2, 2015
Table of Contents
Essays
Yvonne Förster:
Intercultural Philosophy Investigating the Mind in East-West-Dialogue pp. 9-12
Christiana Idika:
The Primacy of Question and the Task of Intercultural Philosophy pp. 13-30
Giuseppe Capuano:
For a history of philosophies: how the relationship between equals
makes philosophy intercultural pp. 31-43
Britta Saal:
Philosophizing with Children – A Cultural Technique pp. 44-56
Interview
Dr. Shaifali Sandhya on Culture, Delusions, and Social Reality pp. 57-67
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It's essentially in this situation, that the very question confronts us: Who
understands whom “better” or “best“, and why, and how? And as such: When
and how is philosophy intercultural?
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The European mind has often presented itself with the self-inflicted claim to
understanding the non-European mind better than the non-European mind
would understand itself. The fact that, today, non-Europeans interpret Europe,
shows the thoroughly monologuous character of the centuries-old European
hermeneutics. This “having-become-interpretable“ of Europe through Non-
Europe is of course more of a surprise to Europe than to the rest of the world.
This issue has to be provided for by some philosophy.
The renowned religious philosopher Mircea Eliade (in The Search for the
Origins) put it like this: “I have often pointed out: Western philosophy [and I
would add, mutatis mutandis, this counts for all philosophies alike] cannot
move endlessly only within its own traditions, without eventually becoming
provincial.“
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From this position stems a self transforming process that shows the
philosopher both as being committed to a philosophia perennis, and as
remaining constantly in an open process of questioning and philosophizing.
Interculturalism points to the inescapable encounter of cultures and,
consequently, to the encounter of cultures of thought. This shows: the intra-
cultural is also always intercultural.
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The recent events remind us rather that the conflict that interculturalism points
to and which it induces, has not only not been pacified so far, but it may even
gain more and more brisance in the future. We are facing the question how we,
how individuals, deal with differences.
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5. Where are the limits, and where are the options of intercultural
philosophy to take part in present political discourses?
The limits of intercultural philosophy lie wherever it runs the risk of becoming a
construction, a convention, discipline, or reaction. As an attitude that
accompanies every philosophical process and thus every discussion and
political discourse, it becomes effective wherever we negotiate truths, find
consensus or join efforts in finding the meaning of a common spirit. It takes its
effects through its renouncement of supremacy, through its eschewal of
absolutization, through the modesty of the speaker. This is how the discourse
learns its openness and non-violence – the avoidance of both theoretical
violence, e.g. as would be any universalization or absolutization of truth (i.e. the
claim to absolute truth), and the avoidance of practical violence. Intercultural
philosophy seeks to be not more or less than this approach, this attitude of
renunciation of absolutization. Hence, it accompanies each discourse and each
act with the belief that the will to understand and the will to being understood
are inseparable.
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Andrea Rehberg
from 'our own' culture, this is, in the broad sense, intercultural. The reason is
that no one has intellectual dominance or control over the culture from which
the texts and the ideas they engage with emerge. Culture is always 'beyond',
'in alterity', even fluctuating and perpetually shifting, whether it is the culture to
Above all, it stands for intellectual and ethical humility, for the realisation that
one of myriad other perspectives, none of which has a privilege over any of the
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is, moreover, an asset, by which it precisely affirms its intrinsic nature, rather
today?
Yes, I think so, but I also think that it is an entirely unavoidable effect of the
from the start, so do I think does its political aspect. Beyond that, if you're
discourses, I'm not so sure. It depends on how it's done. It might be very
productive and beneficial for both sides but it could also be problematic,
discourses or interests of the day. I'd like to know more about what you have in
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!
INTERCULTURAL PHILOSOPHY
INVESTIGATING THE MIND IN EAST-WEST-DIALOGUE
Yvonne Förster
not studied ancient Asian languages. The next obstacle is that one usually has
to deal with texts from religious backgrounds, which need a very careful
hurdle to intercultural thinking to say the least. Even reading the translations is
not very helpful since without deeper knowledge of the background and
So one could ask: Why bothering reading texts from other traditions? We have
come so far in researching consciousness and the mind. And already there are
two cultures within the western tradition that compete and have to be
require not only translation in order to communicate with each other, they are
fueling different discourses. The whole scenery seems like a prism of different
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!
