In philosophy and sociology, culturalism (new
humanism or Znaniecki's humanism) is the central
importance of culture as an organizing force
in human affairs.
It was originally coined by the Polish-American
philosopher and sociologist Florian Znaniecki
in his book Cultural Reality (1919) in English
and later translated into Polish as kulturalizm.
Znaniecki had introduced a similar concept
in earlier Polish language publications which
he described as humanism (humanizm).
== Origins ==
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).Znaniecki was critical of a number
of then-prevalent philosophical viewpoints:
intellectualism, idealism realism naturalism
and rationalism.
He was also critical of irrationalism and
intuitionism.
== Characteristics ==
In response to these criticisms, Znaniecki
proposed a new theoretical framework.
His "culturalism" was an ontological and epistemological
approach aiming to eliminate dualisms such
as the belief that nature and culture are
opposite realities.This approach allowed him
to "define social phenomena in cultural terms".
Znaniecki was arguing for the importance of
culture, noting that our culture shapes our
view of the world and our thinking.
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.Among the fundamental
aspects of the philosophy of culturalism are
two categories: value and action.
Elżbieta Hałas, who calls it an "antithesis
to the intellectual dogmas of naturalism",
identifies the following assumptions:
"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."
Through originally a philosophical concept,
culturalism was further developed by Znaniecki
to inform his sociological theories.Znaniecki's
culturalism influenced modern sociological
views of antipositivism and antinaturalism
