Intercultural Philosophy Research Articles

An Appraisal of Intercultural Philosophy and Social Capital as a Panacea for Nigerian National Development

An Appraisal of Intercultural Philosophy and Social Capital as a Panacea for Nigerian National Development

Integrating classical Chinese philosophy with (Kantian) pragmatist metaphysics: comments on JeeLoo Liu’s essay

This paper is a brief comment on JeeLoo Liu’s interpretation of classical Chinese philosophy, especially Wang Yangming’s (1472–1529) views, in terms of pragmatist metaphysics primarily drawn from William James and Hilary Putnam. Liu’s reading of Wang Yangming both in the context of the Chinese tradition and in relation to pragmatism is most welcome as a novel contribution to comparative and intercultural philosophy. However, in such comparisons, we also have to be careful to avoid anachronistically attributing, e.g., Kantian and/or pragmatist ideas to earlier thinkers coming from a very different cultural context.

Different aspects of Intercultural Philosophy

Cross-cultural interactions have been occurring for a long time among Asians and have become more individualized with different practices, cultures, religions, and philosophical traditions, some of which have experienced confusion, rejection, and active engagement since the early modern era. Intercultural philosophy has been increasing the contact between different cultures and traditions. This encourages philosophers from diverse backgrounds to engage with each other in a mutually respectful manner and recognizes that their philosophical views may be incomplete or require revision. This paper explores various ways of intercultural philosophy, its presuppositions and rationales, and associated challenges. This includes contributions from scholars from different regions of the world including Asia. We also discuss the significance of intercultural philosophy, review some of the ideas presented in the existing literature, and examine the justifications for these ideas while addressing the challenges that must be overcome.

Good News for the Oppressed? Exploring the Spiritual, Political, and Intercultural Dimensions of Howard Thurman’s Philosophy

This paper centers on the godfather of the civil rights movement, Howard Thurman, and his most influential work, “Jesus and the Disinherited”, as a pre-eminent text into early 20th century intercultural philosophy. Building upon Kipton Jensen’s analysis in “Howard Thurman: Philosophy, Civil Rights, and the Search for Common Ground”, this presentation will reframe Howard Thurman’s unique philosophy as one that integrates spirituality, interculturality, and critical social analysis. It is well known that Thurman’s treatise on the oppressed was carried in the pocket of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. throughout the civil rights movement for the ways it empowered nonviolent resistance for those marginalized by the dominant culture of the United States, which was (and still is) built on racism, military violence, and class-based oppression. This paper advocates that Thurman came to his philosophical conclusions through deep engagement with various cultural and philosophical traditions, most notably the Hindu spiritual–political paradigm of Mahatma Gandhi, and sought to harmonize these insights for African Americans in the USA. By investigating the intercultural foundations of “Jesus and the Disinherited”, this paper will encourage scholars to explore how interculturality enriched Thurman’s philosophy and how this fostered a more expansive vision of community in pluralistic societies. This article traces the roots of the development of “Jesus and the Disinherited”, looking back to presentations Thurman gave as early as 1922, concluding with the publication of his book in 1949. And via this study, we will see the progression of Thurman’s ideas and the impacts interculturality had on his philosophy and vision for social justice.

Integrating Intercultural Philosophy into the High School Curriculum: Toward a Deliberative Pedagogy of Tadabbur in Diasporic Muslim Education

This article explores the pedagogical aspects of intercultural philosophy and identifies instructional strategies for Islamic school curricula in diaspora. It combines Western teaching methods peculiar to deliberative pedagogy with the Islamic notion of Tadabbur, Arabic for ‘to deliberate’ and ‘carefully consider’ the outcomes. It aims to provide insights into implementing intercultural philosophy as pedagogy and highlights examples of its application in Muslim educational contexts. How can intercultural philosophy be implemented in class, especially in the high school curriculum in diaspora? It emphasizes the potential benefits and compatibility of intercultural philosophy from a Muslim educational perspective. It offers practical insights and examples for educators who seek to integrate intercultural philosophy into their curricula. Bridging the gap between East and West provides a unique perspective on incorporating diverse philosophical traditions using the same teaching strategies. More specifically, this article introduces Tadabbur through instructional strategies such as Think–Pair–Share and the 5E instructional model, which use deliberative pedagogy. Intercultural philosophy, therefore, contributes to the cultural and religious diversification of curriculum theorizing and implementation.

