Idea Map

People are smarter with culture

Culture is an individual’s link to society through intangibles. The more knowledge a society gains the more a sense of culture is realised. Whether collectively or individually, it is a cultivation of a level of sophistication, in the arts, sciences, education or manners. There is also the association to ‘truth’ as rationalized under Adorno’s aesthetic theory, in which history plays an important role in defining one’s acquired taste. These are principles of enlightenment as one hopes to achieve full comprehension of a certain situation.

With knowledge we perceive history symbolically in our culture. The age of enlightenment saw man’s discourse from a religious quest to one that of rational thinking. At the time all cultures was thought to arrive at a pinnacle of enlightenment. However this was critiqued to lack the idea of a genuine ‘other’. After all, cultures were varied in practice all over the world.

Today, we may find ourselves associated to several cultures (whether personal or communal). Our exposure defines our intellect. We also see cultures subsumed into one, encompassing a global perspective. Our practice of science, reason and morality in social structures has evolved. While our association to culture is a representation of our taste acquired by our experiences, it is still a continuing legacy of enlightenment. In turn, culture becomes one’s quest for reason, for will and feeling, and for religion.