CHAPTER 5 CHAPTER OBJECTIVES: At the end of the chapter, the student should be able to: 1. Explain the concept of man as culturally-charged by nature. 2. Argue why culture is important to man. 2. Provide insights in terms of culture in technology and modernity in the life of man. 4, Discuss how this cultural nature of man developed and is meant for his success and survival and why he is a product of culture. 5, Make a philosophical reflection in the affairs of his/her concrete perspectives and experiences in daily life. tAAG§ Scanned with CamScannerThe Culturally-charged Nature of Man otle had always believed that every man born into this world is born as essentially a tabula rasa, that is, he is born with a mind likened to a “white or blank table” where initially there are no writings or markings whatsoever on it. Originally, it is immaculately white and then begins to grow and acquire some knowledge and later slowly some markings or writings become visible. In conclusion, man is therefore born without a naturally ingrained knowledge in his mind, Knowledge therefore is something that he acquires along the stages of mental development and not. something that is naturally built-in by virtue of his birth as a rational being, Contrary however to such observation, and from the studies in embryological sciences, even those who are still in the womb of their mother, start gaining some q knowledge although in a very archaic fashion. As a matter of fact, whatever Key words goes on in the life of the mother, the baby participates in actively and acquires according to its archaic mode what can be received from it. As early ; culture as seven (7) to eight (8) weeks the unborn baby, the fetus, already develops natural and its brain and gains size at a very fast pace. Whatever the mother eats, feels, man- made culture, experiences or thinks, the baby just does the same although in a very minimal physical and way. It has been found in many studies that difficult pregnancies where | psychological mothers have become problematic, both physiologically and mentally, affect | humans as substantially the baby in the womb. They are applicable both to positive | tabula rasa and negative events in the life of the mother. It should therefore be inferred | homo culturae that knowledge begins in the womb and goes on until it finds itself in the | man, origin and tomb. Articulation of human knowledge, though primitive, obviously begins | product of culture when the baby starts to speak his thoughts through the language that starts : — with sounds and letters. By being able to imitate others, he is able to easily acquire knowledge that others teach him. This is where we see the truth that knowledge begins in and through the senses. But its not true that it is from purely sense cognition that man acquires knowledge. It is through transmission of knowledge from the mother that he already starts to acquire it. That initial acquisition of knowledge is referred to as the intial cultural upbringing that the child is introduced to and has to live through, No one therefore is born without some ingrained cultural disposition. As a matter of fact, man is born in culture and that begins during his initial cellular development in the womb. It can now be inferred that culture begins in the womb and so, knowledge. We can show this proposition by knowing more what culture and their ramifications are all about and how from the earliest cellular development of humans make this initial culture begin to work. I i at ) Man and Culture Culture, may be understood in many different ways. Although understood this way, there are certainly some commonplace concepts that can serve as general denominators to comprehend it. Carol R. Ember and Melvin Ember (2011) define culture as the total way of life of any society, not simply t those parts of this way which the society regards as higher or more desirable. It refers to innumerable aspects of life, including many things we consider ordinary. It is the totality of life, not just what people do, but also how they commonly think and feel. Hence, culture is the set of learned behaviors and ideas (including beliefs, attitudes, values, and ideals) that are characteristic of a particular society or other 50% i groups. Moreover, behaviors can also produce products or material culture — like houses, music instruments, and tools that are the products of customary behavior. For Conrad Phillip Kottak (201!) adopting Tylor’s (1871) definition, culture is “that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief. art TB| CHAPTER 4 PHILOSOPHY OF MAN Scanned with CamScanner >|morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as. a t ie oS aa 1952, in Miller. 201). This enniton focuses Salts tet ee ical inheritance but by growing up i exposed to a spec cultural tration. ‘The pinase “That complex whole” I the mot endures the definition. According to Schein, 1985 (in Kuh and Whitt, 1988), culture is the “common set of tact assumptions, values, and beliefs that influence the way a group of people think or behave." This definition adds the dimension of “tacit assumptions,” that is, those that are considered acceptable although are not usually, overtly and verbally articulated. : Note, however, that culture is basically social more than personal or individual. Man's cultural being has survived because society has adopted it rather than its being personal. This tells of his natural and acquired culture be this individual or social. Since an individual man dies, the culture specific to him also dies. But a culture that has been adopted by society seldom dies, until the whole of that society banishes like the Incas of Mexico who built the pyramids. That culture has died with the death of those who adopted such culture. Even its civilization has also disappeared. For as long as there is a