What is culture? An introduction to the notion of culture

Abstract

According to Arendt the word and concept 'Culture' is Roman in origin, stemming from colere - to cultivate, to dwell, to take care, to tend, and to preserve. It is intimately linked with the relationship of man with nature in the sense of cultivating and tending nature until it becomes fit for human habitation. The general attitude is one of loving care as against all other efforts to subject nature to the domination of man. This Latin usage indicates that the word does not refer only to tilling the soil but also denotes the 'cult' of the gods, the taking care of what properly belongs to them'(p.212).