The gap between humanities and the empirical sciences or life sciences is only
one of them. Both fields are in itself structured by differences. And furthermore
the humanities and social sciences adopt the neuroscientific paradigm within
their own territory. There is a big wave of disciplines that add the prefix neuro-
cultures of thought? And if so, how could someone working in Philosophy and
question from the wide range of possible ideas and discourses? These are
research.
consciousness, for the acknowledgement that we are in fact our brains. There
are other thinkers, who see a methodological problem in this account. These
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!
Prominent thinkers in this area are Francisco Varela, Daniel Dennett or Thomas
Fuchs in Germany.
practice that leads to the capability of observing one’s own mind more
carefully than in usual everyday life situations. Trained meditators and even
Another way to delve into Eastern contemplative knowledge is to read the old
Confucianism. To do so, one needs to rely on experts that can mediate this old
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!
scholars. This is complex process and there are more and more researchers,
neutral way, in which Thompson explores the different fields. He shows, how
the ancient Buddhist texts can inform western science and enter a real
science.
sides. But with growing interest in other traditions of thought also the number
researcher grows who dedicate their work to bridging these gaps and
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Christiana Idika
The question of one and the many which is among other things a central
categories. Primarily, one would say that the part and the whole or the
universal and the particular has assumed a more complex dimension because it
is no longer about objects and things but a plurality of human beings, cultural
are no longer issues bordered within a particular tradition, culture, space and
positing multiple sides of reality. Such that the former immediate grasp of
reality that shape philosophical questions within such bordered spaces are only
assuming just a part of a whole reality. Hence, dealing with pluralism is not
simply a task of philosophy (Berlin, Concepts and Categoris, 1999) but its
answers to its original question, its method and orientation must change. The
However, what does one imply by interculturally oriented philosophy and what
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II
In everyday life, in the media and academic circles the term interculturality has
assumed a conventional use. In fact, it has become one of the buzzwords in the
evening among others. In some cases, it has been used as a substitute for
West because the notion depends on the hegemonic relationship between the
West and the rest. However, this historical complexity cannot explain the
rejects absolute and dogmatic position about reality and the questions it poses
capture and explain the inner dialectics inherent in culture as a concept and as
Both the prefix ‘inter’ and the suffix ‘cultural’ signifies more than mere
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in 'culture.' If culture is a noun, cultural is the adjective, which moves one into a
oriented from the perspective of Western thought and shows signs of the
will have to deconstruct the hegemonic structures, if it will realise its task as
rejects the domination of one culture over the other. Mall argues,
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inferiority complex. It is not just a move made while confronting the actual
traditions and cultures possible while it at the same time allow each to retain its
values and methods and modes of thinking. As a result, since pluralism is not
for intercultural philosophy to realise the task assigned it, namely: to mediate
Consensus theory builds on the idea of one truth, one good and one morality.
answers. The difficulty is not whether there is one universal truth, good and
morality. Rather, the difficulty is how do we reach this universal truth, and
whose truth. For the first part of the difficulty, Kant assumes that consensus as
the universalisation of the concept, it is taken for granted that what it means
and the answers to the question it raises are already decided. Clearly, within
the European or American philosophy its meaning and implications are still
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that taking such approach will likely lead to a consensus about truth, whether
person who wants to understand must question what lies behind what is said.
establish the truth of the premise. In such a setup, people argue to win or
to which the participants are oriented. It requires that one does not try to
argue the other down. Rather, Gadamer continues, it entails that one really
The dilemma will then be who sets the standard and by what criteria.
Levinas, the existence of the ‘other’ does not concern us by reason of his of her
power and freedom which we should have to subjugate and utilize for
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an in-between, because there can be no absolute otherness, the self and the
other are different in some ways and same in some other ways.
Thus, interculturality does not just describe today’s cultural encounters but
offers the norms that could characterize such encounters for better
worth of its own in its own terms. That means interrogating one’s culture in the
face of another culture. It also means interrogating the other culture in the face
of one’s culture. In each case, it requires that the ‘other’ be allowed to respond
to the questions.
intercultural philosophy.
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III
because the arguments or methods are only ancillary. Moreover, the notion of
thinking and logical inferences whether formal or informal are not yet settled.
For instance, what does one do when one thinks? How do we distinguish a
thinking process that is philosophical from the one that is not philosophical?
