Chapter 1 What is culture?
The word "culture" is very popular now. But speaking of it, many people's understanding is very narrow and shallow. For example, culture, people often think of the audio-visual market, bookstores, book stands, entertainment rooms, dance halls, that is, reading newspapers, watching movies, performing arts programs, engaging in painting and calligraphy, and so on. Or abuse it everywhere and make something similar to "light culture"? Quot ghost culture ","toilet culture "and so on. When people look at culture in this way, they may have some feelings about "what is culture", but they often can't say it, or they can't say it clearly or completely if they want to study it carefully.
This vague feeling shows that the understanding of culture needs to rise to a higher level and be grasped philosophically. Only in philosophy can we provide a more general statement for such a complex and universal problem. Of course, philosophy is also varied. According to Marx's philosophy, we try to give a statement to culture.
First, culture is "humanized"
What is culture? This problem is very complicated. It is said that there are more than 60 kinds of/kloc-0 according to the definition that can be checked, which shows its complexity. But the secrets of many complex problems are often hidden in simple and basic facts, and so are the secrets of "culture". We believe that cultural issues are actually "people" issues. The essence of culture should be found from the fact that "people become people".
The word "culture" used internationally comes from Latin culture-"cultivation, education, development and respect", that is to say, it initially refers to land reclamation and planting plants, later refers to cultivating people's physical and spiritual development, and later further refers to the material and spiritual wealth created by human society in conquering nature and self-development.
British anthropologist Taylor first defined "culture" abroad. In the book Primitive Culture published by 187 1, he said: "Culture or civilization, in its broad ethnological sense, is a complex whole including the knowledge, beliefs, art, morality, laws, customs, abilities and habits acquired by anyone as a member of society." Later, American scholars Crewe Cohen and Kelly further pointed out: "Culture is a system of survival modes created in history, which includes both explicit modes and implicit modes. It has a tendency to be enjoyed by the whole group or a specific part of the group within a certain period of time. " Although there are many kinds of sayings, we can see that some of them are basic and similar.
Philosophically speaking, culture is humanization, including humanization of the world and humanization of people.
The so-called "culture is humanization" means that culture means that people change the environment and develop themselves according to a certain scale. Such activities and their results are culture. In other words, culture is a way and state of human existence: people pursue and enjoy certain value achievements, and renew and develop themselves by realizing these values.
Why do you say that? Let's talk about the difference between culture and "non-culture" or "no culture".
First of all, "culture" refers to "human state" and "social state" as opposed to "free, chaotic and ignorant natural state". The words opposite to culture are mainly "nature", "nature", "instinct" and "barbarism". "Culture" and "nature" are relative, that is to say, it is not natural and natural, but is caused by people changing the natural appearance of the world (including people themselves). Nature already exists. If there is no human and human activities to transform the world, the world will naturally exist, so there is no "culture." The natural existence outside people is comfortable and not dominated by conscious consciousness. Without people, heaven and earth run by themselves, rivers run by themselves, and plants flourish and wither by themselves. Everything is pure nature. They have no will, no purpose, no emotion, no wisdom, no deliberate pursuit and creation. Things in nature, even if they are regular, harmonious and magnificent to people, only give people that kind of experience, not that they are for pleasing people. The instinct of many species to adapt to the environment is amazing, and it seems that there is some extremely clever wisdom at the mercy, but that is the result of mutual adjustment and choice of nature itself. We cannot say that they have a strict sense of purpose and consciousness.
The appearance of human beings interrupted the pure naturalness of nature, and made nature divide into an artificial world different from nature. Culture refers to a situation in which people live, develop and evolve unnaturally, uncomfortably and instinctively (but artificially, consciously and freely) beyond the pure natural state. Culture is a special state, which humanizes the natural state, rather than a pure natural state.
