Cultural introduction and detailed information

The definition of culture in cultural philosophy is that culture is all the spiritual activities and their products related to economy and politics.

Culture is the sum of all social phenomena and the inner spirit of the intelligent group.

It covers the history of intelligent groups from the past to the future and is the content of all activities of groups based on nature. It is the whole of all material appearances and spiritual immanence of the group.

The specific content of human culture refers to history, geography, customs, traditional customs, tools, appendages, lifestyles, religious beliefs, literature and art, norms, laws, systems, ways of thinking, values, aesthetic tastes, spiritual totems and so on.

Specific human culture can be divided into material culture and philosophical thought (institutional culture and psychological culture).

It is more appropriate to call the culture of non-human intelligent groups subculture here. Although they have similarities in human culture, one essential difference is that the independent value and will of human beings are completely different from those of other intelligent groups.

Cultural content culture includes not only ideological parts such as world outlook, outlook on life and values, but also non-ideological parts such as natural science and technology, language and writing.

Culture is a unique phenomenon in human society. Culture is created by people and unique to people.

Culture is the sum of all social phenomena and the inner spirit of the intelligent group.

Culture includes eight major arts and the ninth major art.

Among them, China culture is branded with the characteristics of the nation and the times, which has both inheritance and development. The main content of China culture is Confucianism in the new era.

"Book of Changes" this hexagram biography: "Rigid and soft staggered, astronomy also; When civilization stops, so does human nature. It is about astronomical observation of the changes in time, and it is about the change of humanity. "

Conceptual culture, in terms of meaning, text is "recording, expressing and commenting" and culture is "analysis, understanding and tolerance". The characteristics of culture are: history, content and story. Many philosophers, sociologists, anthropologists, historians and linguists have been trying to define the concept of culture from the perspective of their respective disciplines.

According to the viewpoint that culture is not the traditional heritage of human beings, culture is a social phenomenon, a product of long-term human creation, a historical phenomenon and the accumulation of human social history. To be exact, culture is condensed in the material and dissociated from the material, which can be passed down to history, geography, customs, traditional customs, lifestyle, literature and art, code of conduct, way of thinking, values and so on. Refers to a country or a nation. It is a recognized ideology that can communicate with each other, and it is a sublimation of perceptual knowledge and experience of the objective world.

Li Er, a marine cultural scholar, pointed out in The Origin of Ships and many articles: I believe that with the development of history and the passage of time, with people's more rational understanding of things and exploration of the world, and with the gradual awakening of human science and culture, human beings will distinguish cultures more clearly and benefit from a broader life and cultural pedigree. Li Er introduced the concept of "culture" to a more open and inclusive life thinking height for the first time, so as to think and interpret culture more truly. As a unique phenomenon of thinking about culture and life, it has aroused widespread concern from all walks of life.

Cultural definition "culture" is the abbreviation of the word "human culture becomes". This language comes from the book of changes: "combining rigidity with softness is astronomical;" When civilization stops, so does human nature. Look at astronomy, observe the changes of time, look at humanity and turn it into the world. "

The so-called literature of cultural people refers to all phenomena or forms. Astronomy refers to natural phenomena, that is, the complex and colorful nature formed by the interaction of yin and yang, rigidity and softness, plus and minus, and male and female forces.

The so-called humanism refers to the activities of people to understand, enlighten, transform and reorganize natural phenomena, which is called humanistic activities.

Humanistic activities can be divided into two levels, the first is the level of understanding, and the second is the level of application.

Observing, knowing and understanding all existing natural phenomena and making them definite knowledge is the primary humanistic activity, that is, the meaning of "stopping at civilization" in the Book of Changes (making astronomy illuminated and fixed as knowledge). The purpose and significance of humanistic activities at this level is to prepare for advanced humanistic activities.

Advanced humanistic activities are to use all kinds of knowledge set by primary humanistic activities to serve life. This service can also be divided into two layers. The first floor is purely for convenience. For example, our ancestors plowed the fields for food, woven cloth for clothes, planted trees for a living, and walked around. Even today, all industrial products are transformed and reorganized by people using knowledge. This can be said to be a practical service.

As for another layer of service based on practicality, we can call it a service that focuses on expressing meaning. That is to say, these natural objects or artificially processed objects are represented and symbols, presenting a unique lifestyle. These unique lifestyles are the so-called etiquette, including various laws, regulations and customs.

