The 8 characteristics of truly cultured people according to Anton Chekhov

What are highly cultured individuals like? Anton Chekhov explains.

What exactly does it mean to be a cultured person? There are many cultural habits and concerns that we could identify with this group of people, and sometimes it is not very clear whether these characteristics really tell us about someone's way of thinking or are simply a description of the ways in which their pride or vanity is expressed.

Sometimes what we know as cultured people are merely members of the upper classes who have had the privilege of having access to books, films and other cultural products too luxurious to be afforded by the majority of the people. In other words, what we call culture is merely a façade used to gain influential power..

Both options were despised by the young Anton Chekhov, born in 1860, who would grow up to be one of the most important Russian writers in history. However, Chekhov did, however, believe in the existence of truly cultured people, and in one of his letters to his father, Anton Chekhov, who was born in 1860.In one of his letters to his brother Nikolai he spoke about the eight characteristics that, according to him, define them.

True cultured people according to Anton Chekhov

Nikolai, who at the time when his younger brother Anton wrote him the letter was 28 years old, was beginning to be a recognized painter and educated people were beginning to take an interest in him. Due to this fact, Anton Chekhov included in one of his letters to Nikolai a list of what he considered to be the defining characteristics of educated people.He did this so that his brother could see to what extent he did not belong to such circles.

In this way, Anton Chekhov was trying to encourage his brother to undertake the lifestyle of truly cultured people, away from any trace of vanity and superficiality, and to start working every day to train himself in that direction.

Beyond the intentions that the 26-year-old Anton of Chekhov had at the time of writing this text (which can be found in the collection of Chekhov's letters), anyone can find in this list of characteristics a reasonable way to identify cultured people. It is summarized below.

1. They are kind and respectful to others.

Chekhov held that, by default, everyone is treated with respect and kindness by educated people.. This means that they never prejudge those they do not know and that they are polite to everyone, not doing favors only to those who can return them.

2. Showing sympathy not only for beggars and cats

Educated people take the initiative to help others and care for people with whom they have established little or no contact.

3. They respect the property of others

Educated people know that stealing is not the only way to damage the property of others, and therefore pay all their debts.Therefore, they pay all their debts.

4. They flee from lying

Educated people do not lie even in the smallest details.. They consider lying as a lack of respect towards the interlocutor and show themselves in the street as they are at home.

5. They do not manipulate or allow themselves to be manipulated by sympathy

They are not afraid of arousing compassion in the eyes of others.They do not try to produce compassion in order to curry favor with others.

6. They do not embrace vanity

Cultured people do not try to relate to other people simply because they are popular or powerful.. Nor do they strut about speculating on their own public image.

7. They cultivate their talents

If they have a talent, cultured people strive to develop it, and sacrifice immediate pleasures for it.

8. They develop aesthetic intuition

They are not concerned only with living life through a pragmatic sense of utility, but think of what they do in aesthetic terms. think about what they do in aesthetic terms. Therefore, especially if they are artists, they reject some habits simply because of the aesthetic appreciations they have about them.

Another conception of culture

In his letter, Chekhov emphasized the fact that becoming or not becoming a cultured person is a matter of attitude rather than access to books.

Therefore, culture is defined as the property of internalizing the most positive and socializing elements of the culture in which a person lives, not isolating oneself from others through the elitist barrier of access to luxuries. It is an idea that, today, we could claim more.