These issues are not addressed in this paper. Rather, the present paper builds
In the works of some African and African American philosophers, one finds the
philosophy in the West and that born of struggle or frustration in the historicity
Chimakonam, 2015:4-9). In contrast, one may argue that the simple act of
wonder can end in admiration and struggles or frustration may also end in
beings start to pose question on the realities that confront them. In this sense,
‘I wonder why the sky is blue’ becomes different from ‘the wonder of the blue
sky feels me with awe or admiration.’ In the same manner, ‘I am frustrated with
all human dignity.’ The latter parts of the two comparisons are the beginning of
reflection. In both wonder and frustration, the human person is confronted with
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a reality that generates questions. The search for an answer to these questions
Questioning challenges all dogmatic and fixed views, it places prejudice and
not necessarily a correction but an extended knowledge not only of the new
experience but also of what we know earlier (ibid: 353). Consequently, “as
against the fixity of opinions, questioning makes the object and all its
possibilities fluid” (ibid: 367). In other words, the nature of question is to make
means to bring into open. The openness of what is in question consists in the
fact that the answer is not settled. It must still be undetermined, awaiting a
decisive answer” (ibid: 365). Because, question is the basis of knowledge, it has
priority over it and to question presupposes that one do not know and must
and that to question presuppose the desire to know contrast with some other
views on the structure of question. For instance, Hamblin (1958) claims that
knowing what counts as an answer. He shares this view with Polanyi (1958),
who maintains that a thinker approaches a problem with the assumption that
the answer is there. There are possibles ways of understanding both positions
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genuine. The problem that seems to give legitimacy to Hamblin’s claim is that
one must know the answer to one’s question to know when the answer is
experience, then one must ask to know.Therefore, it cannot be the case that
one must necessarily know the answer to one’s question, whether one is asking
oneself or the other. In the case of Polanyi, indeed there must be an answer to
question.
One can say that questioning provides the creative space for Interculturality.
The logic of question and answer is the avenue to achieve interculturality. The
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IV
intercultural philosophy, this paper agrees with Mall, that rather than
intercultural philosophy.
comparative to take place there is always the slippery slope of looking for
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entail getting into the whole difficulties of equality and terms of equality or
questions about the questions for which world philosophies seek to answer
than the answers. Indeed, “no work of philosophy can be understood until the
in those traditions that have no written text, can be understood, until the
hearer or the intercultural philosopher knows the question for which what is
said is intended to be an answer. The voice that speaks to us from the past
ourselves begin to ask questions. We can say that we understand only when we
2003:374).
significance instead, and take the latter not as true but merely
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2003:374 - 375).
Subsequently, we must stress something clearly, and that is the person trying
to understand would have to leave open the truth of what is said. Rather, s/he
should aim at uncovering the deeper meaning of that which is “said” in the
out “indetermined possibilities” for all that are concerned with regards to
understanding the matter at stake. The matter at stake includes but not limited
using one’s concepts, and methods to judge the historicity and methodology
a matter of concepts and language. However, this does not delineate the fact
The notion of situation implies that we are not standing outside our
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categorisation, thus, for example, black is a category, and stereotypes are the
forms, in prejudiced or tolerant ways” (ibid: 85). To be noted is that the ‘other’
is not a mere object to be assumed under one’s categories and given a place
in one’s world. Rather, the ‘other’ inhabits a world that is fundamentally other
than and which is essentially different (Lévinas, 1969: 13). Thus, categorisations
run the tendency of stereotyping the ‘other.’ Once there are stereotypes, the
the intercultural understanding of the ‘other,’ calls for listening rather than
creates the possibility of becoming aware of the otherness of the ‘other;’ “the
The ‘other’ refers to that which is other than what is already meant. It includes
among others cultures, opinions, ideas, beliefs, philosophies, etc. “If culture is
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something ‘other,’ against which the self can be posited” (Blasco & Gustafsson,
we are not just different (self); we are different from something ‘other.’ Thus,
as difference opposed to sameness. The ‘other’ is that ‘other’ that does not
The concept of ‘self’ and ‘other’ might be collective like ‘us’ and ‘them.’ In
such as Hegel, Kant and some others not only elevate abstract reason above
humanity itself but they ascribe this reason to a particular humanity that is
masculine and European. Consequently, the other in question, that is, the
feminine and non-European can neither reason nor critically think. The result is
the exclusion, from the on-set anything other than masculine and European
from the intellectual stream. The result in the contemporary era is the exclusive
definition of what reason or rationality is; what critical thinking is. The result is,
and critical thinking' or it is taken as not reasoning and critically thinking at all.
can express the totality of the human experience just with concepts of one
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follows that the liminal space is created within the structures of question. This
overcomes not only our own particularity but also that of the other. This
Conclusion
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Asking questions protects the questioner from making the mistake of assuming
his/her cultural basis as a given standard. One could say that Questioning
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Bibliography
1999).