For example, in addition to the practical purpose of eating, it can also show spiritual significance at the same time. For example, when eating with others, make friends and respect each other by giving food and persuading food; When eating alone, it is more and more important to clean up your food and do your best. Or, self-discipline through various self-defined rules (such as Buddhist vegetarianism) and nostalgia through special foods (such as Zongzi on the Dragon Boat Festival). Even if it is only through exquisite food production, the beautiful diet also shows the richness of human nature. All these are enough to show that human life can actually go beyond its own limits and has the significance of infinite expansion and extension. This characteristic of pointing to infinity is the real value of humanistic activities. Therefore, it is called an advanced humanistic activity. This kind of activity that can give meaning to all natural objects or man-made processed objects is creative activity (different from God's creation, called moral creation). This form of creation is called "stippling". On the one hand, he touched people's lives, made people expand and deepen in the natural activities of food, clothing, housing and transportation, and suddenly had a rich and substantial spiritual connotation; On the other hand, everything people use is touched, which makes it not only have natural utility, but also become a gift with infinite significance because it participates in people's creative activities. Therefore, human's natural behavior has become a ritual behavior, and the natural order has become a moral order. The world is not only moving from darkness to light because of human primary humanistic activities (cognition); Because of the progress of people, people's activities (enlightenment) move from unintentional to sentient beings, and when they move to sentient beings, it is not only because people and I are interlinked, but also because the characters are unified in this muddled family relationship. People can respect others and love others, but also respect things and love others. People are not outside me. This is what Wang Yangming called "nothing outside the heart", which is what Confucius called "self-denial and reciprocity, and the world returns to benevolence." The world has reached the realm of unity, and nothing else is a complete world, and this complete world can only be inherited after the enlightenment of human activities. Therefore, it is called "the achievement of human culture" or "culture".

Here, we can discuss the main meaning of the word "culture", that is, it refers to an advanced humanistic activity, whose purpose is to touch people's life and the foreign things involved in all their lives, so that it has unlimited moral significance.

The above is the core meaning of the word "culture", which is quoted from Wang Aijun's Collection of Junyou Club. If you relax, all cultural activities, including primary promotion, can be called culture. If the application is extended from this, it can't refer to the humanistic activity itself, but to the result of all humanistic activities, that is, the state after various natural phenomena are recognized, transformed and reorganized. The so-called humanists are called culture. At this time, the so-called culture no longer has the creative significance of activities, but only has the objective significance of static existence.

The word "press" has also been used to translate English culture since modern times, and their connotations are slightly similar. Culture originated from Latin Colere, and its original meaning refers to the cultivation and training of human ability, which transcends the pure natural state. In the seventeenth and eighth centuries, the connotation of this concept has been greatly expanded, and it once again refers to the achievements that all human forces have added to natural objects. That is, culture refers to the sum of all cultural products. This is equivalent to the last extension mentioned above. In a word, the western concept of culture refers to the static and objective existence of human nature, rather than the creative significance of activities, which means that it lacks the most solemn moral education and spirit in China tradition.

The connotation culture can be roughly expressed as: 1. Wide knowledge and flexible application; 2. Inner spirit and cultivation.

Traditionally, culture is the sum of material wealth and spiritual wealth created by human beings in the process of social and historical development.

It includes three aspects: material culture, institutional culture and psychological culture. Material culture refers to the material civilization created by human beings, including transportation, clothing and daily necessities. Is the visible dominant culture; Institutional culture and psychological culture refer to life system, family system, social system, way of thinking, religious belief and aesthetic taste respectively, and belong to intangible recessive culture. Including literature, philosophy, politics and other aspects.

The spiritual wealth created by human beings includes religions, beliefs, customs, moral sentiments, academic thoughts, literature and art, science and technology and various systems.

Culture in a broad sense is the sum of material wealth and spiritual wealth created by human beings in the process of social and historical practice.

"Culture is synonymous with all civilized behaviors of life, and naturally it is the fundamental mentor and enlightener of human culture. Almost none of our scientific inventions come out of thin air, and our inspiration comes from nature. Human culture is a gift from nature. " -Li er and the origin of the ship

"Culture is not unique to human beings. We should interpret culture with a more open and tolerant attitude. Culture is a so-called humanistic phenomenon originated from life, and it is innate. Many words or actions in life have innate cultural attributes, and we may just call them showing noble instincts. " -Li er and the origin of the ship

In a narrow sense, it refers to social ideology and corresponding institutions and organizations.

