Power and Humanizing Models of Culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Power and Humanizing Models of Culture - Essay Example This can only be done if they look at their cultural memory which Nietzsche continued by explaining that the concept of cultural memory could be defined through a delimitation that distinguishes it from communicative or everyday memory which is said to not contain cultural characteristics. The concept of communicative as Halbawach said includes all varieties of memories that are gathered from the daily communications. The varieties gathered are part of oral history. The communicative memory however has no fixity to bind it to the past as time passes and for it to attain this it requires it to include culture. Human beings require moving from the everyday communication and getting into the objective culture which has the structure of memory. Cultural memory that Nietzsche says people should adopt is fixed and therefore even as time passes one is bind to the past. The memory can be kept by having cultural formations in forms of text or monuments. Cultural memory has been seen to preser ve knowledge that has enabled people to be aware of their unity. The other advantage of cultural memory is that though it is hard to remember what happened in the past cultural memory can be reconstructed by relating its knowledge to an actual situation. It is also said to exist in two modes and the first is the mode where the texts and monuments act as total horizon, it is called the mode of potentiality (Nietzsche & Large 2007 p.49). The second mode in which the cultural memory exists in is the actuality mode. Cultural memory formation does not depend on one medium; it has many options like writing, images and also rituals. There is also the existence of specialists when it comes to cultural memory unlike the collective memory. Cultural memory has also been said to be reflexive in certain ways, one is that it is said to practice reflexive because it explains practices using proverbs and also rituals. It is also said to be self-reflexive because when explaining and interpreting cer tain practices it draws from itself. The other benefit of cultural memory is that it uses images and rituals that are specific to each society. Every society is required to remember its past. This enables a society to be open to it and also to others understanding their culture. Cultural memory presents the image of the society and in this way a society is united (Nietzsche, Kaufmann & Hollingdale 1968, p.71-3). This said it shows that Nietzsche was in favor of maintaining culture and looking at the past. This is why he was known to be the strongest critic of modernity. He in fact called termed it to be barbaric. Nietzsche believed that human beings in the modern era had weakened personality. He therefore argued that there was need to create great personalities as this was the only way to bring back genuine culture. The philosopher also dealt with cultural complex and said that cultures were patterned wholes. The reason why he liked culture was because he believed that culture was w hat domesticated human beings. He talked of culture enabling humans to have discipline and also have social control. It is culture that makes individuals to be healthy and strong making them to have good values unlike the modern culture which he believed had slave values. The Socratic culture that led to emergence of modern world was said by Nietzsche to be oppressing the body making individuals to have weak personalities (Miller 1970, p.98). Nietzsche has written numerous essays and books on philosophical matters, touching issues of life