Kulturfilosofiya or philosophy of culture - is the branch of philosophy that investigates the nature, development and the importance of culture.The first attempts to understand the importance of culture in society date back to ancient times.For example, the Sophists is credited with identifying the antinomy between the natural and the cultural and moral motivations of man.Cynics and Stoics supplemented this idea and developed a theory about the corruption and the artificiality of "public culture."In the Middle Ages, many outstanding minds thought about the fact that there are about culture and its place in God's creation.Later, in modern times, and especially during the Enlightenment, the social culture has been given a lot of attention.F Rousseau, J.. Vico, Schiller and others developed the idea of the uniqueness of the individual national cultures and levels of development.
But the term "philosophy of culture" was introduced at the beginning of the XIX century.German Romantics A. Muller.Since then, it has become a special branch of philosophy.It should be separated from the philosophy of history, as the process of cultural development of mankind in general, and of nations and peoples in particular, does not coincide with the rhythms of the historical development of civilizations.It also differs from a science of sociology of culture, since the latter focuses on the culture as a phenomenon in the functioning of the system of social and public relations.
particularly fruitful in terms of the philosophy of culture was the late XIX - early XX centuries.There was a whole galaxy of philosophers (Nietzsche, Spengler, G. Simmel, H. Ortega y Gasset in Russian Berdyaev, N. Danilevsky and others) who devoted his labors understanding the individual stages in the evolution of culturemankind.In this sense, it has made an invaluable contribution to the philosophy of culture Spengler, the German philosopher, historian and cultural studies (1880-1936).
Spengler put forward a very original concept of the cyclical development of a particular culture as a kind of living organism.Using the operating time of their predecessors, the philosopher too, opposes the "culture" and "civilization."According to Spengler, each culture is born and develops, through all stages - infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood (in which culture reached its peak of development), and then the enfeeblement of old age and finally death.When the culture is dying, it turns or degenerates into civilization.The life cycle of crop lasts from one thousand to fifteen hundred years.Philosophy of Culture at the Spengler most fully revealed in his work with the eloquent title "The Decline of Europe", in which the philosopher predicted the death of European civilization and its degeneration into a soulless race fashion, enjoyment, hoarding, lust for power and wealth.
philosophy of culture in Spengler doctrine is based on two basic concepts - "culture" and "civilization."However, although the philosopher and gives civilization such unflattering epithets as "mass society" and "soulless intelligence" should not simplistic to think that he completely denied the benefit of scientific and technological progress.It's just that culture is the soul and essence of civilization is spiritless, because culture is looking for communication with the other world, that does not lie in the plane of things, but a civilization focused on exploration and development of the world, to manage things.Culture, according to Spengler, is closely connected with the cult, she is religious by definition.Civilization develops surface of the world, it is soulless.Civilization aspires to power, to dominate over nature, culture sees in nature, purpose and language.Culture - National and civilization is global.Culture - aristocratic and civilization can be called democratic.
Philosophy of Culture, for the lifetime of Spengler, had to deal with 8 impenetrable cultures, already dead as an Egyptian, Babylonian, Mayan culture, Greco-Roman (Apollo), and with fading - Indian, Chinese, Byzantine, Arab (magic)and Western (Faustian).Of course, with the decline of the European end of the world will not be convinced Spengler: soulless era will be a period of mass consumption, while somewhere, in some corner of the world will not ripen and bloom different culture, "like flowers in a field."