Философский реализм: первые годы жизни

In spite of the fact that ideas in line with the world-outlook format of realism (as also those in the format of irrealism) come back already to Antiquity, it was not earlier than from the end of the 18th century that the metaphilosophical concept under discussion has begun to evolve. The initial becoming of the concept of philosophical realism during score of years from the first edition of Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason (1781) to Schelling’s System of Transcendental Idealism (1801) is just being dealt with in this paper. The term came about eighty years later than “idealism” (introduced in 1702 by Leibnitz), and Kant inaugurated it most likely to distance his system from that of Berke­ley to whom he was indebted, it seems, still more than to Hume (their congeniality is spe­cified in the article in the mirror of intercultural philosophy, i.e. in both systems, just as in the Buddhist vijňānavāda, our persuasion that we can perceive outer things as existing independently from our mind was regarded as the radical illusion of mind). The author stands up for Friedrich Jacobi by offering specification of the advantages of “the robust realism” over “feigned” Kantian realism. Meanwhile, he suggests also the distinction be­tween the transcendental idealistic doctrine of Kant and realistic potency of his philosophy, which, in his opinion, becomes more intelligible after Hilary Putnam’s theory of realism. In this context the Kantian term “transcendental realism” itself could acquire not negative but mostly affirmative connotations. The author also suggests actualization of Kant’s “re­alistic capacity” for today’s ontology by highlighting his implicit differentiation of the layers of reality. In contrast, Fichtean and Schellingean dialectical sports with cor­relations of idealism and realism could be of interest, in the author’s view, only to histori­ans of philosophy.

Quebrando barreiras na filosofia intercultural: o poder da empatia e do inter-relacionamento

Abstract: An important issue in intercultural philosophy concerns the methods employed to investigate thinking that has been developed in different cultural contexts. In a globalized world, it is increasingly necessary to incorporate diverse traditions of thought that are derived from distinct cultural, historical and linguistic backgrounds into academic philosophical work. However, the question remains: how can one learn from other philosophical traditions without falling into a dualistic or relativistic perspective? To address this, I analyze two concepts developed by Nishitani Keiji (1900-1990) in Religion and Nothingness, as well as his interpretation of “learning” (jap. narau 習う) and empathy as a tool for genuine mutual understanding. Additionally, I explore the concept of reciprocal interpenetration (jap. egoteki sōnyū 回互的相入), as a means to reassess intercultural philosophical methods. Thus, by applying the concepts presented by Nishitani in the intercultural aspect of philosophy, I believe we can avoid the problem of dualism and relativism, which ultimately hinder the approach and comprehension of philosophy in a pluralistic and inclusive way.

От диалога к полилогу (Рец. на: Сравнительная философия: от сравнительной к межкультурной философии / сост. и отв. ред. М.Т. Степанянц. М.: Наука; Вост. лит., 2022. 399 с.)

The article presents a review of the book “Comparative Philosophy: from comparative to intercultural philosophy”, published in the series “Comparative Philosophy”. The thesis about the value of intercultural philosophy in the context of conceptology is presented. The hypothesis formulated states that intercultural philosophy expands the methodological and theoretical framework of philosophical research and can be evaluated as a frontier phenomenon. It is noted that the main thesis of intercultural philosophy consists in the rejection of West-centrism, in the criticism of the traditional historical and philosophical narrative. It is proposed to consider intercultural philsophy as an alternative to West-centrism, as it rejects the monologism inherent in western philosophy and insists on the polylogicity of philosophy. Intercultural philosophy insists on the rootedness of thinking in culture. He believes that intellectual influences and conceptual borrowings are a natural, normal situation in philosophy. However, borrowing can lead both to the fruitful development of the philosophical tradition, and to the loss of the integrity of culture, a decrease in its creative potential, and the ability to reproduce. Intercultural philosophy is aimed at explication of positive forms of intercultural interaction. It suggests a new model of the historical and philosophical process, the main method of which is a polylogue, although the followers of intercultural philosophy are still debating whether intercultural philosophy is a new direction or a new methodology. Russian philosophy can also be revised and reinterpreted. N.Y. Danilevsky, V.S. Solovyov, Slavophiles, etc. can be considered intercultural thinkers. The methodological basis of the study was the comparative and hermeneutic methods.

