Culturalism

Last updated March 02, 2024

In philosophy and sociology, culturalism (new humanism or Znaniecki's humanism) is the central importance of culture as an organizing force in human affairs.^[1]^[2]^[3] It is also described as an ontological approach that seeks to eliminate simple binaries between seemingly opposing phenomena such as nature and culture.^[4]

Origins

Florian Znaniecki (1882-1958) was a Polish-American philosopher and sociologist. Znaniecki's culturalism was based on philosophies and theories of Matthew Arnold ( Culture and Anarchy ), Friedrich Nietzsche (voluntarism), Henri Bergson (creative evolutionism), Wilhelm Dilthey (philosophy of life), William James, John Dewey (pragmatism) and Ferdinand C. Schiller (humanism).^[5] He synthesized their theses and developed an original humanistic stance, which was first presented in Cultural Reality.^[6]

Znaniecki's philosophy favored the advantages of rational, systematic knowledge.^[7] He also attempted to reconcile the threads of the phenomenological and pragmatic views to counter naturalism.^[7] Aside from naturalism,^[3]^[8]^[9] Znaniecki was critical of a number of then-prevalent philosophical viewpoints: intellectualism,^[10] idealism,^[8] realism,^[8] and rationalism.^[3] He was also critical of irrationalism and intuitionism.^[10] His criticisms became the bases of a new theoretical framework in the form of culturalism.^[8]^[9]^[11]

Characteristics

Znaniecki's "culturalism" was an ontological and epistemological approach aiming to eliminate dualisms such as the belief that nature and culture are opposite realities.^[9]

This approach allowed him to "define social phenomena in cultural terms".^[1] Znaniecki was arguing for the importance of culture, noting that our culture shapes our view of the world and our thinking.^[12] 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.^[13]

Among the fundamental aspects of the philosophy of culturalism are two categories: value and action.^[9] Elżbieta Hałas, who calls it an "antithesis to the intellectual dogmas of naturalism", identifies the following assumptions:^[10]

"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."^[14] Though originally a philosophical concept,^[3] culturalism was further developed by Znaniecki to inform his sociological theories.^[5]

Znaniecki's culturalism influenced modern sociological views of antipositivism and antinaturalism.^[15]

Related Research Articles

Posthumanism or post-humanism is an idea in continental philosophy and critical theory responding to the presence of anthropocentrism in 21st-century thought. Posthumanization comprises "those processes by which a society comes to include members other than 'natural' biological human beings who, in one way or another, contribute to the structures, dynamics, or meaning of the society."

In the social sciences there is a standing debate over the primacy of structure or agency in shaping human behaviour. Structure is the recurrent patterned arrangements which influence or limit the choices and opportunities available. Agency is the capacity of individuals to act independently and to make their own free choices. The structure versus agency debate may be understood as an issue of socialization against autonomy in determining whether an individual acts as a free agent or in a manner dictated by social structure.

Florian Witold Znaniecki was a Polish and 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 philosophy to sociology. He remains a major figure in the history of Polish and American sociology; the founder of Polish academic sociology, and of an entire school of thought in sociology. He won international renown as co-author, with William I. Thomas, of the study, The Polish Peasant in Europe and America (1918–1920), which is considered the foundation of modern empirical sociology. He also made major contributions to sociological theory, introducing terms such as humanistic coefficient and culturalism.

Verstehen, in the context of German philosophy and social sciences in general, has been used since the late 19th century – in English as in German – with the particular sense of the "interpretive or participatory" examination of social phenomena. The term is closely associated with the work of the German sociologist Max Weber, whose antipositivism established an alternative to prior sociological positivism and economic determinism, rooted in the analysis of social action. In anthropology, Verstehen has come to mean a systematic interpretive process in which an outside observer of a culture attempts to relate to it and understand others.

Humanistic sociology is a domain of sociology which originated mainly from the work of the University of Chicago Polish philosopher-turned-sociologist, Florian Znaniecki. It is a methodology which treats its objects of study and its students, that is, humans, as composites of values and systems of values. In certain contexts, the term is related to other sociological domains such as antipositivism. Humanistic sociology seeks to shed light on questions such as, "What is the relationship between a man of principle and a man of opportunism?"

William Isaac Thomas was an American sociologist, understood today as a key figure behind the theory of symbolic interactionism.

In social theory and philosophy, antihumanism or anti-humanism is a theory that is critical of traditional humanism, traditional ideas about humanity and the human condition. Central to antihumanism is the view that philosophical anthropology and its concepts of "human nature", "man" or "humanity" should be rejected as historically relative, ideological or metaphysical.

Humanism is a democratic and ethical life stance, which affirms that human beings have the right and responsibility to give meaning and shape to their own lives.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to humanism:

A humanistic coefficient is a conceptual object, methodological principle, or method of conducting social research wherein data analysis stresses the perceived import of analyzed experiences to their participants. The term was coined by Polish sociologist Florian Znaniecki.

