A Seminar on “Cultural Innovation: Phenomenology and Praxis”

Abstract

This introduction outlines the theme, purpose and method of the seminar. It seeks to clarify the meaning both of what is anthropologically primitive and of what is historically determined in the nature of culture and to see what could be put forward, in the reality of historical circumstances, as a trigger or dynamic of transformation. From this follows the possibility of bringing together, as the subtitle suggests, a ‘phenomenological’ and a ‘practical’ view; that is, attention to the real results of cultural creativity and innovation throughout history and attention to the actual dynamics and structures that promote and transmit culture. The brief points for further reflection offered during the course of the seminar are simply an attempt to propose a basis for future and more extensive dialogue.