The thinning physicality of an artifact

Abstract

The article compares two versions of the development of cultural studies. In the first (wide) version, culture is traditionally understood as the whole artificially created “second nature”. According to the second, currently prevailing narrow version, the subject of cultural studies is the mental (ideational) aspects of cultures; the physicality of artifacts is supplanted to the periphery of research. A narrow interpretation of culture leads to a number of conceptual flaws and thematic gaps. The prospects of cultural studies are seen by the author in the advantages of a broad interpretation of culture. A model of the morphology of culture is proposed, which includes the frontier, discursive practices, and core values. Three types of artifacts form the frontier of culture on its border with the external environment (nature and other cultures): artificial things, modified organisms and social institutions. The nomenclature of discursive practices that make it possible to build a frontier includes knowledge, technology, and norms. Their historical and cultural configurations undergo significant metamorphoses. A special function of intergenerational translation of cultural achievements is performed by enculturation technologies. The values of cultures are presented, first of all, by symbols. In addition, they are transferred and rebuilt by simulacra, which are capable of performing both destructive and creative functions. Symbols promote following traditions and, simulacra — enriching or changing them. Symbols and simulacra direct the dynamics of cultures. To describe the dynamics of cultures, it is advisable to use the synergistic concept of persistent and transmutation attractors. In persistent attractors, cultures are delicately adapted to external challenges they are accustomed to. A drastic change in challenges pushes culture into one of two transmutation attractors, where it either perishes or gets a chance to become a civilization.