161 – 168.
Hans-Geroge Gadamer, Truth and Method, 2nd revised Edition, translated and
Philosophy from 1917, 2nd edition, (Dubuque, USA: Kendall Hunt Publishing,
2002).
1988
Perspektive”, in: Beckmann, C., (et al), eds. Tradition und Traditionsbruch
Mall, Ram A. Intercultural Philosophy. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield, 2000.
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FOR A HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHIES: HOW THE RELATIONSHIP
BETWEEN EQUALS MAKES PHILOSOPHY INTERCULTURAL
Giuseppe Capuano
Abstract
In the light of a renewal of the discipline and an attempt to overcome the crisis
pervades it, and, on the other hand, show its practical positive effects (ethical,
in an interrelational way.
In a world that leads, more and more often, to the contamination and the
contact between people and cultures, whether one likes it or not, the
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migrations from the phenomenal to the structural. The importance of research
in this area suggests it requires more than an afterthought not only about how
we currently live together, but also about the future possibility of new
Clarification will not only be needed for the here and now, but for how cultures
regenerative cycle).
varied fields of knowledge. Three of the more common research tools used in
this area of interest are static pluralism, dynamic pluralism and transculturalism.
as it were.
the differences are saved for the purpose of a global human culture, on the
model of a new Humanism. Once again the limits of this perspective are in its
static nature and in the comparing of fixed structures, which results in geting
involved with the quagmires of aculturalism. Moreover, the uniform view of the
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in the margin, hides underneath the cloak of ethnocentrism, which strongly
limits its extent. With dynamic pluralism (the analysis of the real significant
exchanges that have happened or are still happening, between two or more
cultures, stressing both similarities and differences, and allowing to learn from
one another) that is set within the context of how interculturality is perceived,
then in this occasion “culture” is meant as a set – coherent but not necessarily
one of the most fundamental features of cultural systems (never given for
granted) and, thanks to the fluidity of its elements, it is more open to external
acts. One goal for sure would be to analyze every origin of cultural tradition
more deeply: after all it could be said that no culture exists independently, or
free comparison to at least one other, «in this sense it can be said that every
culture makes itself only as interculture, that is as result – in every step of its
1
G. Pasqualotto: Intercultura e globalizzazione in Id. (edited by), Per una filosofia interculturale,
Milano-Udine, Mimesis 2008, pp. 15-34, p. 15.
2
M. Ghilardi: Pensare l'identità in Giappone: intercultura come trasformazione, in: G.
Pasqualotto (edited by), Per una filosofia interculturale, cit., pp. 213-254, pp. 241-243.
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Transposed on a cultural level, this idea means that no independent or fixed
culture can exist without relationships with others; the opposition standing
the balance of power rewards cultural identities with the strongest tradition. If
then every single piece would be reneged inside the pluricultural framework, in
particular the intercultural. After all, inside the suffix inter, there is the dynamic
say that if something cultural has to exist, for identity or difference, it will be
philosophy in this context? Philosophies are for sure one of the most significant
identifying themselves with them, leading to one philosophy, at least, for one
western tradition with the term “philosophy”, marginalizing everything that was
not developed under the auspices of Greece first and Europe and USA later, as
always has and always will, a multiple vision – we cannot limit it to any one
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vision of philosophy; even less, to a 'pre-eminent' philosophy»3. This would be
a great starting point which would lead to equal dignity for every philosophical
system, now on the same level as the other. In return this would pave an
problematic field between two or more elements that are, although still
possibility, pointing not only to the subject's impact on what they compare, but
also the partiality of the relationship elements. In the humanities – and more
objective comparison cannot and will not exist. The different poles are
allowed, but an open, problematic (in a positive way) field where every subject
knows their position inter res, opening new and wide perspectives and
influencing in an active and decisive way the life of those concerned in the
relationship:
3
Unesco, Philosophy: a school of freedom. Teaching philosophy and learning to philosophize:
status and prospects, Paris, 2007, URL:
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0015/001541/154173e.pdf, last check 06/08/2015, p. 239.
