Everyday Life: A Question about Cultural A Priori
Rihards Kulis

University of Latvia, Latvia
Life is the most all-embracing concept characterizing human existence. What more can one desire but to have a good life? However, living in society, speaking a language, reading texts, communicating with other people, one must obey certain rules or follow cultural a priori. Basically, regulations accepted by society actually act as a disguise for definite forms of culture. Contemporary philosophy of culture uncovers these deeper, hidden processes and forms. The philosophical analysis of cultures makes one distinguish between the surface layers – utterances, texts, words, actions – and the spiritual layers of life that have given rise to them, meaning – the cultural a priori. The idea of 'a priori' comes from Kant’s philosophy, but today it has changed into the idea of a historical a priori. The author deals with the history of this concept and gives examples of how historical, cultural a priori “works” in different situations.