What is the European Culture? Can we even talk about European Culture?
The culture of Europe is rooted in the art, architecture, music, literature, and philosophy that originated from the European cultural region and the European culture is largely rooted in what is often referred to as its "common cultural heritage".
This subject can be approached under many different perspectives and it is impossible to form a single, all-embracing conception of European Culture. Nevertheless, there are some core elements that form the cultural foundation of modern Europe.
One list of these elements given by K. Bochmann includes:
- A common cultural and spiritual heritage derived from Greco-Roman antiquity, Christianity, the Renaissance and its Humanism, the political thinking of the Enlightenment, and the French Revolution, and the developments of Modernity, including all types of socialism;
- A rich and dynamic material culture that has been extended to the other continents as the result of industrialization and colonialism during the "Great Divergence";
- A specific conception of the individual expressed by the existence of, and respect for, a legality that guarantees human rights and the liberty of the individual;
- A plurality of states with different political orders, which are feeding each other with new ideas;
- Respect for peoples, states and nations outside Europe. (cfr. Culture of Europe)
