TY - THES ID - 134797791 TI - Cultuur, geletterdheid en de laatmoderne samenleving. : Een pleidooi voor het belang van solidariteit en kritische vaardigheden. AU - Lauwers, Bastien AU - Bleyen, Mieke AU - KU Leuven. Faculteit Letteren. Opleiding Master in de culturele studies PY - 2014 PB - Leuven : K.U. Leuven. Faculteit Letteren DB - UniCat UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:134797791 AB - On the one hand, we can depict man today as a social being. Living in a group and feeling home somewhere is our primary source of meaning, of sense-giving. On the other hand, we can characterize man as an individual, who had the power not to conform, not to identify with the ideas or actions within a certain group. Like a philosopher, we all have the ability not to follow the 'flock', but to criticize a certain way of thought or living. Starting from this philosophical-antropological view on the dual nature of man, I arrive at two main 'cultural competences' which I associate with being a 'culturally literated' person, or having part of a certain 'high culture'. Much broader than the ability to read and write, I characterize 'cultural literacy' as the ability of being an empathic person showing solidarity or compassion, as well as having an open-minded, critical attitude. Instead of the notion of a 'general culture' (by origin a romanticist and nationalist term equalizing being 'culturally literated' merely with sharing a language, a history and a country), being part of a 'high culture' implies the continuous cultivation of the above-mentioned 'core competences'. Despite the positive emphasis in ancient philosophies on the stimulation of a thorough (cultural) 'formation', I wanted to get rid of the elitarist approach of a 'high culture'. The possibility of being a 'culturally literated' person should be democratized as much as possible. Every citizen should be able to develop the 'cultural core competences' of which I speak. However, not only the ever-present collective (and nationalist) tendencies to homogenize culture, but a radicalizing individualism in contemporary society is endangering the cultivation of 'cultural literacy' as well. Since the end of the 'Grand Narratives', individual liberty has become the 'highest good' in our society. Focussing solely on the individual implies neglecting the fundamentally dual nature of man, thereby endangering solidarit... ER -