Philosophy of Culture

During the course a student is being acquainted with the two different meanings of the term "culture" where the normative and practical usage of the notion of culture is distinguished from the academic one. The history of the academic reflection on the notion of culture is then presented while introducing the typology of positions. The functions of culture are discussed and the basic notions of the theory of culture are introduced. While using the historical perspective there are viewed the ways of thinking and comprehending the world in the European culture. The history starts at the magical and mythical way of thinking, then goes through the religious, the modern and the modernistic, and stops at the postmodern one.

During the course a student is being acquainted with the idea of the cultural relativism, which is implemented in the philosophical thinking. What is emphasized is not only the presence of the variety of incommensurable cultures. The student is proposed to take the distinguished epochs and the relevant philosophies in the European culture in terms of incommensurability too. In the postmodern culture, where outlook is pluralized and the styles of life are differentiated, the idea of the cultural relativism is proposed to be referred to the worlds individuated on a personal level. During the course the student is being encouraged to reflect on their comprehension of the world and analysis of the relation towards the other, be it the historical or the contemporary one. The course is aimed at the student's improvement of the habit of refraining from the naïve attributing their beliefs to the culture investigated or the philosophy studied.

Ruth Benedict, Patterns of Culture.

Jerzy Kmita, The Late Grandson of Philosophy. Introduction to the Cultural and Critical Studies.

Richard Rorty, Contingency, irony and solidarity.