Plato: Physis & Nomos analogous to Nature & Culture
Socrates' critical scrutiny of opinions and popular beliefs for signs of prejudice and inconsistency constitutes a kind of cultural critique.
Forms - a third realm beyond Nature and Culture.
Aristotle: Emphasized the concepts of Theory and Practice, forms of human activity that emphasized the distinction between that which is constant and that which is mutable.
Theory was conceived of as the attempt to "apprehend, categorize, and articulate what is constant, unchanging, and intelligible".
What is the relevance of these ancient distinctions and concerns
for our contemporary study of culture? Consider the following
persistent questions:
One of the most important legacies of the past that persists
in cultural critique today is the notion that no culture can
be regarded as self-justifying.
The nature/culture division breaks down because the line between nature and culture is not entirely clear. Isn't nature a concept and, thus, part of culture?
Surber offers an "operative definition of culture" claiming that "culture" must be understood contextually. In other words, the meaning is derived from how it is used within a particular discourse on culture.
"The operative definition of culture is inseparable from
the type of critique being pursued, as the two constantly interact
with and influence one another." [4]
Discipline - an academic category, i.e. anthropology, physics, psychology, sociology, political science, etc.
Theory - an activity in which concepts and models are used to describe, interpret, and explain phenomena.
Discourse - often a style of theorizing (e.g. liberal humanism, hermeneutics, psychoanalysis, marxism, structuralism, etc.) which cuts across disciplines. [4-7] Discourses are often based on different and often divergent assumptions or styles of theorizing. Cultural studies is one such discourse. [5f]
Critical discourses vary from the purely abstract to the purely rhetorical. [23] Thus, to better understand a particular discourse, Surber claims that we should pose the following question:
- To what extent is the discourse "scientific", i.e. attempting to proceed on the model of the physical sciences toward an objective understanding and explanation of cultural phenomena?
"Cultural Studies" means both an interdisciplinary
and critical approach to the study of culture, as well
as a specific discourse arising from the work of Williams, Hogart,
and others. [7]
Liberal Humanism
Enlightenment emphasis on reason as a way out of the dogma and absolutism of the Middle Ages. Freedom achieved through objective observation, reason, and critique. [7f]
Hermeneutics
Rejects objectivity as impossible to achieve; replaces it with subjectivity. Emphasis on imagination (by the Romantics) and ethical judgment led to increasing interest in communication and interpretation. This had the effect of weakening the critical aspect while strengthening the individual. Subjective Idealism. [8ff]
Materialism
Rejects hermeneutics' reliance on subjective imagination and its lack of criticality. Culture is viewed as a by-product of economic (material) relations; an aspect of ideology which serves to maintain the status quo and make oppressive conditions appear "natural". [10ff]
Psychoanalysis
When physiological and rational explanations of some abnormal behaviors were found inadequate, Freud developed a new explanatory theory based on the unconscious, i.e. an aspect of the mind between the purely material, biological level and conscious thought and perception. And if human behavior is shaped by unconscious desires, then rational control and hermeneutic understanding cannot fully explain human behavior. [12f]
Semiology and Structuralism
Based on the assumption that all human activity involves the use of signs (signifier/signified relations), and that signs are "arbitrary" (conventional) and variable, allowing for functional relations and contextual meaning, Saussure formulated a theory of signs that influenced the understanding and study of culture. This shifted the emphasis away from the individual to the larger abstract (structural) relations within which culture could be viewed as a "system of signification" and individual cultural objects and practices could be viewed as texts. It also altered the notion of cultural forms and values as natural due to its emphasis on the mutable nature of signs and meanings. This had the effect of cutting off meaning and communication from a fixed foundation, and placed in question the concept of truth. [13ff]
Critical Theory
In light of the excesses of communist totalitarian regimes in the Soviet Union and the right wing fascist governments in Germany and Italy, philosophers and social scientists of the Frankfurt School set out to revise Marxism and psychoanalysis into a new critical theory free of the dogmatism of earlier approaches and mindful of the cultural context. They sought to recover and reclaim liberal humanism's quest for liberation by rethinking the role of reason and the social sciences in overcoming forms of mass manipulation and control. [15f]
Poststructuralism
The "play of difference" which constitutes the ground of a structure must be more fundamental than the structure itself. The emphasis on difference exposed the inherent instability of structures. The subject, as a unified site of interpretation, was also seen as a fiction (based on the writings of Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Lacan.) Emphasis was placed on the way power operates through a discourse. [16ff]
Recurrent Questions
1. What is the position of the critic (observer) in relation to culture?2. On what basis can one critique a cultural practice and the values inherent in it?
3. To what extent can one's own approach be subjected to and withstand critical scrutiny and justification?
All critical discourses "involve certain distinctive theoretical
claims about the meanings and functions of culture".
They are also directed toward progressive social and cultural
change. Thus, they are situated somewhere between the poles of
pure politics and pure theory.
Return to: Homepage / Syllabus
© T. R. Quigley, 1999