What is the Meaning of “Culture”? Some Comments and Perspectives

Abstract

In this day and age, a concept of has become a thing unknown and incomprehensible to most people. This chapter provides a contribution to that reconstruction, both from a general cultural-philosophical and a more specific cultural-sociological point of view. The fact that culture became a key term at the beginning of our modern age has led to some comments on the situation of secular in the modern age in the last part of the chapter, at the end of which even a possible theological dimension shines through. By way of introduction, reference is made to the basic concept associated with the term culture, which mainly results from the etymology of the word: The Latin cultura at first referred only to agricultural care and preservation, but later its meaning was metaphorically extended to refer to the cultivation, education, preservation and care of the soul and the spirit. Keywords: culture; etymology; Latin cultura