Диалог между буддизмом и наукой: от трудных вопросов о сознании – к изучению феномена посмертной медитации «тукдам»

The analysis of the dialogue between the world’s philosophical cultures in recent years has been focused on the study of a special space “inter”, or “interspace”, which can be regarded as a metaphor of the “meeting place” of different cultures and approaches. Therefore, understanding the way this space is organized, its laws and principles is a precondition for the interaction of cultures and their mutual enrichment. In particular, the concept of “interspace” is analysed by the Vienna school of intercultural philosophy (B. Saal, B. Boteva-Richter, N. Weidtmann). Such characteristics as openness (the inclusion into the philosophical knowledge any existing traditions of thought), anti-hierarchy (“Cognitive Modesty”) and dynamics have been revealed. The dynamics in the framework of philosophy manifests itself as philosophical talk in the forms of the first-person monologue addressed to the audience, the dialogue in which the voice is given to more than one participant, as well as the polylogue – a special form of philosophical talk, which involves the cohabitation of multiple logics, rationalities, semantic positions, existences, and so on. The nature of “interspace” is refl ected in the framework of the dialogues on consciousness between Tibetan Buddhism and Western science. The paper reviews a brief story of their interaction, including the conferences, hold be the “Mind and Life” Institute, the project “Fundamental Knowledge: Dialogues of Russian and Buddhist Scholars”, and the study of physiological aspects of Buddhist contemplative practices. A signifi cant point to overcome the challenges on the way to understand each other (for example, such as the problem of translation, intellectual colonialism, etc.) has become the articulation of the “hard problem” of consciousness, as well as the concept of “neurophenomenology” (F. Varela). The paper provides a case study: it examines the methodological approach of Russian scientists that combines first- and third-person perspectives in the study of contemplative practices (including postmortem tukdam meditation), which they develop in laboratories located in Tantric monasteries in India. Based on this, it is suggested that an intercultural philosophy approach is promising for solving the “hard problem of consciousness”.

Methodological basis for studying the ethical component of the Buddhist creed

The subject of the study is a methodological toolkit for a comprehensive study of ethical ideas contained in the creed of traditional Russian Buddhists — Kalmyks, Buryats, Tuvans, Altaians. The purpose of this study is to substantiate philosophical understanding of the ethical component of the text “Refuge”, recited by traditional Buddhists of Russia. The choice of methodological approaches, principles and methods is determined by the philosophical orientalist paradigm, when Buddhist materials are considered in their integrity, in their inextricable connection with human and culture. Important addition is taking into account ideas of Buddhologist O. O. Rosenberg, who advocated the study of the “living” tradition of Buddhism. The novelty of the study lies in substantiation that a holistic understanding of the ethical component of the Russian Buddhists' creed can be obtained by combining three approaches: philosophy of culture, philosophy of religion, and philosophical anthropology. Philosophical cultural dimension will allow focusing on categories of Buddhist ethics set out in the text “Refuge” and taking into account comments of Buddhist authors in accordance with the principle of “cognitive modesty” of intercultural philosophy. The philosophical religious approach allows to consider the ethical component of the text “Refuge” in a soteriological context and show its place in the Buddhist religious complex. Philosophical anthropology will make it possible to identify the probable subjective meaning of the ethical component of the text “Refuge” for Buddhists. Such a comprehensive philosophical analysis of Russian Buddhists' creed will lead to the discovery of the foundations of their spiritual and moral values.

Does Philosophy Have More Than One Method? On Intercultural Comparison, Hegel, and Universality

ABSTRACT This essay takes issue with two possible stances in comparative and intercultural philosophy. First, there is the idea of ascertaining a method or conditions of possibility before engaging in intercultural comparison. This amounts to contemplating a form prior to any content. Second, there is the idea that a plurality of given philosophical traditions exist that do not have to be held together by a notion of what philosophy is. This is equivalent to asserting a diversity of content without giving it a form. In both cases, the disunity of form and content subverts comprehension of universality. After problematizing both stances, I will seek to retrieve a notion of universality, drawing from Hegel’s insights into the peculiar character of philosophy. For Hegel, philosophy has the character of life, which does not allow for the isolation of form or content. Philosophy thus conceived does not apply any methods but is its own method.

