Article on sustainable aspects of our culture
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Before the concepts of “sustainable development” and “culture” can be treated in depth, their definition and meaning must be clarified. It soon becomes apparent that this effort is as complex, difficult and, consequently, often controversial for the concept of culture as for that of sustainability. As this issue is covered in greater detail in other contributions to this volume, I would like to limit myself first to distinguishing two definitions: On the one hand, the definition of culture in the narrower sense of the term as the intellectual-artistic realm of a society, i. e. music, literature, theatre, painting, but also education and knowledge. In the other, broader definition, which will underlie this contribution, culture encompasses everything created by human beings and comprises all processes of the way in which people interact with other people and with the natural environment. Consequently, this implies also basic attitudes and values, traditions, lifestyles, ethics, religion, but also the legal, economic, social and political systems of a society.
“Culture” thus would mean the way in which we live or want to live and how we shape social development. To find the proper place for this concept of culture, let me use an example based on an item well known to all of us: “Civilization” means owning a toothbrush, “cultural technique” means being able to use it, while “culture” means actually using it, i. e. the ability and willingness, respectively, to implement things found to be correct.