population left to uphold and practice 2 collective culture, then culture will endure. And it is this culture which is the one that is ingrained in the life of a group of individuals and which develops because culture is not developed on a short term basis, it also endures long-term. This is what distinguishes one society from another. So since an individual belongs to that society, he also exhibits a particular nature that is reflective of a bigger society. In the end, an individual becomes culturally-charged. From the time of his birth and even before it. man already adopts the culture of the mother, who nurtures and nourishes him in her womb. As earlier mentioned. it is not accurate to say that man is a tabula rasa from birth. More accurately, man learns culture from the time he is conceived in his mother's womb since man already receives some cultural DNA’s from then. And as the stages of human life go forward, all the more man, even in his primitive form, already inherits those elements in culture. In the end, man is conceived, born and lives in and through culture. What could be more natural than a culture that is inherited, lived and expressed in both human and social life. Culture however does not only refer to social matters but it has also a dimension that is ethical (end spiritual). This dimension is demonstrated in both overt and covert ways. Language. whether verbal or sign, is one that is usually overtly practiced in order to be understood. Ethically or morally- charged culture is part and parcel of the nature of a particularly group of people, not necessarily as behaviors of rational beings. People act and behave due to some deontological (duty) practices or because there are do's and don't’s that must be followed, lest a member of the group may earn the ire or sanctions of the guardians of morality. Racism, pre-arrange marriages and honor killings, for instance are moral issues that members have to learn and follow without even the privilege of knowing if they are reasonably or morally right or wrong. As defined by culture, these practices or mental-constructs are passed on from one generation to the next. And it would take also generations to unlearn them when deemed unreasonable or unethical or simply unacceptable. It must be noted that of all the living beings, man is at the core of culture. This is simply because it is man who is rationally receptive to and of culture as he is the most learned of all animals. He does not only inherit a culture, he can also invent a culture, What is important is that man derives great advantage from it, especially for his well-being. The Culturally-charged Nature of Man|77 Scanned with CamScanner' Man, a Cultural Being Experts of Culture and Sociology are one in their view that to say that human beings are by nature cultural is to say that they have natural qualities that are not usually categorized as ontologically. physically and rationally attributed and described. Man, for example is known to be social. But social qualities do not always equate to cultural qualities. This is so because social animals according to Charon (2007) live according to instinct and not necessarily by culture. Adult animals in the society (including humans) actually - i teach the young what to do by simply imitations or species-based teaching. Human beings are not the only animals that learn. According to R. H. Lavenda and Emily A. Schultz (2010), researches showed that Chimpanzees have invented simple practices of various kinds that other members of their groups acquire through learning, such as fishing for termites with twigs, making leaf sponges to soak up water to drink, cracking nuts with rocks and assuming distinctive postures for grooming one another. Nevertheless, human beings are basically the only animals that have learned more complex things. But if culture is defined as practices that are acquired from and shared with other members of one’s social groups, that mediate one’s adaptation to the environment, and that get passed on from generation to generation by means of social learning, then these ape practices certainly can be called culture. According to Charon (2007) “to be cultural means that our lives are more than just physical. We develop and understand ideas, values, and rules that guide our lives: these are socially created and allow us to understand our environment. Instead of physically responding to our environment, we bring socially constructed perspective of the environment and ourselves that influences our actions. We discuss our world, we socialize with one another with symbols, we use abstractions to understand as we act. The knowledge we learn in our lives is not lost when we die but is passed down to others. There is a heritage that each individual within society learns and uses. People are not simply trained: with culture they are able to understand what they and others are doing and are supposed to do. Because of this cultural quality, societies differ considerably from one another. Each has a somewhat unique approach to living. Culture distinguishes organizations of people.” Moreover (Charon, 2007) “culture means that we see the world according to our social life: on the other hand, it means that we give meaning to our world. We do not merely respond to a world that acts as a stimulus on us. Instead, we understand it through the meanings that we learn in the Interaction. As our culture changes, so does our understanding of the world and our action in it” TBI CHAPTER 4 PHILOSOPHY OF MAN Scanned with CamScannerObservably, Charon (2007) avers that “even our internal world is cultural, not simply physical. Our physical internal sense may change as something happens to us (as someone points a gun at us OF surprises us or tells us he or she loves us), But a change in our internal state does not automatically produce a response. Responses are defined, controlled, and directed by us, and they are guided by what our culture teaches. Between the internal physical response and what we do lies culture. Although many animals cry out toward their environment in what we might call ‘anger,’ human beings have the ability to understand that quality in themselves. They are taught by other people to distinguish anger from love, jealousy, pride, hatred, and fear. The culture that we learn tells us when it is appropriate to get angry and when it is appropriate to show it. We learn how to control anger, how to express anger. and how to feel sorry, guilty, or happy about our anger. It also teaches us many ideas about anger. as ‘anger is natural,’ ‘anger is one important cause of prejudice.’ The extent of anger is related to frustration, and we apply these ideas to understanding our intemal responses. Even the word anger ~ the label we give our internal sense - is cultural. Experts are able to show us different types of anger and different levels of it. We can even learn when anger is “healthy” and “unhealthy” and we can learn how and when it can be “useful” or “harmful” to our goals.” Further (Charon, 2007) “we also label and act toward people culturally. We see middle-class people and working-class people, conformists and nonconformists. nice people and nasty people. These labels are cultural. They help us divide reality, and behavior that we perceive as deviant at one time or in one society may not be perceived that way in another.” But all these cultural aspects attributed to man are rooted in the fact that humans by nature are driven by a sense of survival, pursuit of happiness, promotion of peace and order, pursuit of contentment and a life in freedom and enjoyment of what they learn. And all these are based on man’s rational (even supernatural) nature, as is always true with all human beings. Man thinks of a thousand ways in order to live life with meaning. And it is culture that makes that meaning fully expressed and realized. And this cultural being in man is what is philosophically referred to as his individual nature (second nature) as distinguished from his specific nature (fundamental rational nature). Further, man is a being that owes his existence and survival and enjoyment to the accumulation of cultural factors like communication and language, provision of food, economic activities. Man lives under social stratifications as class, ethnicity and race, recognizes one’s sex, enters into marriage and family, has marital residence and kinship, organizes associations with interest groups, lives a political life, enters into religion and even magic, craft arts and demonstrates symbols and admires beauty. Inferentially, man indeed is an homo culturae, a man or being of culture. 1 Importance of Culture in Man's Nature Charon (2007) observes that culture is important to human beings on many counts, First, to be (cocial and) cultural means that we are not set at birth but can become many different things and can go in many different directions. We are therefore capable of becoming saints or sinners, a farmer or a nurse or a priest or business executive. One becomes only what one knows, and that depends on what one Tearns. Although biology may have something to do with differentiating us from one another, making it possible for some of us to excel in various spheres rather than others, our flexibility is stil great, and thus The Culturally-charged Nature of Man|79 Scanned with CamScannersociety, culture, and socialization play an important role in what we all become. Simply, culture makes us what we want to be Second, distinct societies atise. This means that societies based on culture rather than instinct, imitations, or universal-species teaching will vary greatly in what they emphasized. Thus, we can become a peaceful people or a people that worships militarism. Asa people, we can come to believe that the most important goal in life is to make money, or we can believe that the good life is one of unselfish giving. We can emphasize competition or cooperation, this life or an afterlife, rock music or opera, Nature does not command what society becomes, just as it does not command what an individual becomes. In other words, culture gives us freedom to become what we want to be. Third, with culture each of us to a great extent is controlled by other people. We are located within a set of social forces that shape and control what we do, what we are, and what we think. The culture that we learn becomes a part of our being and come to influence every aspect of our lives. Unlike other animals, itis not nature that commands us. Nor, unlike what most of us may think, is it free choice that characterizes many of our decisions. In simple terms, there are complex influences that we cannot escape from. Fourth. we become active beings in relation to the environment. As we depend on the social and cultural, we are no longer passive organisms who must respond according to instinct or conditioning. Culture allows us to understand what is around us. The word understanding might be defined as the ability to stand apart from our environment and describes it with words to ourselves and to others. It also means that we are able to apply our own knowledge to many different situations. To be (social and) cultural creates a being who is active, problem-solving, and creative. Hence, culture makes us responsive to the environment by allowing us to rise above in various ways. _ Culture for Success and Survival While it is presumed than most of man’s achievements are attributable to his capacity for intelligence and inherent traits of consciousness and communication, culture’s role is highly paramount in man’s progress and civilization and cannot be overemphasized. Man's intelligence, consciousness and capacity for language can