Culture Theory Exam #1

Francis Bacon (1561-1626)

One of the first skepticists, writer of the Novum Organum, created Theory of the Idols

René Descartes (1596-1650)

French philosopher and mathematician, creator of dualism and idealism, rationalist

David Hume (1711-1776)

Scottish philosopher/ historian
Expanded critique to include sciences as well
Aim of scientific knowledge is to discover cause/ effect from observation
Argued the the sciences do not have a special privilege to claim certain truth
No rational connection between was is and what should be

John Locke (1632-1704)

Human laws differ from scientific ones
Consent of the governed

Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)

Reason is just a slave to passion
Naturalist/Essentialist
The essence of a human is to be able to express themselves in their chosen actions.

Contractarian

Humans have no rights by nature, we have a social contract for morality for our mutual benefit (I won't steal your stuff if you don't steal mine)
We only treat others well because we know it will be better for us in the long run.

Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832)

Utilitarianism, thought all problems of the humanities could be solved with mathematical reasoning

John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)

Utilitarianism, thought all problems of the humanities could be solved with mathematical reasoning

Utilitarianism

Associated with Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill; held that, in any given case, the morally
best action or policy was the one that would produce "the greatest good for the greatest number."

Immanuel Kant (1742-1804)

The root of all critique is self-critique
Reason is just the capacity to think in an orderly and consistent manner
Kant's three types of reason
pure reason (logic), theoretical reason (science/ observations), and practical reason (human action/ moral principles)
Pure reason asks questions that cannot be answered and that's ok
"Rational faith"
Transcendentalism- we all possess a moral and free nature (naturalist/ essentialist)
categorical imperative (see below)
Called for cosmopolitan order- states treat each other with same dignity as humans treat each other

critical philosophy

Kant's critical philosophy that took liberal humanism's various concepts and strategies brought together and given proper place within a more comprehensive and clearly articulated critical project

theoretical reason

Reasons and reasoning concerned with what we can't change and what is true. According to Kant, a function of reason confined to the empirical, phenomenal world. Involved with the production of knowledge and manifested, in its highest instance, in the
natural sciences

categorical imperative

Kant; a command that our reason issues to us as moral beings without exception (similar
to the golden rule)

Matthew Arnold (1822-1888)

redefined culture as the pursuit of perfection and broad knowledge of the world in contrast to narrow self-centeredness and material gain. Distinguished difference between high Culture and popular/ mass culture
Disinterestedness- cultural critique cannot have a political agenda

Hermeneutics

the science of interpretation, especially of the Scriptures.

Hermeneutical Circle

The problem that arises when we consider the actual process of interpretation by which humans navigate the multiple realities of religious life: experience, reason, tradition
"First, we cannot understand a sentence's general meaning without first understanding the meanings of its constituent words; conversely, however, we cannot understand the meanings of the words within a sentence without grasping the meaning of the entire sentence"

understanding vs. explanation

Understanding: "Spiral". More holistic, includes convictions/ empathy.
Explanation: the kind of reasoning you use in the hard sciences, no empathy involved. More critical analysis

second naivete, in Stiver article

Same as a "post-critical" understanding- not just an initial understanding. After having learned and understood the text; involves emotions

calculative vs. meditative discourse

Calculative discourse reduced all truth to a function of statements and their logical connections. Meditative discourse opposes Calculative.

Fusion of Horizons

Refers to the relationship between researcher and researched from which the interpretation evolves (your "horizon" as a researcher and their "horizon" as members of the community).
"the text's historical horizon comes to fuse with our own in a unique creative act of appropriation, of making
the text relevant to our own historical condition without thereby reducing it to our own subjective meaning-constructions."

Affective Fallacy

confusing the meaning of a text with how it makes the reader feel; a reader's emotional response to a text generally doesn't produce reliable interpretation (Gadamer) understanding comes solely from the reader.

Intentional Fallacy

assuming from the text what the author intended to mean (Gadamer) understanding is only in the intent of the author

thick description

a research strategy that combines detailed description of cultural activity with an analysis of the layers of deep cultural meaning in which those activities are embedded
Geertz, process of regarding culture as a text to be read rather than a object to be observed
"stems from the various dimensions of the linguistically of all cultural phenomena. "

Schleiermacher

Hermeneutics' modern critical discourse started by the Father of Theological Liberalism.
"An art of understanding"
Formulated and radicalized main four Hermeneutic approaches (Romantic approach)
1. The primary form in which culture existed and developed is that of the text
2. The most important function of text was to communicate meaning
3. Focusing on texts serves to understand rather than explain
4. Language plays a fundamental role in Hermeneutics

Dilthey

Expanded Schleiemacher's general Hermeneutics and became the foundation of philosophical hermeneutics
Lebensphilosophie: a philosophy of life; meaningful human experience and cultural expressions
Culture is the objectification of meanings that make up lived experiences

Heidegger

Found issues with Schleiemacher's because it was too philosophical and caused a wide range of interpretation and application
Heidegger found that "we can only interpret from where we are at"
Also used hermeneutical approaches for understanding relationships with technology and understanding