Sociology in Poland has been developing, as has sociology throughout Europe, since the mid-19th century. Although, due to the Partitions of Poland, that country did not exist as an independent state in the 19th century or until the end of World War I, some Polish scholars published work clearly belonging to the field of sociology.

Robert Bierstedt (1913–1998) was an American sociologist who often wrote about sociological theory, culture, and constitutional law. He was a native of Burlington, Iowa, and graduated in philosophy from the University of Iowa in 1934. He received a master's degree in philosophy in 1935 and a doctorate in sociology in 1946 from Columbia University.

Marxist humanism is an international body of thought and political action rooted in a humanist interpretation of the works of Karl Marx. It is an investigation into "what human nature consists of and what sort of society would be most conducive to human thriving" from a critical perspective rooted in Marxist philosophy. Marxist humanists argue that Marx himself was concerned with investigating similar questions.

Transcendental humanism in philosophy considers humans as simultaneously the originator of meaning, and subject to a larger ultimate truth that exists beyond the human realm (transcendence). The philosophy suggests that the humanistic approach is guided by “accuracy, truth, discovery, and objectivity” that transcends or exists apart from subjectivity.

Elżbieta Hałas (1954–present) is a Polish sociologist and a professor at the University of Warsaw. She specializes in the sociology of culture.

Critical realism is a philosophical approach to understanding science, and in particular social science, initially developed by Roy Bhaskar (1944–2014). It specifically opposes forms of empiricism and positivism by viewing science as concerned with identifying causal mechanisms. In the last decades of the twentieth century it also stood against various forms of postmodernism and poststructuralism by insisting on the reality of objective existence. In contrast to positivism's methodological foundation, and poststructuralism's epistemological foundation, critical realism insists that (social) science should be built from an explicit ontology. Critical realism is one of a range of types of philosophical realism, as well as forms of realism advocated within social science such as analytic realism and subtle realism.

The Polish Peasant in Europe and America is a book by Florian Znaniecki and William I. Thomas, considered to be one of the classics of sociology. The book is a study of Polish immigrants to the United States and their families, based on personal documents, and was published in five volumes in the years 1918 to 1920.

In philosophy, naturalism is the idea that only natural laws and forces operate in the universe. In its primary sense it is also known as ontological naturalism, metaphysical naturalism, pure naturalism, philosophical naturalism and antisupernaturalism. "Ontological" refers to ontology, the philosophical study of what exists. Philosophers often treat naturalism as equivalent to materialism.

The Przegląd Socjologiczny is a quarterly Polish peer-reviewed academic journal in sociology. It is published by the Łódzkie Towarzystwo Naukowe. Journal offices are at the University of Łódź.

Western Marxism is a current of Marxist theory that arose from Western and Central Europe in the aftermath of the 1917 October Revolution in Russia and the ascent of Leninism. The term denotes a loose collection of theorists who advanced an interpretation of Marxism distinct from classical and Orthodox Marxism and the Marxism-Leninism of the Soviet Union.

References

1 2 Hałas (2010), p. 12.
↑ Hałas (2010), p. 214.
1 2 3 4 Dulczewski (1984), pp. 186–187.
↑ Freeman, Matthew (2016). Industrial Approaches to Media: A Methodological Gateway to Industry Studies. London: Springer. p. 133. ISBN 978-1-137-55175-7.
1 2 Hałas (2010), p. 51.
↑ Ritzer, George (2004). Encyclopedia of Social Theory. London: SAGE Publications. p. 897. ISBN 978-1-4522-6546-9.
1 2 Hałas, Elżbieta (2010). Towards the World Culture Society: Florian Znaniecki's Culturalism. Peter Lang. p. 52. ISBN 978-3-631-59946-4.
1 2 3 4 Piotr Kawecki (1999). "Heroism and Intimacy of Post-modern Morality". In Bo Stråth; Nina Witoszek (eds.). The Postmodern Challenge: Perspectives East and West. Rodopi. pp. 129–130. ISBN 978-90-420-0755-0.
1 2 3 4 Hałas (2010), p. 21.
1 2 3 Hałas (2010), p. 52.
↑ Sztompka (2002), pp. 52–53.
↑ Dulczewski (1984), pp. 187–188.
↑ Dulczewski (1984), p. 189.
↑ Hałas (2010), pp. 55, 172.
↑ Sztompka (2002), p. 2425.

Sources

Dulczewski, Zygmunt (1984). Florian Znaniecki: życie i dzieło (in Polish). Wydawnictwo Poznańskie. ISBN 978-83-210-0482-2.
Hałas, Elżbieta (2010). Towards the World Culture Society: Florian Znaniecki's Culturalism. Peter Lang. ISBN 978-3-631-59946-4.
Sztompka, Piotr (2002). Socjologia: Analiza społeczeństwa. Znak. ISBN 978-83-240-0218-4.

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