The Paradoxical Unity of Culture

The Arts and the Sciences

Bibliographic Data

ID4481209
AuthorsGyorgy Markus (The University of Sydney, corresponding author)
Year2003
Volume75
Issue1
Pages7-24
Publication date2003-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThesis Eleven (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0725-5136 • E-ISSN: 1461-7455
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0725513603751002
OpenAlexW2044623034
LanguageEN
Citations received9

The two main domains of high culture - the arts and the sciences - seem to be completely different, simply unrelated. Is there any sense then in talking about culture in the singular as a unity? A positive answer to this question presupposes that there is a single conceptual scheme, in terms of which it is possible to articulate both the underlying similarities and the basic differences between these domains. This article argues that - at least in respect of 'classical' modernity - there is such a framework: the normatively conceived Author-Work-Recipient relation. It allows the disclosure of the paradoxical unity of culture: its two main realms are constituted as polar opposites and thus as strictly complementary. Through such an organization, culture could fulfil an affirmative, compensatory role. At the same time however, it also allowed culture to acquire the character of social critique, a function realized through the antagonistically opposed projects of Enlightenment and Romanticism - projects whose illusions are now evident

Aesthetics · Enlightenment · Epistemology · Literature · Modernity · Political science · Romanticism · Sociology · The arts · Critical Theory and Philosophy · Law · Philosophy · Philosophy, Science, and History

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