Reimagining the Role of Cultural Content in the Age of Climate Crisis: Four Ontological Functions

Reimagining the role of cultural content in the age of climate crisis This article explores the essential role of cultural content in responding to the climate crisis, recognising it as a crisis of the human senses and an existential issue. Drawing on the theories of Martha C. Nussbaum and Christian Rauh, it proposes four key functions that cultural content should fulfil: 1) restoring sensory rhythms, 2) shifting narratives, 3) expanding multi-layered ethics, and 4) sustaining thought. It argues that culture should function as a place to retrain our senses and reflect on our ethical responsibility for existence, and provides a philosophical foundation for the ethical sensitivity and existential role of cultural content in the age of climate crisis.