THE POSSIBILITY OF CROSS-CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING IN THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY: THE TOPICAL POSITIONS

Abstract

The historians of philosophy in Russia and abroad have become frequently challenged with the demand for rethinking and reconsideration the traditionally accepted views on their trade, the very possibility of different traditions of philosophical thought to interact, and as a result - to revisit the very definition of philosophy. The topical historical and philosophical discussions deal with a whole combination of issues, that concern fruitful and constructive dialogue between different cultures, the possibility of mutual enrichment with values and ideas among formerly distinguished schools, tendencies and movements in the certain regional philosophies. The trend to integrate oriental and western styles of thinking is at the cutting edge of the historical and philosophical investigations, especially of comparative and intercultural philosophies, as well as the philosophy of language. However, there are those who keep doubting both about the adequate and correct correlation between the western scientific philosophy and oriental type of wisdom, and the consistency of the history of western philosophy as such, and they are not few. In these terms, in historical and philosophical discussions one may reveal both historical and epistemological arguments for the positions of the scholars. The paper observes the opinions of the investigators and historians of oriental and western styles of philosophy, considers their positions and watches the consistency of their logic and argumentation they develop. Besides, it is of a high importance to demonstrate that they are the historians of philosophy who possess the efficient apparatus to found the possibility of constructive and meaningful dialogue between different cultures of philosophizing. From this perspective, the historian of philosophy becomes a kind of a selectionist of thought, who analyzes the ability of this or that philosophical culture to grow in a foreign breeding ground.