economic structure, traditions of labor and production) spheres of life and activity.

The set of values, beliefs, traditions and customs that guide the majority of members of society is called the dominant culture. But since society will break up into many groups (national, social, professional, etc.), gradually each of them will form its own culture, i.e. system of values ​​and rules of behavior. Such small cultural worlds are called subcultures. They talk about a youth subculture, a subculture of national minorities, a professional subculture, etc.

The subculture differs from the dominant one in its language, outlook on life, and manners of behavior. Such differences may be strong, but the subculture is not opposed to the dominant culture. And the subculture that opposes the dominant one, i.e. is in conflict with dominant values, called

The subculture of the criminal world is opposed to human culture, and the “hippie” youth movement, which became widespread in the 60-70s. in the countries of Western Europe and America, denied the dominant American values: social values, moral norms and moral ideals of consumer society, political loyalty, conformism and rationalism.

Conformism (from Late Lat. Conformis - similar, conformable) - opportunism, passive acceptance of existing orders, prevailing opinions, lack of one’s own positions.



Plan

Introduction 3

Culture as a specific sphere of life. Culture and

“second nature”.

3

The structure of culture and its main functions. 7

The problem of periodization of the cultural-historical process. 9

II. Briefly summarize the essence of Jaspers K.’s work “The Origins of History and Its Purpose.” Highlight the main idea of ​​Jaspers K. in the interpretation of world history. 10

III. Tests.

eleven

Conclusion. 12

Literature. 13

Introduction.

Culture is a specific way of organizing and developing human life, represented in the products of material and spiritual production, in the system of social norms and institutions, in spiritual values, in the totality of people’s relationships to nature, among themselves and to themselves. Culture embodies, first of all, the general difference between human life and biological forms of life. Human behavior is determined not so much by nature as by upbringing and culture. Man differs from other animals in his ability to collectively create and transmit symbolic meanings - signs, language. Outside of symbolic, cultural meanings (designations), not a single object can be included in the human world. In the same way, no object can be created without a preliminary “project” in a person’s head. The human world is a culturally constructed world; all boundaries in it are of a sociocultural nature. Outside the system of cultural meanings, there is no difference between king and courtier, saint and sinner, beauty and ugliness. The main function of culture is the introduction and maintenance of a certain social order. They distinguish between material and spiritual culture. Material culture includes all areas of material activity and its results. It includes equipment, housing, clothing, consumer goods, a way of eating and living, etc., which together constitute a certain way of life. Spiritual culture includes all spheres of spiritual activity and its products - knowledge, education, enlightenment, law, philosophy, science, art, religion, etc. Outside of spiritual culture, culture does not exist at all, just as not a single type of human activity exists. Spiritual culture is also embodied in material media (books, paintings, diskettes, etc.). Therefore, the division of culture into spiritual and material is very arbitrary. Culture reflects the qualitative originality of historically specific forms of human life at various stages of historical development, within different eras, socio-economic formations, ethnic, national and other communities. Culture characterizes the characteristics of people’s activities in specific social spheres (political culture, economic culture, culture of work and life, culture of entrepreneurship, etc.), as well as the characteristics of the life of social groups (class, youth, etc.). At the same time, there are cultural universals - certain elements common to the entire cultural heritage of mankind (age gradation, division of labor, education, family, calendar, decorative arts, dream interpretation, etiquette, etc. ). J. Murdoch identified more than 70 such universals. The term “culture” acquired its modern meaning only in the 20th century. Initially (in Ancient Rome, where this word came from), this word meant cultivation, “cultivation” of the soil. In the 18th century, the term acquired an elitist character and meant civilization opposed to barbarism.

The characteristics of the cultural phenomenon are incomplete without clarifying the correlation between the natural and the cultural. Research by culturologists shows that culture is extra-biological, it cannot be reduced to the natural, however, there is nothing cultural to derive and build from except from the natural. That is why they talk about the difference and unity of “natural” and “cultural”. One of the first formulations expressing the specifics of culture sounded like this: “Cultura contra natura.” In other words, culture was understood as something supernatural, different from naturalness, which arose not “by itself,” but as a result of human activity. Culture at the same time includes both the activity itself and its products.

Culture is often defined as “second nature.” This understanding goes back to ancient Greece, in which Democritus considered culture “second nature.” Is this definition correct? In its most general form, one can, of course, accept it. At the same time, we need to figure out whether culture is really opposed to nature? Cultural experts usually classify everything man-made as culture. Nature created man, and he, working tirelessly, created the “second nature”, i.e. space of culture.

Second nature is an expression that emphasizes the inextricable connection of cultural activity with nature, which in this unity is “first”, and culture itself is defined through the word “nature” (albeit second). In interaction with the world, a person uses two main forms of activity. The first is direct human consumption of natural resources in a biochemical, natural way. The second - main form - the transformation of (first) nature, the creation of what is not in it in ready-made form - so-called artifacts. They are designed to provide both biological needs (at a higher level and in addition to the first form), and extra-natural - social needs. The result of this is the “humanization” of nature, the creation of a new world, the stamp of human activity (in contrast to the world of “virgin” nature). This new, human world - “second nature” - includes not only objects and results of labor, but also the material foundations of social relations, joint activity to overcome not only the “first” (there is less and less of it), but also the “second "of nature, as well as changes in the person himself, down to bodily manifestations.