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like the comparing subject is influenced by the comparison activity because the
compared elements – especially thanks to the comparison – give off unedited answers
to given problems, so the compared elements are modified by the subject
comparative activity, because they answer to this questions.4
the partiality of every point of view and consequently the impossibility of any
and equality are the corner stones not only of interculturality but especially that
is it true that every point of view, because subjective, is relative but is even more true
that it gets more aware of being necessarily and always beyond its pure subjectivity
when it realizes of being composed of relationships.5
fosters the closest element to the comparing subject. In return it has to leave
which the subject aims only to return to himself, even in case of auto-
4
G. Pasqualotto: La comparazione tra Oriente e Occidente, in: FILOSOFIA POLITICA, a. XVIII,
n. 1, april 2004, pp. 65-77, p. 72.
5
G. Pasqualotto: Dalla prospettiva della filosofia comparata all'orizzonte della filosofia
interculturale, in: Id. (edited by), Per una filosofia interculturale, cit., pp. 35-57, p. 48. Cf. also
Id., La comparazione fra Oriente e Occidente, cit., p. 69, note 9.
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others less “emphatic”, but its ego-referred consequences would misrepresent
if we stay inside of a two variables logic, it always stands the suspect that the
subjective variable will be protagonist, even when it allows to be put in discussion by
the strongest and declares of giving up with every sign of «reduction to itself». On the
contrary, if we choose the three variables situation, the subject pretensions will be
reduced by the objectivity of the problematic space, of the vital field produced and
fed by processual realities of the problems which define the conditions of possibility of
the relationship.7
changes, both theoretical and practical. As for the first one, interculturality
thought. This would also affect the chance to place more accurately any
thought inside the new philosophical universe, where every tradition will be on
the same level as the others, and the relations, present or past, determine
6
«The universalistic pretension of the “Western” philosophical thought is contested for its
inability in theming and understanding the issues that contemporary poliphony and polilogic
rise, inability due to its assertive character and little ready to a dialogue not express in its
terms» (A. Chiricosta, Filosofia interculturale e valori asiatici, Varese, O Barra O Edizioni, 2013,
p. 12). The aim is leaving this kind of conception and finally considering «a situated universality
that can be inflected plurally: a “universal in context”» (Ivi, p. 13).
7
G. Pasqualotto: La comparazione fra Oriente e Occidente, cit., pp. 75-76.
8
Cf. R.A. Mall: Philosophie im Vergleich der Kulturen. Interkulturelle Philosophie – eine neue
Orientierung, Darmstadt, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft 1995.
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changeable reference points for every cultural identity9. As for the practical
and the respect of differences (one could suggest for instance that there is
usually never a serene debate about the universality of human rights), and,
the intercultural direction took by schools thirty years ago. Moreover, the
with one of the peculiarities, now even more defined during the latter
more academic the subject is, then this supposedly guarantees it a scientific
universal – not opposite or separated – that will give the right worth to
in this sense, which means to relax and be stoic. However and it must be
probably due to the idea of philosophy and the way it has been inherited from
one generation to another, and how its academic meaning prevails. One’s
ability to critique, the analytic thought and that rational sensitivity, typically
9
A wonderful cartographic example of this is represented by E. Holenstein, Philosophie-Atlas:
Orte und Wege des Denkens, Ammann Verlag, Zürich 2004.
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The real intercultural philosophy begins with that gnoseological modesty
conceived by Mall, where every tradition has equal relevance to the others
philosophical thinking in this direction, as then the didactics and the thought
2020 program (Europe 2020)11. There are general and common rules for each
address where philosophy is taught, with more specific rules because of the
demands put in place by the schools and what subjects need to be stressed in
10
What is meant here is what Morin calls “cycling causality” and applies to the pedagogical
area: «The strongest concept is that of self-regenerating or recursive ring, where the effects
and the products get necessary to the production and to the cause that caused and produced
them. An evident example of this kind of ring are we ourselves, who are products of a
biological reproducing cycle in which we will become producers» (E. Morin, Insegnare a vivere.
Manifesto per cambiare l’educazione, Milano, Raffaello Cortina Editore 2015, p. 75).
11
«Europe 2020 is the European Union’s ten-year jobs and growth strategy. It was launched in
2010 to create the conditions for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth»
(http://ec.europa.eu/europe2020/europe-2020-in-anutshell/index_en.htm, last check on
08/18/2015). In this program converged all the recommendations about education and
instruction formerly included in the Lisbon Strategy.
