Categories of Ultimate Bases as Universalias of Culture

2. Categories of Ultimate Bases as Universalias of Culture

This part of the work deals with consideration of the transformation of natural basic functions during the socio-cultural formation of the person, an original interpretation is given to morphology of culture from the standpoint of universally-cultural approach. An illustration is given to the difference between “concepts” and “denotations” in texts of culture i.e. distinguishing between invariant components of cultural texts and their conceptual equivalents in the descriptive languages of the texts. On the basis of critical examination of different approaches to culture universalias Me author shows methodological and heuristic advantages of the concept of Categories of ultimate bases as culture universalias.

Realization of the selected strategy of the research and application of language of the description in the analysis of transformation of natural basic functions during the socio-cultural progress of mankind within the limits of creation of artificial means of their realization, reproduction in ceremonies and rituals, understanding at a level of spiritually-practical and theoretical consciousness has allowed to determine judgements, how the alimentary, erotic, aggressive and informative functions are cultivated, tabooed, canalized and in such form are represented as invariants of the structure of cultural texts.

For instance, the entire system of reception and transfer of acquired knowledge in scientific and educational establishments originates from "cultivation" of the informative function, the majority of societies used to taboo an asocial, aggressive behaviour and to canalize not normative forms of realization of erotic function though prostitution can be cultivated in the form of temple prostitution. The last function can also get the cultivated display in sexual elements, and not only in wedding ceremonies, but also funeral and calendar ones. There are religions where sexual function gets attributes of a cult, and it is shown not only in the East, but in Christianity (nunnery as a brides of Christ).

On the whole, it is a question of radical transformation of natural inclinations to especially human forms of behaviour, and by no means positive, when the person, always acting either worse, or better, as compared with an animal, but never being equal to it, is capable both of disgustingly low behaviour, and of unprecedented rises of the spirit.

Basic functions in process of their development have got an institutionalized form, having formed the certain kinds of cultural forms. In other words, socialized functions, becoming institutes, "stand stock-still" in the certain forms.

At a level of physical existence of the person the formation of corporal culture takes place. The ability to render a qualified medical assistance also refers to cultural attributes of one or another society, that allows to speak about culture of health. In other words, maintenance of normal vital functions of the body with the help of special means, methods and substances, and also by means of sanitary arrangements leads to formation of medical culture. The physical training is directed towards an artificial development of natural opportunities of body, that in its extreme way becomes a kind of sports culture, bodybuilding and a cult of body in a modern mass culture.

 At the objectively-practical level the alimentary function in its wide sense in the process of its humanization has generated a powerful layer of the cultivated objectivity which is united by the general name of material culture. Artificial transformation of nature generates specific forms of a technical culture.

Therefore scientists use the terms agriculture, speak about hunting, fishing, craft, industrial and other cultures. The certain types of cultures undergo even more detailed classification. For instance, if the matter concerns pottery then by separate characteristics of pottery it is easy to identify some old cultures in general.

Objectively-practical transformation of the nature generates specific forms of functionally subordinated to each other relations between people, or industrial culture which at a level of direct labour operations finds display in manufacturing culture or a standard of work. These types of culture provide not only technological equipment of work (corresponding to a level of development of productive capacity) and skilfulness of workers, but also a high level of technical and organizational supplying of this process. Here the matter concerns technological and technical and organizational culture. But one can hardly imagine modern manufacture without an appropriate financial and economic supply, management and organizing.

Therefore there appear such spheres of cultural regulation of human activity that are covered by the concept of economic and administrative culture, the cultures of management in general. Obligatory features of a modern expert are also a high standard of business, business etiquette, etc.

In the process of transformation of the nature the person, satisfying his needs for nutrients, energy and conditions of life in general, makes the object of his activity, the nature, be a subject of special cultural regulation that leads to the formation of ecological culture or culture of nature management, including an indicative in meaning "rе-cultivation" of the activity objects.

Development of basic function of continuation of clan at a level of objective-practical world relation generates a system of cultural types which arise on the basis of cognate relations and relations in family as in a social institute. This universal cultural phenomenon corresponds with culture of family relations. Human communities which originate owing to realization of two mentioned functions of the person, also give separate cultural forms.

According to this it is possible to speak about culture of international relations, and in a wider sense, paying attention to authoritative functions of the state, about political culture. Normative cultural regulation of property, authoritative, industrial, cognate and other relations leads to formation of legal culture.

The ritually-ceremonial level transforms the vital functions of the person to one cultural type, the contents of which makes a subject of studying for special cultural schools. As any living being has no rituals and ceremonies, it is possible to speak about them as a specific human way of development of the world within the limits of special, ritually-ceremonial culture. Briefly speaking, in ceremonies of sacrifice we see realization of contaminative aggressive and alimentary functions, in the rituals accompanying an establishment of conjugal relations – of the reproductive function etc.

The practically-spiritual level causes the occurrence of such cultural forms which are united in a class of spiritual culture in general. To its main types we refer myth, religion, folklore, art, literature and morality. This level generates the objective world of consciousness of the person which is often identified with culture in general. Therefore one of forms of the spiritually-practical relation of the person to the world, religion, is understood first of all as a cult.