Sometimes this term is simply identified with the concept of “culture”, which is perceived as what is “won” by the labor and spirit of man from nature itself as “nature”. However, there is a certain flaw in this approach to the problem. A paradoxical train of thought arises: to create culture, distance from nature is necessary. It turns out that nature is not as important for a person as the culture in which he expresses himself. Isn’t this the origin of a predatory, destructive attitude towards nature in this view of cultural creativity? Doesn't the glorification of culture lead to the devaluation of nature?

It is impossible not to see that activity (especially in the early stages of human development) is organically connected with what nature offers to man in its pristine state. The direct impact of natural factors (landscape, climate, presence or absence of energetic or material resources, etc.) can be traced in various directions: from tools and technologies to features of everyday life and the highest manifestations of spiritual life. This allows us to say that the cultural reality is nothing more than natural, continued and transformed by human activity. At the same time, culture is something opposite to nature, which exists forever and develops without the participation of human activity, and the old cultural scientists are right in this.

Without nature there would be no culture, because man creates in nature. He uses the resources of nature, he reveals his own natural potential. But if man had not transgressed the limits of nature, he would have been left without culture. As a human creation, culture surpasses nature, although its source, material and place of action is nature. Human activity is not entirely given by nature, although it is connected with what nature provides in itself. Human nature, considered without this rational activity, is limited only by the faculties of sensory perception and instincts.

Man transforms and completes nature. Culture is formation and creativity. The contrast between culture and nature does not make sense, since man, to a certain extent, is nature, although not only nature... There was and is not a purely natural man. From the beginnings to the end of its history there was, is and will only be a “cultural man,” that is, a “creative man.”

However, mastery of external nature in itself is not yet culture, although it represents one of its conditions. To master nature means to master not only external, but also internal life, which only man is capable of. He took the first step towards a break with nature, beginning to build his own world on it, the world of culture as the highest stage of evolution. On the other hand, man serves as a connecting link between nature and culture. Moreover, its internal belonging to both of these systems indicates that between them there are relations not of contradiction, but of mutual complementarity and unity.

So, man and culture carry within themselves the nature of mother earth, their natural biological prehistory. This is especially clearly revealed now, when humanity is entering space, where without the creation of an ecological refuge, human life and work are simply impossible. The cultural is natural, continued and transformed by human activity. And only in this sense can one speak of the cultural as a supernatural, extra-biological phenomenon. At the same time, it should be emphasized that culture cannot be above nature, because it will destroy it. A person with his culture is part of an ecosystem, therefore culture is called upon to be part of a system common to nature.

Culture is a specific way of organizing and developing human life, represented in the products of material and spiritual labor, in a system of social norms, in spiritual values, in the totality of people’s relationships to nature and to themselves.

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Culture (from the Latin culture cultivation, upbringing, education, development, reverence) is a specific way of organizing and developing human life, represented in the products of material and spiritual labor, in the system of social norms and institutions, in spiritual values, in the totality of people’s relationships to nature, among themselves and to themselves.

Two types of cultural elements: 1. Material - these are physical objects created by human hands. They are called artifacts (steam engine, book, temple, residential building). Artifacts have a specific symbolic meaning, perform an intended function, and are valuable to a group or society. 2. Intangible (spiritual) elements of culture are rules, samples, standards, models and norms of behavior, laws, values, ceremonies, rituals, symbols, knowledge, ideas, customs, traditions, language.

Rules are elements that regulate people’s behavior in accordance with the values ​​of K. Sociocultural norms are standards of behavior. A sign of a social norm is its imperativeness (imperativeness). A norm is an imperative expression of value, defined by a system of rules that are aimed at its reproduction. Social punishments or rewards that encourage compliance with norms are called sanctions. Positive sanctions (monetary reward, empowerment, prestige). Negative sanctions (fine, reprimand). Sanctions derive their legitimacy from norms.

Agents of culture: large social groups, small social groups, individuals. Cultural institutions are organizations that create, perform, store, distribute artistic works, as well as sponsor and teach the population cultural values ​​(schools and universities, academies of sciences, ministries of culture and education, lyceums, galleries, libraries, theaters, educational complexes, stadiums ).

The main functions of culture: 1. Protective function - with the help of artificially created tools and devices, tools, medicines, weapons, vehicles, man has greatly increased his ability to adapt to the world around him, to subjugate nature. 2. Creative function - transformation and exploration of the world.

The main functions of culture: 3. Communication function - the transfer of information in any form: oral and written communication, communication between groups of people, nations, the use of technical means of communication. 4. Significative - the function of determining meanings and values. Any natural phenomenon involved in cultural circulation receives its name.

The main functions of culture: 5. Normative function – is responsible for creating norms, standards, and rules of behavior for people. 6. Relaxation function Relaxation is the art of physical and mental relaxation and relaxation. Stylized forms of stress relief, entertainment, holidays, rituals.