serve as the basic framework for survival, yet culture is one that makes man succeed in his personal and social endeavors. It can be inferred therefore that culture is a collective weapon and means for human survival and progress. Without culture, it would be impossible for man to succeed in science and technology. Man would not have invented computers, world-wide- web, social networking. Communication has become so simple and fast that it is so easy now to communicate with someone on the other side of the globe. Transportation has made travel so accessible and fast and that it is not just a mere speculation to go to the moon or other planets. There have been enormous plans by the West to invent technologies so that man can explore the solar system or the whole universe. These and many more are in the stages of success and the prospects are very bright, All of these are made in order that man would reap success and pursue how to survive in the world that is constantly threatened by nuclear devastation or global warming and other challenges that it faces. Culture of research and development will be very significant to a world whose future seems to be uncertain with the many challenges it faces, BOL CHAPTER 4 PHILOSOPHY OF MAN Scanned with CamScannerIn the study of culture of human history, biologist Mark D. Pagel (2012), makes insightful observations and inferences about culture especially about why humans evolved our complex systern of language. He suggests that language is a piece of "social technology" that allowed early human tribes to access a powerful new tool: cooperation. With this tool, culture also developed. And using biological evolution as a template, Pagel wonders how languages evolve. He says. “Language allows you to implant a thought from your mind directly into someone else's mind, and they can attempt to do the same to you, without either of you having to perform surgery.” This only shows that language has become a part of culture simply due to man’s propensity to engage others in cooperative work. Language played a very important part in a fable about the tower of Babel. Since God did not want it, he destroyed the tower and confused the people by giving them different languages and not allow them to build the tower agai Man, Modernity and Technology Man's progress in modernity | and technology is a tribute to man’s rationality and culture. It is also his | characteristic way of coping with the new challenges of the times. It is also his way of journeying to the future with more confidence and assurance. The modernity and technology that he has discovered and invented is also his solution to keeping pace on the fast lane and with the continuous novelties ;, of the times so that he can survive the attendant challenges he was not familiar with. Man abhors suddenness of events. He wants that his actions are calculated by inventing the future. He must also invent modernity and technology as answers to unexpected events. Man knows that if he has no appropriate response to these events, his very life would be at stake and his very survival would be hanging precariously. Intelligent that he is, man would like to create and anticipate whatever episodes that can occur. He wants to control them rather than being controlled by them in the end. It is part and parcel of man’s identity and nature to be a vital cog of the world he wants to create. The reason why the dinosaurs disappeared from the face of the earth was because these giant animals did not have the coping mechanism to survive the onslaughts of the natural calamities. It is with great assurance that because man knows what modernity and technology is all about, he can address the challenges posed by natural and man-made calamities. It is assumed that by the use of modernity and technology, man would be able to anticipate the destructive elements of these calamities. A case in point is the issue of war. Man must be able to anticipate the destructive consequences, for instance of nuclear weapons if he wants to survive a nuclear holocaust. It should be inferred that modernity and technology are but an essential feature of man’s reason and culture. Hence, it is a tribute to his nature as a rational human being who has grown and improved through technology and culture of understanding. The Culturally-charged Nature of Man|8t Scanned with CamScannert Man, a Product of Culture From the very beginning and as history can attest, man is first and foremost a product of culture. As we have understood, culture is the total way of life of any society. not simply to those parts of this way which the society regards as higher or more desirable. It refers to innumerable aspects of life, including many things we consider ordinary. It is the totality of life, not just what eople do, but also how they commonly think and feel. From this pronouncement, itis highly safe to say that man is a product of the confluence of space and time that have [| affected the fact of his origin, his way of life and the way he wants to lve his life, be he an individual or member ofa society, Philosophers however contend that man did not come to exist by himself as this is ontologically impossible. He has to pre-exist in order that he can be caused to exist, He should therefore be contingent upon an unreal cause so that this cause can have the power to cause him to exist. And since this is contradictory, man cannot pre-exist himself. From the above contention, it can necessarily be concluded that before man ever existed, and before he came as a product of many elements in nature. he should have been first made to exist by a greater cause. That greater cause is Uncaused Cause who philosophers refer to God. This God is complete in perfection and never lacking in anything. This perfection is the one that has been bestowed ‘on man to beginning his creation