Preface - The Character Of Culture

This monograph is the first in a series of monographs emanating from the World Culture Project. The Project is a ten-year undertaking designed to promote the fact that culture has a crucial role to play in global development and world affairs in the future. It is being undertaken to coincide with and commemorate the World Decade for Cultural Development (1988-1997).

Of all the monographs undertaken in conjunction with the World Culture Project, none may be more difficult of demanding than the present one on The Character of Culture. The object is to evolve an understanding of culture that is consistent with reality, the historical literature, and the way we use the term culture in our everyday discourse. What results is a far-reaching and all-embracing cosmological conception of culture. This comprehensive, dynamic and egalitarian notion of culture, which I have attempted to show is not a fabrication of a vivid imagination but rather the culmination of a long and distinctive intellectual tradition, will then act as the centrepiece for all other monographs in the series.

Given the enormity and complexity of the subject matter that is being dealt with, it should be emphasized that The Character of Culture is highly exploratory and illustrative, rather than definitive and exhaustive, in nature. Its purpose is to show how the cosmological conception of culture can be used as an approach to addressing the persistent and perplexing problems of our times in a new, and hopefully more fruitful, way. Whether it is the conception of culture advocated here, or some other conception more appropriate to the circumstances, I believe a general consensus should be achieved on the nature, meaning, subject matter and characteristics of culture if the full potential of culture to create the conditions for a better world is to be realized. If this monograph contributes in any way to this objective, it will more than achieve its purpose.

It remains to express my gratitude to the members of the Advisory Council for their support of the World Culture Project, as well as to Nancy Schafer, Sal Amenta, Thelma Barer-Stein, Walter Pitman and Joy MacFadyen for their valuable assistance with this particular monograph. While recognizing these contributions, I nevertheless assume full responsibility for everything contained in the text.