In a narrow sense, culture is the sum total of social and spiritual life forms that have occurred and developed on the basis of certain material production methods in history.

187 1 year, British culturist Taylor put forward the early classical theory of narrow culture in his book Primitive Culture, that is, culture is a complex whole including knowledge, belief, art, morality, law, customs and the abilities and habits acquired by anyone as a member of society.

Culture can also be called the thinking characteristics of social groups. However, there are many definitions of "culture", but one thing is clear, that is, the core issue of culture is people. Only people can create culture. Culture is the embodiment of human wisdom and creativity. People of different races and nationalities have created different cultures. People create culture, enjoy culture, and at the same time be bound by culture, and finally constantly transform culture. We are all creators of culture, as well as enjoyers and reformers of culture. Although people are bound by culture, they are always active in it. Without people's active creation, culture will lose its luster, vitality and even life. We understand and study culture mainly by observing and studying people's creative thinking, creative behavior, creative psychology, creative means and their final results.

Understanding in different fields and different disciplines have different understandings of culture.

(1) explains culture from a philosophical point of view, and thinks that culture is essentially a manifestation of philosophical thought. Because of the epochal and regional nature of philosophy, different styles of culture are determined. Generally speaking, the change of philosophy leads to the change of social system, accompanied by the suppression of old culture and the rise of new culture.

(2) From the perspective of existentialism, culture is a description of the way of existence of a person or a group of people. People exist in nature as well as in history and times; Time is an important platform for a person or a group of people to exist in nature; Society, country and nation (family) are another important platform for a person or a group of people to exist in history and times; Culture refers to people's way of speaking or expressing, communication or behavior, consciousness or cognition in this process of existence. Culture is not only used to describe the external behavior of a group of people, but also includes the individual's spiritual consciousness and perception mode. A way for a person to return to his inner world for self-dialogue and observation.

(3) From the perspective of cultural studies, culture, even ideology, is not absolutely exclusive. For Gramsci, cultural hegemony is not a simple relationship between naked oppression and oppression. "The ruling group's dominance is not obtained by manipulating the people ... The ruling class must negotiate with opposing social groups, classes and their values, and the result of such negotiations is real mediation. ..... This makes any simple ideological opposition be dissolved by this process. " It becomes a dynamic combination of different cultures and ideologies of different classes.

(4) Culture is the carrier of the eternal expansion of human innovation activities, a tool to improve the level of innovation and a means of communication.

The classification of culture.

Stern H.H. Stern (1992:208) divides culture into broad and narrow concepts according to its structure and category. Culture in a broad sense is a culture with a big C, and culture in a narrow sense is a culture with a * * * full C.

Hancott? H?mmerli (1982) divided culture into information culture, behavior culture and achievement culture. Information culture refers to knowledge about society, geography and history. Mastered by ordinary educated native speakers; Behavioral culture refers to people's lifestyles, actual behaviors, attitudes and values. This is the most important factor for successful communication. Achievement culture refers to artistic and literary achievements, which is a traditional cultural concept.

Due to the diversity and complexity of culture, it is difficult to give an accurate and clear classification standard for culture. Therefore, these cultural divisions are only analyzed from a certain angle and are an attempt.

The structural anatomy of culture is divided into two parts: material culture and spiritual culture; There are three levels, namely, material, system and spirit; There are four levels of theory, namely, material, system, custom, thought and values. There are six subsystems, namely, material, social relations, spirit, art, language symbols and customs.

There are two kinds of culture, one is production culture and the other is spiritual culture. Science and technology culture is production culture, and life ideology culture is spiritual culture. Any culture is used for life, and there is no culture that is not used for life. Any culture contains a theory, way, idea and understanding of life and existence.

As for the structure of culture, there are different opinions. Generally speaking, it is divided into the following levels: material culture, system culture, behavior culture and mentality culture.

The cultural layer of material state is the sum of human material production activities and products, and it is something that can be seen and touched, such as clothing, food, shelter and transportation.

Institutional culture layer is a criterion established by human beings in social practice to regulate their own behavior and adjust their mutual relations.