The spiritually-theoretical level is also covered by the general concept of spiritual culture, but unlike the previous type of spiritual understanding of the world, here it is mainly deprived of its emotionally-sensual colouring. Here the "pure" cognitive process is subjected to cultivation; the culture of scientific research is formed.

Alongside of it the system of specially created means of transfer of socially meaningful information to the new generations is formed. Within the limits of culture of school and university education, a wider system of means and methods of transfer of information to children and adults with their simultaneous education - pedagogical culture - got its development.

The humankind paid not less attention to creation of cultural means of preservation of the information, cultivating writing, publishing, keeping a source of the information (libraries, museums, archives, etc.). Owing to this, the culture of writing qualitatively differs from cultures of illiterate people. Specific means of distribution, reception and transfer of information in language culture and culture of thinking are closely connected with these kinds of cultural forms.

There is no doubt that the mentioned cultural forms do not exhaust all the richness of culture. However, it has not been taken for the purpose here to give the full nomenclature of cultural types.

It was important to outline only the general principle of understanding of cultural formations as derivatives of their general source - existence of the person in the world, directed towards creation of artificial, cultivated conditions for "organization" of a human life as a whole.

Thus, on the basis of the universal-cultural approach to the morphology of culture in the work there was shown, how all variety of cultural forms can be led to the uniform basis when people differ one from another not by what they do in cultural sphere, but by how they do it. Therefore, it enables to establish not only anthropological, but also cultural unity of humankind.

That is, cultural unity of mankind is determined by identity of functional assortment of cultural and creative activity of the person as a patrimonial being, and divergence between cultures arises owing to involving different systems of objectivation into the realization of these functions.

These moments should be considered when defining the CUB-structure of culture texts.

Understanding of the importance of a problem of finding invariants of culture has made the search for culture universalias one of leading themes of modern philosophic-cultural researches. In the wide sense this concept has a widespread application though in the majority of works the approach to them has especially descriptive and declarative character which is shown in simple ascertaining that universalias are present in culture or in ascription to culture universalias a wide range of phenomena, in consequence of that these works are unproductive for my research.

Therefore, it is necessary to accept that the development of the problem of culture universalias cannot be considered satisfactory.

Categories of ultimate bases, on the one hand, are the subject of investigation and on the other - they exist as means of knowledge of the required invariants of cultural texts.

Consequently, we offer the methodological principle, which suggests to distinguish universal invariant constituents of the textual structures in the text itself („denotate”), and in notions („concepts”) by means of which these invariants are fixed and comprehended.

When the researchers (Heleasar Meletinsky and others) specify, that the fairy tale is structured within the limits of a destructive code, and Algirdas Greimas speaks about a gastronomic code of culture it is clear, that in the „languages of the description” they implicitly used such „concepts” which correspond to aggressive and alimentary world outlook codes.

It is necessary to distinguish also the forms of representation of the ultimate bases of human existence in the world at different levels of world relation and corresponding sciences with the specific conceptual apparatus, which have as the subject of investigation this concrete level.

For example, ontology of death is studied by thanatological branch of medicine and the ritually-ceremonial level of its representation in funeral ceremonialism – by ethnography. Accordingly, the „conceptual” description of one and the same boundary human situation in these branches of knowledge will be different.

In the work it is also proved, that existing substantial approaches to culture universalias eventually originate from the categories of ultimate bases and worldview codes.

And so, my viewpoint, when universalias of cultures are understood as categories of ultimate bases and codes, has its obvious essential advantages as it reveals the deep invariant elements of structure of culture texts, consequently all available points of view on cultural universalias seem only as a particular, specifically conceptually issued variant of my approach.

So, in the approach offered by Theodore Oyzerman, it is easy to see a wider CUB-structure. Such distinguished by him universalia of culture as labour is the basic form of supporting existence with the purpose of reception of substance and energy from an outer world (the alimentary code in its wide meaning).

The reverse influence of nature changed in the course of practice upon the person and conditions of his life has determined the origin of an ecological problematic, which is also considered by this author as a cultural universalia.

Reproductive function in its emotional-evaluative variant is presented by this researcher in universalias of matrimonial relations and respect for motherhood. Hospitality and peaceful co-existence of people as universalias of culture (according to Theodore Oyzerman) can be led under a wider CUB-base, namely – under an aggressive code in its tabooed manifestation.

At the same time the universalias „boldness and courage” as well as „war" give us the cultivated aggressive code. In the certain degree the same code in the same expression is visible in the first part of Oyzerman universalia „self-control in the face of death”. Courage here has obvious indications of force, strength of mind, and it is nothing else but one of conceptual expressions of aggressive code. At the same time, courage is directed against death, that is against denying of life.

Therefore, in this case on the basis of the given universalia one can notice also an intentially presented immortal category. Similar result in detection of the deep CUB-contents has been received during the analysis of other works on this theme (Bronislav Malinovsky, George Murdock, John Passmor, etc.).