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at the end of the high school time the student should be awake of the meaning of the
philosophical thought as peculiar and fundamental part of human reason which, in
different periods and different cultural traditions, steadily propose again the question
about knowledge, human being and the meaning of being. Moreover he should know
in an organic way, the fundamental knots in historical development of Western
thought, contextualizing every author or theme in a historical-cultural framework and
also the potentially universalistic reach that every philosophy has.12
How can philosophy have both a universalistic method and specific practice
without teaching its relationship with the otherness that helped define itself?
How can someone talk of Western thought without at least citing the general
developments of the oriental or southern one? If the advice for the syllabus
openly talks about “the reach that every philosophy has” we cannot ignore the
fact anymore that more philosophies should be more accessible, instead of the
does this mean that we should be ready to change what Harold Bloom calls “the
Western canon”, that is the list (made by his own) of the writers become immortals by
authority, genius and originality? […] Will Kant vanish, replaced by Confucio, or
Manzoni replaced by The Arabian nights? […] What said until now nothing has to do
with the important work of unmasking every ethnocentric hybris, still alive and acting
in many fields of knowledge. Changing the Homeric epic with the Indian one in the
syllabus would be unfair for both of them, because the question is not to put the
second one in the place of the first one but, if anything, to show both of them in a way
that the student could understand that our narration is not the configuration that only
existed in the world. It is one beside the others, but it is also ours: actually this claim of
belonging will be made more incisive by the awareness and the acknowledgment of
other similar stories of the origins.13
12
http://www.indire.it/lucabas/lkmw_file/licei2010///FILOSOFIA_prof.unico.pdf (last check on
06/22/2015), italics mine.
13
R. Diana, F. Specchio: Humanities per una società interculturale. Un contributo teorico-
pratico, in G. Cacciatore, G. D’Anna, R. Diana, F. Santoianni (edited by), Per una relazione
interculturale. Prospettive interdisciplinari, Milano-Udine, Mimesis 2012, pp. 135-149, pp. 140-
141.
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This would be an arduous such as pleasant journey between philosophies, able
to explain the mutual inferences, stress the exchanges and the encounters,
underline the elements of commonality and difference, both explicit and less
superficial: this will affects in no way the subject, nor, in time, in its contents (on
the contrary). As for the first case, the majority of professors mourn an
specific moments of the didactic path. For example, Arabic philosophy, starting
from the 9th century commentators, were even sacrificing originality to make
Furthermore and little closer to home, what about the clashing between of
German, Japanese and Chinese philosophy in the 18th century? Finally, let’s
not brush aside the postcolonial developments of the African philosophy after
WWII. In Italy, the fifth year high school syllabus comes after a biennium strictly
programmed – it is the only one that can enable professors to insert their own
needed, for such freedom is often meant but not delivered. However, the
blame cannot always be levied at the professor doorstep, but instead also goes
management or no management at all. This grey area that has now ensued,
has caused many of the most innovative and interesting ideas of the XX
sequence of thinkers is reviewed looking for those shades of cultures that have
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produced a specific cultural system; cultures that are not different from ours,
These are only a few examples of the many (more specific and even
significant change not only in the didactics, but also in the students’
perception, making them aware of the plurality that embraces and affects them
renewal of the subject, the teaching of which would generally be in crisis, even
in a high formative development zone like Italy. According to the latest results
exclusive lens with which we can observe, understand and modify the fabric of
those distinct and intertwined pluralities which are most definitely outlining the
14
Not just an external plurality, but also internal to the students themselves, who rationally
have to choose every day an identity to wear (cf. A. Sen, Identity and Violence: The Illusion of
Destiny, Penguin Books, India 2007).
15
Supra note 3.
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Bibliograpy
Diana, R., Specchio, F.: Humanities per una società interculturale. Un
contributo teorico-pratico, in: Cacciatore, G., D’Anna, G., Diana, R., Santoianni,
F., (edited by), Per una relazione interculturale. Prospettive interdisciplinari,
Milano-Udine, Mimesis 2012, pp. 135-149.
Ghilardi, M.: Pensare l'identità in Giappone: intercultura come trasformazione,
in: G. Pasqualotto (edited by), Per una filosofia interculturale, Milano-Udine,
Mimesis 2008, pp. 213-254.