Gadamer

Hermeneutic circle, Hermeneutical experience is neither the quest for objectivity, nor the quest for subjectivity. Rather philosophical hermeneutics is to dialectically articulate dimensions of subjective and objective and how they interact
All interpreting begins with a realization and understanding of prejudgements and prejudices

Ricoeur

elaborates especially on the narrative function of language, on the various uses of language such as storytelling, and how narrativity and temporality interact and ultimately return to the question of the meaning of being, the self and self-identity.
Goes beyond Gadamer by viewing understanding as important, but that it is not enough. Ricoeur values criticism and says that this is the second Hermeneutical movement.
A "Hermeneutic of suspicion" questions distortions in analysis and serves to find the best interpretation. There may not be a definitive interpretation, but the text cannot just mean anything

Geertz

"Applied Hermeneutics"
Culture consists of multiple "webs of significance" and is not an "experimental science in search of law, but an interpretive one in search of meaning" (thick description)
We should never stop at observation but also must also participate. Cultural activity in a linguistic sense is inseparable from the activities themselves

Hermeneutical Arc

Ricoeur's concept that includes an "initial moment of understanding followed by a moment of explanation and then a new moment of now 'post-critical' understanding"

Dialectic

The process of self-expansion of the subject, generating higher and more complex ideas.

"you are what you eat"

the earliest readily identifiable use of the phrase was by Jean Anthelme
Brillat-Savarin, in 1826, in his seven-volume book The Physiology of Taste.
He wrote, "Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are."

Dialectical Materialism

the belief that only the material world exists and that class struggles are the mechanism behind social and economic progress. Marx developed this as a way to join the dialectical or process-oriented approach of Hegel
with the materialist insistence on the concrete material dimensions of human social existence.
Pushed against assumptions and idealism.

Fetishism of Commodities

the distorted relationship between individual production and consumption of goods. Idea by Marx; the fact that under capitalism, products of human labor take on an
independent value of their own within a system of monetary exchange, producing an entire "world of
economic value" apparently autonomous of its real bases in human labor and alien to t

Ideology

a system of ideas and ideals, especially one that forms the basis of economic or political theory and policy. Showing how ideas, philosophies, cultural formations, and general worldviews arise from material forces, mystify or conceal the nature of their origins, and then present themselves as putative realities that can appear to have a life of their own, independent of their material bases.

Bourgeoisie

(Marx) the upper class, who owned the means of production and the commodities produced, exchanged them for profit.

Proletariat

Marx's term for the exploited class, the mass of workers who do not own the means of production and were solely engaged in production for wages

surplus value

In Marxist theory, the value of a worker's labor power left over when an employer has repaid the cost of hiring the worker. the difference between the total value of a commodity (what it was sold for on the market) and the wages paid to the worker for producing it

infrastructure

Fundamental facilities and systems serving a country, city, or area, as transportation and communication systems, power plants, and schools
"refers (roughly) to the economic means of production—the material processes by which commodities are produced and basic needs satisfied"

Superstructure

All noneconomic institutions in a society (e.g., religion, culture, national identity); These ideas and values derive from the base and serve to legitimize the current system of exploitation
"concerns the entire variety of social and cultural institutions, practices, values, and ideologies to which a specific economic form of organization gives rise."

Hegemony

The cultural dominance of civil society over the individual even in the absence of the threat of overt force by the state. (Gramsci)

repressive state apparatus (RSA)

unified institutions that repress subordinate groups to conform and submit to practices of the dominating ruling class through violent or non-violent coercive means; these institutions include such entities as the government itself, the court system, the police, and armed forces. (Louis Althusser)

ideological state apparatus (ISA)

A term used to describe those parts of the superstructure (such as religion, the media, the family, or education) which maintain class control through consent rather than coercion. (Althusser)

Hegel

Was a German philosopher who wrote and influenced many others (like Marx) with his writings. He is most often characterized by his 'three-step process' of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis. Believed in absolute idealism,
that all knowledge stems from experience, and that history is the process of uncovering absolute knowledge.

Feuerbach

Believes that the first and primary world is that which our senses give us
Religion is the construction of human imaginations to make us feel better and escape reality
Religion is projection of refined human nature

Marx

Most of materialist critiques are attributed to him.

Sartre

Existentialism

Gramsci

-believed that everyone, no matter what their
occupation, their interests, or their education, is able to work out their own coherent ideas of how the world really works.
-added another dimension to the definition of
hegemony: domination by consent.
-hegemony locks up a society even more
tightly because of the way ideas are transmitted by language. The words we use to speak and write have been constructed by social interactions through history and shaped by the dominant ideology of
the times. Thus they are loaded with cultural meanings that condition us to think in particular ways, and to not be able to think very well in other ways.

Althusser

(ISA and RSA) Antihumanist -Marxism/ other theories must be JUST theories, otherwise it makes them idealist

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

Responsible for psychoanalysis science.
Postulated the idea of the unconscious, a layer of the human psyche that he situated between
biological needs & impulses and that part of the psyche that was conscious, or self aware and
in immediate touch with its environment.

