Cultural Fact and the Problem of Criteria for its Evaluation

Abstract

The article deals with the problem of the evaluation of cultural facts. The issue is embedded in a philosophical perspective, but the history of philosophy is a history of disputes, the first of which takes place within the tradition of idealism between rationalism and irrationalism, and the second between idealism – its two strands – and the tradition of cognitive realism.

The difference between cultural and culture-forming facts justifies the existence of acts of evaluation, and thanks to the theory of good and the theory of human life, it leads to the conclusion that human life is the measure of evaluation of these acts. It is an absolute good, while living it, we perfect it, we actualize the potentialities it contains, but it confronts us with the necessity of deciding what is its ultimate goal, that is, the goal to which we should strive. This decision influences the nature of our activity, determines the selection of particular goods (useful and pleasurable), the value of which allows us to achieve this goal. It is not a simple and easy task, but this is the drama of our existence in the world.