In addition to pure physiological phenomena (culture certainly does not refer to pure physiological problems), man is the only existence different from the natural state, and the only existence with unique qualities such as emotion, wisdom and personality. This unique personality that only talents have is culture. With his own free consciousness, his own sobriety and his own way of practical existence, man is independent from the chaotic state of nature, wakes up from the chaotic state of ignorance and starts his own creative activities. People not only design, work and create according to the laws of nature, but also make nature change with the destination according to their own development needs and aesthetic ideals. As a result, there is something different from pure nature in the world, which has changed according to the human scale. People develop rivers, improve species and explore the universe. Pure natural things seem to wake up at once, with human characteristics such as purpose and meaning. In this sense, the virgin forest is natural, and the forest cultivated, planted, protected and even appreciated by people is cultural; Natural stones are natural, and stones made, polished and moved (for appreciation) by people are cultural; Wild animals are natural, livestock and poultry raised by people are cultural, mountains without aesthetic value are natural, and landscapes with aesthetic value are cultural; The mystery of the universe that people can't explain is natural, the explanation that people put forward (its authenticity is another matter) is cultural, and so on.
The word "culture", as opposed to "nature" or "nature", refers to the activities and results of people transcending and changing the pure natural state, conscious and purposeful activities and results, artificial and skillful creative activities and results, and activities and results of people overcoming instinct and creating ideals and values according to ideals and values. It is the process and achievement of artificially explaining and "packaging" nature, and sublates the strangeness, alienation and darkness of nature. It is an activity and achievement that people are not satisfied with the regulations and limitations of nature and break through the limitations of nature according to their own needs and abilities. In short, it is a situation in which people consciously exist and develop, and it is a special state of existence that makes "nature" a "human world". This is "humanization". "Humanization" means "humanization", that is, people change the natural world according to their own standards, goals, ideals and needs, so that the world is branded with people and more suitable for people.
Man's humanization of nature includes two aspects: concept and practice:
(1) Ideologically, that is, in ideological and spiritual activities, people turn the whole world and everything in the world into their own objects-objects of understanding and transformation. This is the first level, and it is also the most extensive, universal and thorough "humanized" way.
The word "object" itself means whose "behavior goal" it is. Philosophically, what becomes an object is called "object", that is, it is the object of the subject (actor). "Object" and "object" can only be relative to the subject. When human beings turn the world into an object, they decide their dominant position? Quot "Man sees the world with his own eyes" means that man, as the main body, observes, describes, thinks, imagines and shapes the world in his own way from his own standpoint. This must be a "human" world, that is, the world in the eyes of human beings.
Humans originally came from nature. But one of the great characteristics of human beings is that they can be independent of nature, stand between heaven and earth, distinguish themselves from all other natural things, and even look at everything from their own perspective. Thus, there is a distinction between "resources" and non-resources, "good weather and bad weather", "superior environment and bad environment", "fertile land and barren land", animals living freely in nature and "beneficial insects and pests", and so on. What is inherent in nature and exists when people are not there, when people look at it with their own eyes, it becomes something that is related to people and can or cannot be used by people. Even things that don't exist in nature, or things that are not important, such as imagination, association, myth, fiction, reasoning, prediction, and many things in the scheme, can be related and created in understanding and concept after people see with their own eyes and think with their own brains. For example, there is no language, no thought, no religion, no science, no philosophy and no art in nature, but in people's lives and thoughts, these things have appeared, and they all reflect the world in a certain way.
This "humanization" is usually manifested in a set of symbol system, discourse system and interpretation system created by human beings. With this system, people can first integrate the natural and chaotic world in their minds from the aspects of cognition and concept.
In short, once a person takes something as an object, he brings it into his own scope and reflects, describes, judges and chooses it with his own eyes. There are almost no exceptions at this point. Therefore, "the world in human eyes" will always be a world that has been "humanized" in concept.
This "human self-centered" attitude, regardless of its advantages and disadvantages, must first be affirmed: it is a fact and a basic fact unique to human survival and development so far. If we don't admit this, we can't explain how human beings survive and develop.
(2) In fact, that is, the actual process and result of human beings dealing with the world through practice, that is, human beings constantly put the above concepts? Quot Humanization turned into action, which not only changed nature in its own way, but even created an "artificial nature" that did not exist originally. For example, nature only provides primitive forests, lakes, grasslands and caves, but there are no clothes, food, production tools, houses, roads and cities. On the basis of natural conditions, human beings create the necessary material living conditions for themselves. People transform nature according to their own needs, ideals and other value goals, and materialize achievements through creative labor, including tools, systems and spirits. This set of achievements serves people's survival and development as an objective thing.
