Der Anspruch der "Kultur". Ein begriffsgeschichtlicher Versuch
The Pretense of "Culture". An Essay on its Conceptual History

Summary/Abstract: Behind our speaking of «Culture» there lies a kind of tension between a merely descriptive and a normative use of the word. The originally normative meaning of Cicero' s metaphor «cultura animi» was taken up in the Age of Enlightenment, thus leading to a cosmopolitan ideal of culture as a universally high grade of humanity. However, a new historical consciousness, influenced by Vico and promoted by Herder, discovered the growth and decay of societies as a plurality of «cultures». This lead to a morphological concept by which we refer to «a» culture amongst others. However, the normative implications of «culture» are still alive and have recently gained a new importance in the strife of peoples for new cultural autonomy and authenticity.

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