Przekonania i zmiana kulturowa

Abstract

The main topic of the essay is a traditionally recognized problem of the explanation of cultural change from the point of view of the theories of cultural knowledge. To solve this problem, two steps are being proposed. First, to replace the concept of determination of human action by beliefs with the concept of cultural beliefs as tools (following Lucien Febvre’s concept of ‘mental equipment’). Second, to put the concept of beliefs within a broad frame determining the relationship between cultural beliefs and their surroundings: action, material environment etc (here the propositions by Jerzy Kmita are followed). In this way the problem of relation between the understanding of culture as a set of socially shared beliefs and the functional idea of culture becomes the main issue.