Behavior culture is a social and collective behavior, which is based on etiquette, folk customs, habits and customs in interpersonal communication.

Mentality culture is people's social psychology and social ideology, including people's values, aesthetic tastes, ways of thinking and the resulting literary and artistic works. This is the core and essence of culture.

Some anthropologists divide culture into three levels: high culture, including philosophy, literature, art and religion; Popular culture refers to customs, etiquette and lifestyle, including food, clothing, housing, transportation and interpersonal relationships; Deep culture mainly refers to the definition of values, beauty and ugliness, time orientation, life rhythm, problem-solving methods and personal roles related to gender, class, occupation and kinship. Both elegant culture and popular culture are rooted in deep culture. The concept of a deep culture is embodied as a custom or lifestyle in popular culture and an art form or literary theme in elegant culture.

Culture in a broad sense includes four levels: first, the material state culture layer, which is composed of materialized knowledge power, is the sum of people's material production activities and their products, and is a cultural thing with tangible materials. The second is the institutional culture layer, which consists of various social norms established by human beings in social practice. Including social and economic system, marriage system, family system, political and legal system, family, nation, country, economy, politics, religious organizations, education, science and technology, art organizations and so on. The third is the behavioral culture layer, which appears in the form of folk customs and is found in daily life actions, with distinctive national and regional characteristics. Fourth, the cultural layer of mentality is the core part of culture, which is composed of values, aesthetic tastes and ways of thinking cultivated in human social practice and consciousness activities for a long time.

The cultural layer of mentality can be subdivided into social psychology and social ideology.

According to experts' research, "culture" is an ancient word in China's language system. The original meaning of "Wen" refers to the interlaced texture of various colors. "Yi Jie Xia" says: "Mixed, so it is called the text." The Book of Rites and Music says, "Write in five colors without confusion." Shuo Wen Jie Zi says: "Writing, wrong painting and crossing images" all mean this. On this basis, "Wen" has several extended meanings. First of all, it includes various symbols in the language, and then it is embodied in cultural relics, ancient books, rituals and music systems. Fuxi's painting of gossip and calligraphy in Preface to Shangshu is an example, and Confucius said in The Analects of Confucius Zi Han that "there is no king of literature, and literature is not here". Secondly, the meanings of color painting, decoration and artificial cultivation come from ethical theory and are symmetrical with "quality" and "reality". Therefore, Shangshu Shundian said loosely that "the heavens and the earth are longitude and latitude", and The Analects of Confucius said that "quality is better than literature, wildness, literature is better than quality, history, gentleness, and then a gentleman". Thirdly, on the basis of the first two meanings, the meanings of beauty, goodness and virtue are extended. This is the so-called "advancing with courtesy" in the Book of Rites and Music, and the so-called "Wen Shang Mei Shan" in Zheng Xuan, and the so-called "Wen Ming is applied to the four seas and only to the emperor" in Shangshu Dayu Mo.

The original meaning of "Hua" is change, generation and creation, such as "A Happy Tour in Zhuangzi": "Hua Cheng Bird, whose name is Peng". "Easy to condense": "Men and women construct essence, and everything becomes life". Su Wen in Huangdi Neijing: "Change is irreplaceable, and time cannot be violated". The golden mean: "Praise the cultivation of heaven and earth" and so on. To sum up, "transformation" refers to changing the shape or nature of things, and at the same time "transformation" is extended to the meaning of teaching deeds to be good.

The juxtaposition of "Wen" and "Hua" was earlier seen in the Book of Changes edited by Confucian scholars at the end of the Warring States Period: "Observing astronomy to observe time changes; Look at humanity and turn it into the world. " It means: by observing the sky, we can understand the changes of time series; By observing various phenomena in human society, we can govern the world by means of education and influence. The word "Wen" in this passage evolved from the meaning of texture. The sun and the moon alternately decorate the sky, that is, "astronomy", that is, the natural law of heaven. Similarly, "benevolence" refers to the social law of interpersonal relationship, that is, the relationship between people in social life such as monarch, minister, father and son, couple, brother and friend forms a complex network with texture representation. In this passage, the ruler must observe astronomy to understand the changes of time series, and at the same time observe humanities, so that everyone in the world can observe civilized manners and behave appropriately. Here, "humanity" is closely related to "turning into the world", and the idea of "cultural education" is very clear.

