(RECTOR, SEAT OF WISDOM SEMINARY OWERRI)
TOPIC: CULTURE AND MORALITY: TWO RELATED CONCEPTS OF THE SERVICE OF HUMANITY
WHAT IS CULTURE?
There are so many definitions and understandings that have been given to the term culture given the various academic backgrounds. Going back to its etymology, the word culture comes from the Latin colo, colere, colui, cultum which means “to cultivate” or “to live in.” It is further linked with cultus and cultura which means “care.”
“cultivation,” “training,” “style,” “attire,” “refinement,” “civilization” and “worship.” From the perspective of care and cultivatión, it entails also tillings as regards the ground, to tend to the earth and grow, or cultivation and nurture.
Referring to the term cultivate we see something that has been grown. Just as plants only exist because they are cared for by some cultivator, over a period of time, so people’s taste and cultivation develops into a refined sensibility that offers one an identity. As a term that incorporates “style,” “training,” “attire,” “refinement,”
“civilization” and “worship” one could understand a definition of Culture as the totality of the forms of expression, behaviour and values that are transmitted from generation to generation, but also influenced by the contemporary social situation and thus historically changing, that are developed and recognised in a certain society to give structure to life. One can succinctly say that Culture is an all-embracing way of life of a people. Culture determines how we see the world and it gives us a horizon of understanding.
Loss of culture can lead to loss of personal identity. Human beings are fundamentally cultural beings. However, human beings are not only influenced by their culture but also culture and learn from other cultures. Culture is dynamic. In the Second Vatican Council, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes notes that man comes to a true and full humanity only through culture that is through the cultivation of the goods and values of nature. It defines culture in the general sense as all those things which go to the refining and developing of man’s diverse mental and physical endowments. Man strives to subdue the earth by his knowledge and his labour; he humanizes social life both in the family and in the whole civic community through the improvement of customs and institutions; he expresses through his works the great spiritual experiences and aspirations of men throughout the ages; he communicates and preserves them to be an inspiration for the progress of man, even of all mankind (Cf. Gaudium et Spes 53).
WHAT IS MORALITY?
In order to understand the word morality one has to go back ti moral which forms the basis. Moral or morals simply put deal: with principles concerning the distinction between right an wrong or good and bad behaviour. The word moral come from the Latin moralis which entails proper behaviour of person in society literally pertaining to manners. It was use by Cicero in De Fato, II.i to translate Greek ethikos form Lati mos, moris that means one’s disposition as regards more humour, mood, custom or practice or a characteristic manne of acting, a more or less constant mode of behaviour in th deliberate action of man. Morality then deals with regularit And there is no regularity in man’s actions without a rule norm; hence morals treat of norms for man’s actions. Mor are sets of norms which determine a people’s way of life. It i principle that judges the way of life of people to be appropri or inappropriate. Therefore one can say that morals culture-based and culture driven. The idea of mora presupposes community, it is the foundation to determine right thing to do. Morality is often associated exclusively behaviour guided by rules, but to focus on behaviour and r is not sufficient for understanding the scope of n reflection. If we talk too exclusively of actions, we are in da of regarding them as something outside ourselves ar having a reality of their own.
