The dialogue of cultural traditions

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In a sometimes radically diverse world, what are the prospects forthe encounter and dialogue of cultural traditions on matters that are centralto life together i.e., on ways of meaning (e.g., self-understanding,ontologies, ideologies, but also religions), ways of living (e.g., principlesand values in ethics and politics), and ways of knowing (e.g., how weunderstand the world and one another)?These ways are all central to and constitutive of culturaltraditions. They are certainly practical issues; they concern doing, acting,and developing ourselves and our communities. But they also raisetheoretical issues, and involve uncovering and understanding thepresuppositions and assumptions that underlie and which may serve tocorrect our practice.Philosophy has a distinctive role here. Philosophy is, of course, aproduct of cultural traditions. But it can help to discern and define theissues, as well as engage the plurality of cultures and civilizations which weencounter in the ongoing process of globalization.The authors in this volume address the project of the dialogue ofcultural traditions and the role of philosophy by focusing on the abovementionedconstitutive aspects of culture, drawing on their own culturaltraditions, but also employing the tools provided by philosophical analysis.Indeed, philosophy is preeminently and has been throughout its history,consistently dialogical. In the West, we may think of Plato s dialogues andthe so-called process of Socratic dialectic, and in the East we have thedialogue hymns of the Rigveda and the Indian epic Mahabharata.Throughout the history of philosophy, key texts have been written in theform of a dialogue: through Augustine and Boethius, the Arabicphilosophers, up to Berkeley, Hume, and the present day. Dialogue hasbeen used to seek foundations, achieve consensus, reach a state of widereflective equilibrium, or attain a fusion of horizons ; clearly, philosophyhas much to contribute to a dialogue of cultural traditions.What particularly distinguishes this volume is that the interlocutorsprovide a genuinely global perspective. Coming from Asia (e.g.,Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, India, Iran, Pakistan), the Pacific Rim (e.g.,Australia, Taiwan, the Philippines, China, Vietnam, Indonesia), the MiddleEast (e.g., Georgia, Turkey, Iran), Europe (e.g., Austria, Bulgaria, Greece,Serbia, Spain, the Ukraine, Poland, Russia, Turkey), Africa, (e.g., Nigeria,Ethiopia, Somaliland, South Africa), and the Americas (e.g., Canada andthe United States), the authors not only provide insight into their owncultures and traditions, but show some of the successes, failures, and challenges of philosophy in promoting a genuine dialogue among culturaltraditions, as well as outlining some of the prospects for the future.To speak of a global perspective, however, is not to seek a singleperspective that is above all local perspectives. Nor is it simply a sumof the ways in which dialogue occurs around the world. Nevertheless, as weexamine and reflect on the various insights provided by the authors, we willcome to see what such a perspective involves, and how dialogue can becarried out at a global level.