In philosophy, cultural studies and pedagogy, the concept «culture» is considered as a phenomenon of social life, as a specific way of activity, including the process of creative individuality and uniqueness of the individual as a subject. Culture is reviewed as knowledge characterizing various historical epochs, ethnic groups, spheres of life activity, informing about the level of development of society, about the creative forces and abilities of a person, expressed in the types and forms of organization of life and activity of people, their mutual relations in society. There are two spheres of culture: the material and the spiritual. Material culture includes the objective results of human activities; spiritual culture combines those phenomena that are associated with consciousness, with the intellectual and emotional-psychological activity of man. Material and spiritual culture are in organic unity, integrating into a certain single type of culture, which is historically variable, at each new stage of its development, inherits all the most valuable created by the previous culture. The psychological aspect of the phenomenon of culture is interconnected with the problem of objective and subjective in becoming a person and is studied in connection with human life on the basis of the active assimilation of social forms of consciousness and behavior. Mental processes are considered in the context of the relationship of man with the world of culture. Culture is a syncretic phenomenon, a background for harmonious relations of man with nature, society and himself, the synthesis of material and spiritual values, a necessary condition for a harmonious relationship with the outside world and ensuring a civilized future. Culture, permeating the entire vital activity of society, is one of the components of the generalized criterion of a specific historical being. This is a specific way of life activity in the unity and diversity of historically developed forms.
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