The Spiritual Exercise of Sankofa: Toward a Post-Colonial, Pluralistic, and Intercultural Philosophy

The Spiritual Exercise of Sankofa: Toward a Post-Colonial, Pluralistic, and Intercultural Philosophy

Post-development Thesis and African Intercultural Theory of Development

The aim of the paper is to address the question: is the end of development possible? Post-development theorists declare the end of development. They insist that the problematisation of poverty by development theory is one of the key defects of development. The irony in this problematisation is that development practice as an offshoot of development theory does not actually alleviate poverty, particularly in colonial spaces. Rather, the agents of development have perpetuated underdevelopment at the fringes of the colonial metropolis. Given this perpetuation of underdevelopment, post-development theorists argue, the idea of development has run its course and is no longer efficient; it should be put to an end. We assess this declaration of post-development theory from the perspective of Agbakoba’s intercultural philosophy of development. Using the philosophical methods of analysis and critique, we argue that Agbakoba’s intercultural proposal for a transition to development in Africa holds more prospects and is more feasible in addressing the concerns of post-development scholars. This is because, Agbakoba’s intercultural philosophy of development does not insist on the end of development, but on hybridity as the end of development.

Approaches of Modern Chinese Philosophers to Intercultural Philosophy

Approaches of Modern Chinese Philosophers to Intercultural Philosophy

History, its Origins, and End in Context of Philosophy of Liberation

The article concerns history, its origins, goals, and end. The article focuses on two concepts of historical development. One is the concept of the “end of history” by Francis Fukuyama. The article’s authors consider in detail the main provisions of this concept. However, the main emphasis is on the critical reception of this concept within the framework of the philosophy of liberation (represented by Arturo Andrés Roig). Roig’s criticism reveals the Eurocentrism inherent in this concept and shows that it carries the main features inherent in the European worldview and European mentality, which is why it is initially perceived as unsuitable for the Latin American continent. The second concept of historical development analyzed in this article is the earlier concept of the “Axial Age” by K. Jaspers. This concept is often perceived as one of the most striking anti-Eurocentric concepts. At the same time, Jaspers himself is regarded as the founder of the dialogue of cultures and intercultural philosophy and a supporter of civilizational pluralism. The article consistently analyzes three aspects of this concept - the motivation for its creation (presented by Jaspers himself), the criteria for identifying historical and prehistoric cultures (and the associated identification of three centers of the axial period), and the question of the possibility of a new axial age. The article argues that Jaspers’ concept can rightly be called Eurocentric rather than anti-Eurocentric, since both in the initial motivation for creating this concept and in the process of its development and vision of the prospects for the possibility of a new axial age, Jaspers proceeds from the presuppositions characteristic of the European worldview, which is universalized by him and presented as objective and the only correct ones. Ultimately, the study shows that the fight against Eurocentrism is a logical continuation of the latter and carries all the main features of the European mentality.

Opportunities and Prospects of Intercultural Philosophizing: Book Review of Monograph “Comparative Philosophy: from Comparative to Intercultural Philosophy” (edited by M.T. Stepanyants)

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Nothingness and Neutrality

Abstract Nothingness has become a prominent research topic in recent intercultural philosophy. An Eastern concern for nothingness is frequently juxtaposed to a Western philosophy of being. Rather than adopting a contrastive approach, this chapter proposes a critical conception of nothingness in a twofold sense. First, nothingness is related to human experience and action. Secondly, a transcultural conception of nothingness highlights the incongruity between distinctive domains of human experience between and within cultures. Departing from Roland Barthes’ aesthetic approach to nothingness in terms of “the neutral,” the chapter argues for a practice of inter-cultural philosophy that reveals the in-between spaces, the interstices, and voids in modern societies.

