This chapter explores the centrality of culture in a politics of civility, positioning it as the foundational force akin to liberty in liberalism or equality in socialism. It traces the modern philosophical understanding of the concept of culture from its roots in German Geisteswissenschaften, drawing on Kantian and Hegelian traditions through figures such as Dilthey, Cassirer, and Gadamer, who contrast humanistic inquiry with natural science and emphasize Bildung as self-cultivation originating in classical sources like Cicero. The analysis distinguishes two concepts of culture: individual high culture as character formation and common culture as shared practices that shape emotions, social order, and practical knowledge. Drawing on Roger Scruton’s early work, it highlights the interdependence of high and common culture, rooted in Aristotelian notions of the zoon politikon and human flourishing. The chapter further examines politics through an Aristotelian lens, stressing community, constitution, and the pursuit of the common good via virtuous approximation rather than utopian perfection. Contrasting this with Carl Schmitt’s pessimistic friend-enemy distinction and negative anthropology, it reaffirms a scholastic-Aristotelian view of human perfectibility. Ultimately, culture emerges as politically formative, sustaining social order, refining public consciousness, and pointing towards the metaphysical, the realm of religion, in conservative thought.