In
philosophy
Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
and
sociology
Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...
, culturalism is the central importance of culture as an organizing force in human affairs.
[Hałas (2010), p. 12.][Hałas (2010), p. 214.][Dulczewski (1984), pp. 186–187.] It is also described as an ontological approach that seeks to eliminate simple binaries between seemingly opposing phenomena such as nature and culture.
Origins
Florian Znaniecki
Florian Witold Znaniecki (; 15 January 1882 – 23 March 1958) was a Polish-born American philosopher and sociologist who taught and wrote in Poland and in the United States. Over the course of his work, he shifted his focus from philosoph ...
(1882–1958) was a Polish-American philosopher and sociologist. Znaniecki's culturalism was based on philosophies and theories of
Matthew Arnold
Matthew Arnold (24 December 1822 – 15 April 1888) was an English poet and cultural critic. He was the son of Thomas Arnold, the headmaster of Rugby School, and brother to both Tom Arnold (academic), Tom Arnold, literary professor, and Willi ...
(''
Culture and Anarchy
''Culture and Anarchy: An Essay in Political and Social Criticism'' is a series of periodical essays by Matthew Arnold, first published in Cornhill Magazine 1867–68 and collected as a book in 1869. The preface was added in 1869.Robert H. Super ...
''),
Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher. He began his career as a classical philology, classical philologist, turning to philosophy early in his academic career. In 1869, aged 24, Nietzsche bec ...
(
voluntarism),
Henri Bergson
Henri-Louis Bergson (; ; 18 October 1859 – 4 January 1941) was a French philosopher who was influential in the traditions of analytic philosophy and continental philosophy, especially during the first half of the 20th century until the S ...
(
creative evolutionism),
Wilhelm Dilthey
Wilhelm Dilthey (; ; 19 November 1833 – 1 October 1911) was a German historian, psychologist, sociologist, and hermeneutic philosopher, who held Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel's Chair in Philosophy at the University of Berlin. As a polymathi ...
(
philosophy of life
(; meaning "philosophy of life") was a dominant philosophical movement of German-speaking countries in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which had developed out of German Romanticism. emphasised the meaning of life, meaning, value and pur ...
),
William James
William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was an American philosopher and psychologist. The first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States, he is considered to be one of the leading thinkers of the late 19th c ...
,
John Dewey
John Dewey (; October 20, 1859 – June 1, 1952) was an American philosopher, psychologist, and Education reform, educational reformer. He was one of the most prominent American scholars in the first half of the twentieth century.
The overridi ...
(
pragmatism
Pragmatism is a philosophical tradition that views language and thought as tools for prediction, problem solving, and action, rather than describing, representing, or mirroring reality. Pragmatists contend that most philosophical topics� ...
) and
Ferdinand C. Schiller (
humanism
Humanism is a philosophy, philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and Agency (philosophy), agency of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry.
The me ...
).
He synthesized their theses and developed an original humanistic stance, which was first presented in ''Cultural Reality.''
Znaniecki's philosophy favored the advantages of rational, systematic knowledge.
He also attempted to reconcile the threads of the
phenomenological and
pragmatic views to counter
naturalism.
Aside from naturalism,
[Hałas (2010), p. 21.] Znaniecki was critical of a number of then-prevalent philosophical viewpoints:
intellectualism
Intellectualism is the mental perspective that emphasizes the use, development, and exercise of the intellect, and is identified with the life of the mind of the intellectual. (Definition) In the field of philosophy, the term ''intellectualism'' in ...
,
[Hałas (2010), p. 52.] idealism
Idealism in philosophy, also known as philosophical realism or metaphysical idealism, is the set of metaphysics, metaphysical perspectives asserting that, most fundamentally, reality is equivalent to mind, Spirit (vital essence), spirit, or ...
,
,
and
rationalism
In philosophy, rationalism is the Epistemology, epistemological view that "regards reason as the chief source and test of knowledge" or "the position that reason has precedence over other ways of acquiring knowledge", often in contrast to ot ...
.
He was also critical of
irrationalism
Irrationalism is a philosophical movement that emerged in the early 19th century, emphasizing the non-rational dimension of human life. As they reject logic, irrationalists argue that instinct and feelings are superior to reason in the research ...
and
intuitionism
In the philosophy of mathematics, intuitionism, or neointuitionism (opposed to preintuitionism), is an approach where mathematics is considered to be purely the result of the constructive mental activity of humans rather than the discovery of fu ...
.
His criticisms became the bases of a new theoretical framework in the form of culturalism.
[Sztompka (2002), pp. 52–53.]
Characteristics
Znaniecki's "culturalism" was an
ontological
Ontology is the philosophical study of being. It is traditionally understood as the subdiscipline of metaphysics focused on the most general features of reality. As one of the most fundamental concepts, being encompasses all of reality and every ...
and
epistemological
Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that examines the nature, origin, and limits of knowledge. Also called "the theory of knowledge", it explores different types of knowledge, such as propositional knowledge about facts, practical knowled ...
approach aiming to eliminate dualisms such as the belief that nature and culture are opposite realities.
This approach allowed him to "define
social phenomena
Social phenomena or social phenomenon (singular) are any behaviours, actions, or events that takes place because of social influence, including from contemporary as well as historical societal influences. They are often a result of multifaceted pro ...
in cultural terms".
Znaniecki was arguing for the importance of
culture
Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...
, noting that our culture shapes our view of the world and our thinking.
[Dulczewski (1984), pp. 187–188.] Znaniecki notes that while the world is composed of physical artifacts, we are not really capable of studying the physical world other than through the lenses of culture.
[Dulczewski (1984), p. 189.]
Among the fundamental aspects of the philosophy of culturalism are two categories: value and action.
, who calls it an "antithesis to the intellectual dogmas of naturalism", identifies the following assumptions:
* "The subject-object dualism must be overcome and thought should be united with reality."
* "Reality is not an absolute order but changes in a creative evolution."
* "All images of the world are relative."
* "It is false to oppose nature and culture or to subordinate culture to nature."
* "Value is the most general category of the description of reality."
Znaniecki's philosophy of culturalism laid the foundation for his larger theoretical system, based around another concept of his, "
humanistic coefficient."
[Hałas (2010), pp. 55, 172.] Though originally a philosophical concept,
culturalism was further developed by Znaniecki to inform his sociological theories.
[Hałas (2010), p. 51.]
Znaniecki's culturalism influenced modern sociological views of
antipositivism
In social science, antipositivism (also interpretivism, negativism or antinaturalism) is a theoretical stance which proposes that the social realm cannot be studied with the methods of investigation utilized within the natural sciences, and th ...
and
antinaturalism.
[Sztompka (2002), p. 2425.]
References
Sources
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Further reading
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{{Social and political philosophy
Social ontology
Sociological theories
Pragmatism