Holenstein, E.: Philosophie-Atlas: Orte und Wege des Denkens, Ammann
Verlag, Zürich 2004.
Mall, R.A.: Philosophie im Vergleich der Kulturen. Interkulturelle Philosophie –
eine neue Orientierung, Darmstadt, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft 1995.
Morin, E.: Insegnare a vivere. Manifesto per cambiare l’educazione, Milano,
Raffaello Cortina Editore 2015.
Pasqualotto, G.: Intercultura e globalizzazione in Id. (edited by), Per una
filosofia interculturale, cit., pp. 15-34.
Pasqualotto, G.: Dalla prospettiva della filosofia comparata all'orizzonte della
filosofia interculturale, in Id. (edited by), Per una filosofia interculturale, cit., pp.
35-57.
Pasqualotto, G.: La comparazione tra Oriente e Occidente, in: Filisofia Politica,
a. XVIII, n. 1, april 2004, pp. 65-77.
Sen, A: Identity and Violence: The Illusion of Destiny, Penguin Books, India
2007.
UNESCO, Philosophy: a school of freedom. Teaching philosophy and learning
to philosophize: status and prospects, Paris, 2007, URL:
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0015/001541/154173e.pdf, last check
06/08/2015.
Sitography
http://ec.europa.eu/europe2020/europe-2020-in-anutshell/index_en.htm, last
check on 08/18/2015.
http://www.indire.it/lucabas/lkmw_file/licei2010///FILOSOFI A_prof.unico.pdf,
last check on 06/22/2015.
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Introduction
a philosophical question, a community ball and some time. But is this already
philosophy? Just to give a short answer: Yes, it is. This answer builds on three
profound reflection and not in creating a whole theory. The second pillar is the
the community.
philosophy didactic Matthew Lipman had the impression that his students were
far away from independent and critical thinking. His aim was to change this fact
by teaching already children basic thinking skills like e.g. logical reasoning,
etc. Thus, in 1974 he founded the Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy
for Children (IAPC) at Montclair State University, New Jersey. Lipman published
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Concerning the notion P4C, the ‘for’ does not refer to philosophy
classes for children, but to an appropriate way for children of dealing with
Philosophy in a very similar way.2 But since this notion could also imply that –
hand – that it is nothing but trifles, 3 the term might be less suitable than
Kindern). I prefer these notions since they explicitly stress the philosophical
In 1984 Thomas Jackson, who studied with Lipman after receiving his
director of the ‘Philosophy in the Schools’ project, a joint effort between the
putting a stronger focus on the community and the aspect of intellectual safety
he slightly modified Lipman’s approach. Jackson also was less didactic and
worked out a simple basic method called Plain Vanilla that can be adopted in
each context. Being active now for more than 30 years the P4C-family in
1
The book title bears phonetic resemblance to ‘Aristotle’.
2
See in the German edition p. 11 and in the English edition p. 10.
3
See here E. Martens: Philosophieren mit Kindern. Eine Einführung in die Philosophie.
Stuttgart 1999, p. 26.
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self-confidence in their ability to judge and reflect, there is now the obligatory
children in 2008 I was very much attracted by Jackson’s approach and activities.
So I was glad having the opportunity this March 2015 to visit “Dr. J.” – the way
everybody, including the children, call him – in Hawai’i. Being there, I was
the most part I adopt the P4C-Hawaiian style and at the same time
experimenting with it. In the following I like to introduce Jackson’s main ideas
Community
P / p Philosophy
and “little-p-philosophy”. By this distinction he does not intend to play off one
of them against each other, but rather likes to counter a limited and one-sided
Philosophy. The big P describes the academic philosophy and the classical –
that is to say the occidental – canon. It is, thus, what largely is associated with
the philosophy: the “big names”. For most people it is surrounded by an aloof
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refers to any human being and means actively thinking by oneself. Jackson
fundamentally assumes that we are all born with a “sense of wonder” which is
mean the diverse pub talks or a mere exchange of opinions and ideas.
Philosophizing rather means “to scratch beneath the surface” and going deep
into a question and into the heart of things. For this kind of inquiry to happen,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pylLnHzfwI0
community”. 4
Like already mentioned, putting a special focus on the
“The survival of wonder […] requires […] a special kind of community. […] [It]
requires a refuge and safety”.5 For this idea of an intellectual safe community
there are two guiding principles: The Hawaiian Pu’uhonua, a ‘Place of Refuge’,
4
See: http://www.seeqs.org/community-building-with-p4c-hawaii.html
5
T. Jackson: Philosophy for Children Hawaiian Style – ‘On Not Being in a Rush…’. In: Thinking.
The Journal of Philosophy for Children, Vol. 17, No. 1&2 (2004), pp. 4-8, here p. 5.
