Culture: A Drama of Nature and Person

Piotr Jaroszyński, Ph.D. (1983), John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Poland, Chair of the Department of the Philosophy of Culture and Rhetoric. He has published many articles and monographs in English on the philosophy of culture, including Science in Culture (Rodopi, 2007) and Metaphysics or Ontology? (Brill, 2018).

• Editor’s PrefaceIntroductionPART 1: Culture in Science1 Sciences Concerning Culture1 Particular Sciences Concerning Culture2 Philosophy of Culture2 Culture: A History of the Term and Concept1 From the Cultivation of the Soil to the Cultivation of the Soul2 Culture and Cultus3 From the Culture of the Mind to the Culture of Mankind4 From National Culture to Mass Culture5 Civilization and Culture3 Selected Definitions of Culture1 Social Dimension of Culture2 Transmission of Culture3 Culture and Values4 Culture and Symbol5 Culture and Meaning6 Culture and Behavioral Models7 Culture and Cultural Fields8 Culture and PersonPART 2: Theories of Culture4 From Mythology to Philosophy: Nature vs. Culture in Antiquity1 Nature and Man2 From Negation to Apotheosis of Nature (Empedocles and the Sophists)3 Divine Origins of Culture (Plato)3.1 Philosophical Variant3.2 Mythological Variant4 “With Reason and Téchne” (Aristotle)5 The Soul Is God (Plotinus)5 Between Philosophy and Theology: Christianity1 In Search of Perfection2 Natura Corrupta (Thomas Aquinas)3 Towards Anti-Cosmism (Manichaeism and Gnosis)4 Natura Totaliter Corrupta (Protestantism)6 Between Philosophy and Ideology1 Nature Worship: Nature Is Perfect2 Apotheosis of Culture: Culture Produces Nature2.1 Individualism (Sartre)2.2 Further Perspectives of Positioning of the Concept of Culture3 RecapitulationPART 3: Foundations of Culture: Truth, Goodness, BeautyIntroduction to Part 37 Truth8 Goodness1 Finalism2 Emanationism3 Creationism9 BeautyPART 4: Cultural FieldsIntroduction to Part 410 Science as a Cultural Field1 Four Conceptions of Science1.1 Science as Cognition by Causes1.2 Science: From “How many?” to “How?”1.3 Science: The Question of a Priori Conditions1.4 Science: The Question “Why Not?”2 Negation of Science: Postmodernism11 Cultural Fields: Morality1 Ethics: Goodness or Value?2 Economy: For the Good of the Family3 Economy: Family as the Subject4 Relations within the Family5 Public Life: Types of Political Systems6 Dispute over the Common Good: Individualism, Collectivism, Personalism7 Dispute over Democracy12 Cultural Fields: Productive Action (Ποίησις)1 Scope and Purposes of Productive Action2 Tools and the Capacity for Rational Thinking3 From Copying to Creating13 Religion as a Cultural Field1 What is Religion?1.1 “Religion” and Related Words1.2 Various Interpretations of the Word “Religion”2 Religion: Constitutive Elements3 Classical Definition of Religion4 Reasons for Religiosity5 Philosophy on Immortality6 The End-Purpose of Religion7 Against Religion8 Religion and Culture9 Existence of God: From Faith to Metaphysics10 God and Sacrum11 Religion and Holiness12 Religion and Examples to Follow13 Religion as a Virtue (from Cicero to St. Thomas)14 Religion as the Focal Point of Culture15 Religion and Other Cultural Fields15.1 Science and Religion15.2 Πρᾶξις and Religion15.3 Ποίησις and Religion16 Religion: Towards the Fulfillment of the Person14 Culture: For the Person, but Person How Conceived?1 The Person: From the Mask to Self1.1 Theater1.2 Privileges1.3 In the Image of God2 Selected Philosophical Conceptions of the Person2.1 The Person Is Not a Part2.2 The Person Is Not a Thing2.3 The Person Is Not a Totality2.4 The Person Is Not a Tool2.5 The Person Has Its Dignity and Its End-Purpose2.6 The Person Is a Self2.7 The Person without Own Self?2.8 The Self of a Rational Nature15 In the Trap of Nihilism1 Personalism Threatened2 What Is Nihilism?2.1 Etymology2.2 Nothingness: From Metaphysics to Ontology3 Philosophical Nihilism: From a Notion to a System3.1 From Atheism to Nihilism3.2 Nihilism and the Negation of Culture3.3 Nihilism and NietzscheEpilogue: A Theology of Culture: Towards Divinization of NatureConclusionBibliographyIndex