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This paper explicates and defends Morton White's holistic pragmatism, the view that descriptive and normative statements form a "seamless web" which must be tested as a "unified whole". This position, originally formulated as a methodological and epistemic principle, can be extended into a more general philosophy of culture, as White himself has shown in his book, A Philosophy of Culture (2002). On the basis of holistic pragmatism, the paper also offers a pragmatist conception of metaphilosophy and defends the need for interdisciplinary inquiry.

New Confucianism is a philosophical movement which seeks to combine Confucian tradition with Western philosophical thoughts. The idea appeared to some extent due to ideological motives. For instance, New Confucian Mou Zongsan formulated the concept of moral metaphysics, which was supposed to compete with Kantian transcendentalism. Moral metaphysics is further developed by Mou Zongsan's follower Tu Weiming, who belongs to Boston school of New Confucianism. His moral metaphysics is essentially different from that of Mou Zongsan. It is based on the notion of "self-enlightenment" (cheng). It presents an idea that in some cases interpretation can serve as a research method and be more precise than analysis. The focus of investigation is not the way how something first emerged and developed, but how it was examined and interpreted afterwards. In other words, the key to understanding is the "second birth" of things which happens during the interpretation. But to interpret correctly, we should possess the full knowledge of "ourselves". However, "oneself " also turns out to be not a separate body subject to analysis, but an aggregation of interpretations offered by others. The drawn conclusion is that everything exists only when it has an opportunity to interpret oneself during interaction. And in this sense "self-enlightenment", according to Tu Weiming, is a "certain form of metaphysics". This article, however, suggests narrowing this conclusion to cultural existence. Unlike Mou Zongsan, Tu Weiming does not intend to prove that the Chinese philosophical thinking is better than the Western one. We can view his moral metaphysics as a certain type of philosophy of culture. It does not offer a precise analytical approach, but it does present a certain pattern of thought, which deals with embracing the form of one's cultural existence.

Sebastian Luft explores the philosophy of culture championed by the Marburg School of Neo-Kantianism. Following a historical trajectory from Hermann Cohen to Paul Natorp and through to Ernst Cassirer, he defends the attractiveness of a philosophical culture in the transcendental vein.

Without roots : the current malaise of Western culture -- The beginnings of incarnational humanism -- The further development of Christian humanism -- The rise of anti-humanism -- Still no incarnation : from anti-humanism to the postmodern God -- Incarnational humanism as cultural philosophy