In the Western Han Dynasty, Liu Xiang combined "Wen" and "Hua" into one word, and wrote in "Shuo Wen Yuan Zhiwu": "Sages rule the world, and virtue follows strength first. This is unacceptable where martial arts flourish. If the culture does not change, then it will be punished. " "Cultural series, martial arts leisure" (Selected Poems). The "culture" here is either against nature made in heaven or against "simplicity" and "barbarism" without education. Therefore, in China's system, the original meaning of "culture" is "cultural education", which means the cultivation of people's temperament and moral character and belongs to the spiritual field. With the change of time and the difference of space, "culture" has gradually become a multidimensional concept with rich connotation and broad extension, and has become the object of exploration, interpretation and contention in many disciplines.

Learning ideology: including religious beliefs, values, legal politics and other ideological things;

Spiritual products: literature, art and all intellectual achievements, represented by museums and libraries;

Lifestyle: basic necessities of life, people's feelings and customs, sickness and death, all aspects of social life;

The above three aspects of research are "cultural research", and the third aspect focuses on "cultural research".

Functional human beings create culture because of the need of common life, and culture plays a major role in its scope and different levels:

(1) integral. The integration function of culture refers to its coordinating effect on the actions of group members, just like ants crossing the river. Different members of social groups are unique actors, who act according to their own needs and their judgment and understanding of the situation. Culture is the medium of communication between them. If they can enjoy culture, they can communicate effectively, remove obstacles and promote cooperation.

(2) guidance. The guiding function of culture means that culture can provide direction and alternative ways for people's actions. By enjoying culture, actors can know what kind of behavior they think is appropriate, which can arouse positive responses and tend to choose effective actions. This is the guiding role of culture in behavior.

(3) maintain order. Culture is the accumulation of people's past life experience, and it is something that people think is reasonable and generally accepted through comparison and choice. The formation and establishment of a certain culture means that certain values and behavioral norms are recognized and followed, and it also means the formation of a certain order. And as long as this culture works, the social order established by this culture will be maintained, which is the function of culture to maintain social order.

(4) continuation. From the perspective of generations, if culture can be passed on to the new generation, that is, the next generation also recognizes and enjoys the culture of the previous generation, then culture has the function of inheritance.

The necessity of understanding China culture. Chinese culture is the great creation of the Chinese nation in the long-term historical development and the crystallization of the wisdom and creativity of the whole nation. For thousands of years, it not only shines brilliantly in the history of China, benefiting the descendants of the Chinese people, but also influenced the history and culture of the western world after the opening of the Silk Road in the Han Dynasty. In the international community, the spread is faster and the influence is wider.

As a spiritual force, the power of culture can be transformed into material power in the process of people's understanding and transformation of the world, which has a far-reaching impact on social development. This influence is not only manifested in the process of personal growth, but also in the history of nations and countries. The history of the development of human society proves that a nation will neither be materially poor nor spiritually poor. Only when we are materially and spiritually rich can we stand proudly, confidently and self-reliant among the nations of the world.

The difference between culture and civilization ① From the content point of view, culture is the sum of human activities, processes and achievements in conquering nature, society and human beings themselves, while civilization mainly refers to the essence of cultural achievements.

② From the time point of view, culture exists in the whole life of human beings, and human beings have produced primitive culture before civilized society, and civilization is a certain stage of human cultural development.

From the form of expression, culture is a dynamic, gradual and uninterrupted development process, while civilization is a relatively stable and static leap-forward development process.

④ Culture is a neutral concept, and civilization is a commendatory concept. Materializing human activities, processes and results in the process of human conquest of nature and society is an objective existence, which has both excellent achievements and dross, both favorable and unfavorable factors for human beings. It's all culture. Civilization is related to certain values, which refers to the positive achievements and progress of culture. As a value judgment, it is a concept of praise.

Famous saying 1. Culture opens the perception of beauty. Emerson

2. A certain culture (as an ideological culture) is a reflection of the politics and economy of a certain society, and it also has a great influence and function on the politics and economy of a certain society. - ***

3. Language is the carrier and an important part of human culture; Every language can express the world outlook, mode of thinking, social characteristics, culture and history of the people in which it is used, and it is a valuable intangible heritage of mankind. Zhou Haizhong

4. Culture comes from and serves the people. -Wenwei District