African Approaches to God, Death and the Problem of Evil: Some Anthropological lessons towards an Intercultural Philosophy of Religion

In this paper, I make a case for an intercultural philosophy of religion from an African perspective. I focus on the philosophical underpinnings of the various meaningful religious practices and beliefs that give rise to the concepts of God, death and the problem of evil. A philosophical study of African traditional religions, based on anthropological findings across African cultural orientations, gives us a good starting point in understanding African worldviews and religious experiences. It also reveals that the various world religions may all be seen as offering different perspectives on the same reality. Specifically, I argue that traditional African conceptions of God, death and the problem of evil could make significant contributions to global discourses in the philosophy of religion. First, I articulate points of convergence and divergence between African traditional religions with Saint Aquinas’ proofs for God’s existence; Second, I question the phenomenon of death and one’s life’s meaning. And third, I approach the problem of evil and attempt an African solution to the Epicurean dilemma

Being Between

This essay argues that comparative and transcultural philosophy are interdependent, and so opting for only one of the two is an impossibility. The comparative approach persists as long as we distinguish identities and make differences. As long as people do not speak only one language, the need to move between different languages and to translate, and thus the need to relate and compare different possibilities of philosophical articulation, will remain. Any attempt to free oneself from the problem of cultural identity is doomed to failure, as it leads to further entrapment in the very same problem. Comparative philosophy works with more or less fixed identities, transcultural philosophy transforms them and thereby creates new identities. Those two approaches combined constitute what I call intercultural philosophy. In this essay I try to explain the relation between comparative and transcultural philosophy by connecting François Jullien’s “comparative” and Martin Heidegger’s “transcultural” understanding of “Being” (Sein) and “Between” (Zwischen). In part 1 I argue that by turning Between and Being into opposing paradigms of Chinese and Greek thinking, respectively, Jullien causes both to become more or less fixed representatives of different cultural identities within a comparative framework: Greek thinking ossifies into traditional metaphysics, and Chinese thinking ossifies into the non-metaphysical thinking of immanence. Part 2 argues that Heidegger takes a decisively different direction. He explores the Between in Being, and even makes an attempt to think of Being as Between. Heidegger’s invocation of “Greekdom” is undoubtedly Eurocentric. But, ironically, Heidegger’s “Greek thinking” is less Eurocentric than Jullien’s “Chinese thinking”, because he discovers the “Chinese” Between in the midst of “Greek” Being. Part 3 touches upon the task of speaking about European philosophy in Chinese terms. While modern Chinese philosophers frequently speak about Chinese philosophy in European terms, Heidegger’s work points to the possibility of speaking about European philosophy in Chinese terms. Because Jullien and Heidegger both connect Greek and Chinese thought, it seems to me that the discussion of their different approaches is helpful in clarifying perspectives for intercultural philosophy between China and Europe.

Межкультурное многоголосие в философии. Размышление над книгой

The article is a review-reflection on the book Comparative Philosophy: from Comparative to Intercultural Philosophy, prepared mainly by employees of the Oriental Philosophy Department of the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences. It is noted that the book is the first most complete experi­ence of intercultural philosophizing in the Russian philosophical space. Intercul­tural philosophy is substantiated as a meeting place for different points of view and philosophical traditions that promote mutual enrichment and stimulate fur­ther development in philosophy. Openness to different intellectual traditions while critically considering influences is a normal, natural situation in philo­sophy. At the same time, intercultural philosophy recognizes the inevitability of asymmetric influences with the potential equality of philosophical traditions, which can also have negative consequences, an example of which is sometimes the dominant influence of Western philosophy. It is indicated that intercultural philosophy proceeds from the idea of decentralization of philosophy, recognizes the issue of the origin of philosophy, which can have more than one beginning, as more difficult, advocates the rejection of Western centrism in philosophy. Within the framework of intercultural philosophy, important questions for the self-determination of philosophy are raised about the connection between philo­sophy and language, about the specifics of philosophical thinking, about the pos­sibility of philosophical thinking that is different from the Western type of think­ing, etc. Followers of intercultural philosophy pay attention to the fact that the periodization of the history of philosophy, methods, interpretive schemes adopted in Western philosophy often do not work on the material of other philo­sophical traditions. For this reason, followers of intercultural philosophy propose a new model of the history of philosophy, which favors problems over personali­ties, systems of thought, or countries, and recognizes the cultural determinism of philosophical thinking.