to propel the beginning of his cultural nature. This cultural nature brings with it his innate potential, like his intellect, will, creativity, imaginativeness, propensity to invent so that he can live a life of ease and comfort and ward-off elements that will threaten his survival. Hence, from the very beginning of his existence, he has already a potential culture ready to be developed and nurtured. And this culture includes his spirituality. that is, his propensity to lift his soul to a God who is responsible for his culturally-charged nature. And this will go on until he fully enjoys this culture of perfection in his ultimate destiny. In a word, man is cultural from the beginning, in his becoming and even beyond his life. It should never be a surprise if man is culturally spiritual because he is made to be one. One can see this among the very primitive people who even without education, lived in remote place far from modern civilization and without the privilege to make deep mental analysis would always have religious culture in their way of life and in the way they feel when death occurs in their family. This should make us infer that while man can acquire culture is also the cause of culture. B2| CHAPTER 4 PHILOSOPHY OF MAN Scanned with CamScannerFINAL REMARKS Man is born into a culture and has been a product of culture. This culture is both internal and external to his being. It is both learned and assimilated through time and space since he has with him already the natural being through which he can learn and assimilate it, Culture for him is potentially present in his being and is actually acted on when man is ready to nurture it. His internal culture is potentially present in his physical and ontological being. His first external environment is the family, @ social entity where culture has been a-priori nurtured, developed and nourished. It is passed on to him by his parents, as it is known to have been imprinted through his DNA and hereditary features. This is carried later through time and space through generations that have previously learned it. Later. man assimilates it, and even improves on it as he sees fit in doing so. That is why culture is not static but dynamic. Hence, we can also say that man, as a cultural being is not a static but a dynamic being. He will pursue things that will give him better advantages through time and space for his development and perfection. It is a truism therefore that without culture, it is impossible for man to survive the Environment he lives in. Culture is therefore a product of man’s propensity to think, to survive, to improve, to enjoy what the present environment presents to him. In the world he experiences, he will continue to change and will continue to see even a different world outside him. In the end, he will be Sble to see deeper meaning in what he does with his fellows. But this meaning depends on how well or how superficial he assimilates it and in terms that it gives him benefits. If he understands well, he can develop ways to improve himself. If not, he retrogresses or regresses. Culture is something that man can improve or degenerate on. But culture is natural to man otherwise he invites extinction of his being. From the discussion, culture is natural to man since he is man of “becoming.” Culture facilitates this concept in him to eventually become a concrete being ready to respond to various forces of nature. Thus, man is an homo culturae, a being who cultivates or is cultivated by forces or elements around him. He is a being who tills, cares and cultivates his capacities, especially his mind together with his genit genitors (progenitor), like his relatives and friends. Associated with his being an homo culturae, is his having 2 natural capacity to beget or bring forth not only offspring but also technology and knowledge. Hones, as a being of culture, he acts from culture, develops culture and bequeaths culture. But just as we make or develop culture, culture also makes and develops us. Simply. it is a fact that culture is both internal as well as external. VIGNETTE: Many say that “we are what we eat.” In other words, our lifestyle creates our own individual nature and the personal culture that we develop depends on what we eat, the water we drink, the air we breathe, the language we learn, the values we assimilate, the ideas we believe, the spirituality we practice and everything that we acquire in our lives until we die. All these make what we are and they are the kind of culture that we utilize to survive and live, These too are what give meaning to our lives and we believe that they offer us happiness when we are able to apply them in our daily lives. It isa fact however that there are people who have been trained and nurtured in a culture which later they refuse to practice or believe as good. The women in traditional primitive culture (even perpetrated in contemporary milieu) have been raised to be subservient to men. When they defy these cultural practices, they are either disowned by their families or worse, they even have to suffer death for dishonoring them. Their parents practice pre-arranged marriages of their daughters even when the latter have never seen the would-be husband. If they disobey, they can be subjected to the so-called ‘honor illing’ in which a member/s of thetr family can kill chem for dishonoring family values. And many women have suffered this kind of cultural practice. How do you understand culture vis-d-vis human rights? Does the example above respect human rights? Is culture here to be understood as a natural part of the nature of man, or is this kind of culture a kind of human distortion perpetuated by generations to favor men and authority of elders? Is forced marriage a distorted cultural value? Please explain. The Culturally-charged Nature of Man|83 Scanned with CamScanner