[1][2][3] It is also described as an ontological approach that seeks to eliminate simple binaries between seemingly opposing phenomena such as nature and culture.
Znaniecki's culturalism was based on philosophies and theories of Matthew Arnold (Culture and Anarchy), Friedrich Nietzsche (voluntarism), Henri Bergson (creative evolutionism), Wilhelm Dilthey (philosophy of life), William James, John Dewey (pragmatism) and Ferdinand C. Schiller (humanism).
[5] He synthesized their theses and developed an original humanistic stance, which was first presented in Cultural Reality.
[7] Aside from naturalism,[3][8][9] Znaniecki was critical of a number of then-prevalent philosophical viewpoints: intellectualism,[10] idealism,[8] realism,[8] and rationalism.
[9] Elżbieta Hałas, who calls it an "antithesis to the intellectual dogmas of naturalism", identifies the following assumptions:[10] Znaniecki's philosophy of culturalism laid the foundation for his larger theoretical system, based around another concept of his, "humanistic coefficient.