Psychoanalysis

Freud's theory of personality that attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts; the techniques used in treating psychological disorders by seeking to expose and interpret unconscious tensions

Unconscious

according to Freud, a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories. According to contemporary psychologists, information processing of which we are unaware. Composed of psychic materials that have been repressed, that is, put out of reach of conscious awareness

Preconscious

in Freud's theory, the level of consciousness in which thoughts and feelings are not conscious but are readily retrieveable to consciousnes. Mental images and ideas of which were are not continually conscious but of which we can voluntarily become aware

Conscious

Comprises any mental content of which we are immediately aware

Repression

in psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories. Rendering the former's content inaccessible to any voluntary attempt on the part of the latter system to
become aware of them

Libido

The basic human drive, sex drive.

Parapraxis

accidental leakage of the unconscious mind into observable behaviors. Process whereby a person fails to complete his intention, as by the mislaying of objects, thought to be the result of a conflict between unconscious and conscious intention

manifest content of dreams

according to Freud, the remembered story line of a dream

latent content of dreams

According to Freud, the "disguised" meanings of dreams, hidden by more obvious subjects

Displacement in dreams

Presents an image or detail in the manifest content as if it were insignificant, although in the latent content it was absolutely crucial

oral, anal, and genital stage developments

Oral: Focus of pleasure, Which the mouth is the central focus
Anal: Focus of pleasure, is an infant's own waste products, during about the second year of life
Genital: Focus of pleasure, directed toward intercourse with the opposite sex

pleasure principle

is the driving force of the id that seeks immediate gratification of all needs, wants, and urges

reality principle

tendency of the ego to postpone gratification until it can find an appropriate outlet. The ability of the mind to assess the reality of the external world, and to act upon it accordingly, as opposed to acting on the pleasure principle .

Oedipal complex

According to Freud, children's manifestation of erotically tinged desires for their opposite-sex parent, accompanied by feelings of hostility toward their same-sex parent.

Introjection

integrating the beliefs and values of another individual into one's own ego structure. One of many defense mechanisms posited by Sigmund Freud , occurs when a person internalizes the ideas or voices of other people. This behavior is commonly associated with the internalization of external authority, particularly that of parents.

Id

a reservoir of unconscious psychic energy that, according to Freud, strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives. The id operates on the pleasure principle, demanding immediate gratification.Constitute a realm lacking any sense of time or logic as well as any ability to signify through language or other signs

Ego

the largely conscious, "executive" part of personality that, according to Freud, mediates among the demands of the id, superego, and reality. The ego operates on the reality principle, satisfying the id's desires in ways that will realistically bring pleasure rather than pain.

Superego

the part of personality that, according to Freud, represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgment (the conscience) and for future aspirations. The superego's criticisms, prohibitions, and inhibitions form a person's conscience, and its positive aspirations and ideals represent one's idealized self-image

Adorno and Horkheimer

-Frankfurt theorists / Marxists
-pre-influential critical theory in early 20th century
-Jewish men from Germany that immigrated to the US
-Believed culture has become commercialized, are uniform and predictable, and appeal to a general taste
-Bear the influence of their experience in Nazi Germany (mob mentality)
-Traditional vs. critical theory

Marcuse

I shop therefore I am, One-dimensional man (more mass media mean people become more homogenized or one-dimensional), repressive desublimation

Habermas

Communicative action, systematically distorted communication. Student of Adorno, "Neocritical school" descending from the original Frankfurt school.

Benjamin

Empowerment of the masses through the spread of previous 'high culture' such as theatre, music, literature, etc. Mechanical and mass production helped with this.

Reification

The error of giving an abstract concept a name and then treating it as though it were a concrete, tangible object that can be scientifically analyzed.
"the entirety of modern culture evidenced a distinctive and pervasive tendency to convert everything—
including values, ideas, works of art, and even human beings—into objects of scientific analysis,
economic consumption, and bureaucratic manipulation"

One-dimensional man

"Society becomes a monolith without oppositional elements, human beings become uncritical ciphers in the pleasurable processes of production and consumption, and language becomes assimilated to the most ordinary and clichéd slogans circulating through the system. The result is a "soft" form of totalitarianism that has no external boundary and that is increasingly able to absorb all attempts at internal critique."

Pseudorealism

" the consumer is led to accept what is essentially a particular version of reality as reality itself."
"Television programming tends to reconcile us to our existing circumstances through the sublimating
effects of laughter."

Repressive Desublimation

The unleashing of one's desires only in a manner that does not fundamentally challenge existing social structures.
-Refers to the idea that as a consumer, you think you have unlimited choices in terms of fulfilling your desires, and therefore you think you have freedom
-This is actually repressing your more fundamental desires
-Consumer freedom represses/replaces actual human freedom

systematically distorted communication

Operating outside of employees' awareness, this form of discourse restricts what can be said or even considered.
"Habermas claims that much of the discourse involved in the media and popular culture as well as in
contemporary political affairs has the structure of a "manifest level" that presents in a systematically
distorted way a deeper, "latent" level of repressed desire and motivation"