<Papers> Restructuring the Concept of "Culture"

Abstract

This paper examines the concept of "culture" by reconsidering the relation between "culture" and "reading". Aperson who has read many and various books, especially Great Books, has often been regarded as a person of culture, meaning that he or she is considered to be a person with universal mind. Nowadays, most Japanese researchers investigating culture do not emphasize the significance of reading. The changing media relate to this shift in emphasis in discussions about this being a cultural problem. In other words, with increasing use of electronic media in society, changes in the very nature of what constitutes a "book", which is a visual medium, shake the concept of culture, which has before meant the acquisition of universal mind. In reconsidering the concept of culture, this paper focuses on John Dewey's educational theory. He said that culture is "the growth of the imagination" (Dewey, 1899). He made much of reading in his concept of culture, and believed that the point of reading was, not for acquiring universal mind, but for interpreting and expanding each experience. Reading is one such experiences and serves "the growth of the imagination." This paper concludes that culture is a process for reinterpreting and expanding experience by means of a variety of experiences, including reading