In the final analysis, human practice is to consciously change nature and make it suitable for people. Therefore, the more developed the practice, the more developed the human civilization. Quot The wider and more common the man-made world is, the farther away human beings are from the natural state and the man-made environment. People living in modern cities will feel that it is not easy to set foot on a natural land now. Even if it is not artificial ground such as asphalt, cement and marble, it is land that has been ploughed, sorted and decorated for a long time. Nowadays, we human beings are living in a world of "self-objectification"-taking our own creation as the object: we live in air conditioning instead of natural air; We seldom drink natural water, but use all kinds of drinks instead. Our social way is getting farther and farther away from nature, not face-to-face actual communication, but more and more dependent on advertising and media, more and more dependent on telephone, fax and e-mail, more and more dependent on cars, electricity and other artificial products ... In short, we are getting farther and farther away from mother nature and living in an increasingly artificial world.
Although "getting farther and farther away from nature" is not the whole story (because there is another side, even this "separation" means going deeper into nature and relying on nature. For example, the dependence on electricity is actually the dependence on power generation materials (coal, water, oil, solar energy, nuclear energy and other natural resources). This is not the only trend, but it is a basic and increasingly powerful fact after all. Faced with this fact, people have now begun to realize the problem, resulting in a lot of questions and concerns: Is it better to get farther and farther away from nature? No matter what the answer is, it must be admitted that whether human beings are increasingly "far away" from nature or increasingly "dependent" on nature means changing nature on a human scale, just as destroying the environment or protecting the environment means making nature more suitable and beneficial to human beings through actions.
Humanization of nature, whether in concept or in practice, means that people endow nature with human qualities on the basis of understanding and mastering objective laws, and turn their own requirements, ideals and intentions into reality through creation, which is "culture", "humanization" or "subjectivity of things". Furthermore, "humanization" means that the world has a certain meaning and a set of value coordinates under the action and intervention of people. The process of "humanization" embodies the value content of people's needs and purposes. People should know and experience the values of truth, goodness and beauty, fun and happiness, harmony and freedom, lofty and sacred. This is the power and motive force for people to change nature. Therefore, in content, we have reason to regard "value" as the spiritual essence of "humanization" and as the core of culture.
Human beings display culture by pursuing, creating and enjoying a certain value system, and culture has human characteristics and characteristics because of its value infiltration.
Second, people's "humanization"
"Culture" not only refers to the humanization of nature, but also refers to the humanization of people, that is, the humanization of culture. Man "humanized" the external nature and "humanized" his own nature, that is, he got rid of the state of animal nature and primitive ignorance, thus becoming more and more humanized. This can be called "humanization" of people, or "humanization" for short.
Because people are different from animals and other natural things, human life is unnatural and instinctive. This leads to a series of questions: what is man and his creation and what should it be? How should people live? What spirit should a person's life embody? What is the meaning of human life? Where does the trend of human development point? Wait a minute. These problems are often the core issues of culture.
"Culture" is opposite to animal nature, animal nature and instinctive state. It is the activity way and achievement of denying one's original instinct and sublating one's most vulgar material desires. As far as the existence of nature is concerned, man is the closest to animals, and he deeply retains the traces of animals. From a purely physiological point of view, people are also animals, so people and animals are most easily confused. Mencius said: "Few people go to animals, but people are the last to confuse themselves with animals. I'm afraid the most severe way to insult a person is to call him an "animal" or even "worse than an animal". "The word' culture' refers to people from the perspective of distinguishing people from animals, meaning that people are not animals, not animals. In other words, culture only starts from animality and goes beyond its expression. Without culture, there is not much difference between people and animals. Say "people have scenes"? Quot means to transform people's pure physiological nature through education, cultivation and exercise, so that these natures conform to social civilization and human standards and become real people.
Therefore, if a thing or an action can be called culture, it must exist.