Western Culture, Philosophy Century Look

As time passes and the 21st century is drawing near, cultural philosophy is more and more eminent on the horizon of philosophical studies. Cultural issues have been among the major concerns of the 20th ?century philosophy. One of the immediate effects of the concerns is the rise of western cultural philosophy. The main purpose of this article is to discuss the developing law and significance of western cultural philosophy by studying and reflecting on its developing states. The article is composed of five parts, which discuss the rising, the the- oretical forms and the appraisals of the western cultural philosophy. The author concludes that the western cultural philosophy can be devided into two aspects. On the one hand, it means the philosophical theories and thoughts whose special study object is cultural trait of humankind . On the other hand,it means cultural theories and viewpoints of all forms which are included in kinds of trend of philosophical thoughts and schools. The rising and develop- ing of the western cultural philosophy in 20th century is not only the result of the shifting of focal points on philosophical study but also the necessity of fur- ther understanding about existent human and cultural developments. Its main social ?historical causes are the developments of society ?history, science ? technology and reflexion on social problems. The western cultural philosophy studies the nature of western cultural spirits, and it is the expression form and active springs of the spirits. The existent modes of human being are individual, group and humankind. Accordingly, western cultural philosophy includes cul- tural philosophy on person, social cultural philosophy and cultural philosophy on humankind. ?? Social cultural philosophy looks the society as research unit, which is the group state of human being, and it includes four theories: civilization rela- tivisrn ,cultural growth theory, civilization integration theory and cultural pat- tern theory. The civilization relativism stresses the existence of relative inde- pendent cultural morphol in different areas. The cultural growth theory studies the growing of culture on dynamic developing aspects. The civilization integra- tion theory finds the philosophical meanings of culture through the conflict and fusion of civilizations in different areas. The cultural pattern theory studies the patterns and structures of cultural developments. Cultural philosophy on person studies mainly the cultural trait of individu- al. Its content is composed of five theories: the theory on the instinct of person and the nature of civilization, the theory on alienation of individual and materi- alization of culture, the theory on distortion of individual nature and cultural criticism, the theory on freedom and duty of person and the theory on relation- ships between scientific spirit and human spirit. The theory on the instinct of person and the nature of civilization focuses on the cultural trait of individual, and the theory on alienation of individual and materialization of culture reflects the loss of individual nature on aspect of ideology. The theory on distortion of individual nature and cultural criticism is characterized by its critiques to indus- trial society and cultural control. The theory on freedom and duty of person cares mainly about the existence of person itself. The theory on relationships between scientific spirit and human spirit shifts from the study o...