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Peirce and John Dewey. The notion ‘community of inquiry’ stresses especially
the interaction between scientists and the process of inquiry. Inquiry itself, like
what is problematic”.6
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmTgPKdcKyw
which each individual member feels as a part of the community and, by this,
feels safe to be able to ask any question as long as respect for the other
be able to see each other’s faces. In the further course, an effective strategy to
replaced also by a cuddle toy or something like that, but is ideally made
together out of yarn in the first meeting. To do the ball, each member –
the same answering to some questions each person will answer in turn. Once
finished, the ball is a connectional sign of the community and authorizes the
person who holds it to speak, like a ‘talking stick’ in the Native American
tradition. However, it is also possible to pass the ball in case one receives it,
a secret language and less prescriptive. English examples of those words are
6
M. Lipman: Thinking in Education. New York 2003, p. 184.
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‘SPLAT’ (speak a bit louder please), ‘IDUS’ (I don’t understand) or ‘OMT’ (one
more time please) which correspond in German to the words ‘BIL’ (bitte lauter),
‘ISTEN’ (ich verstehen das nicht) or ‘NOMBI’ (noch einmal bitte). The list of
magic words can be varied and extended as the community feels. Each group
in any language can develop its own set. With the aid of such connecting
strategies, community building becomes the basic process for the subsequent
fruitful inquiry.
calls the philosophical inquiry with children not just ‘Socratic inquiry’, but
‘gently Socratic inquiry’. Very important is here to take time. One of Jackson’s
most favorite sayings is: “We are not in a rush to get anywhere”, because this
‘not being in a rush’ enables the sense of wonder to unfold. By this, the
children’s true own voices as well as questioning and the ability to think for
themselves are nurtured and stimulated. The children have to realize that the
posed questions are no traps they are lead into for being compromised as
children with an honest, sincere, and open gentleness let them lose their
that any deepening inquiry will fall on fruitful soil only in such an open and safe
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does neither know the course and outcome of the inquiry nor the one right
answer. What is mediated by this is the view that philosophers are independent
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNX_SvkrzjA
that we will get somewhere”, Jackson wrote.7 Therefore, the “good thinker’s
toolkit” is a helpful means for giving the inquiry shape and direction – even
though not at all forced. The toolkit as a whole is called in English WRAITEC
(the letters will change, of course, depending on the language) and consists in
little. The particular thinking tools are used to ask for meanings and clarification,
W – What do you mean by …? This tool indicates the need for further
clarification.
R – Reasons: Why is it like that? This tool indicates the need for
7
T. Jackson: The Art and Craft of ‘Gently Socratic’ Inquiry. In: A. L. Costa (Ed.): Developing
Minds. A Resource Book for Teaching Thinking. Alexandria, VA 2001, pp. 459-465, here p. 462.
8
http://p4chawaii.org/wp-content/uploads/PI-Good-Thinker%E2%80%99s-Tool-Kit-2.0.pdf
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position.
statements.
T – Truth: Is this (really) true? This tool indicates the need for
claim as true.
children by and by using and applying the tools themselves and, by doing so,
to lead their inquiry into depth and get some insights. Insight thereby,
according to Jackson, can happen in three ways, each of which owns its merit.
The first form of insight is to realize the complexity of a topic, even though
after the inquiry one is more confused than before. The second form of insight
is to detect connections one didn’t see before. The third form of insight, finally,
is to find an answer. In the same inquiry all three forms of insight can happen
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Plain Vanilla
Any inquiry arises out of questions. The philosophical inquiry with children is
first of all the children’s inquiry. Therefore, the questions and interests of the
children are the main sources for their inquiry. That is to say, when children
come up themselves with questions, those always should be given the priority.
In case some impulses are needed, Jackson suggests a strategy for to find
starting questions for the inquiry. This strategy, which may it also make easier
for teachers, is called ‘Plain Vanilla’. The name refers to the plain taste of vanilla
ice cream, besides one can choose also between varieties of different ice
cream flavors. This is to say, this strategy is a very basic one and can be varied
stimulus.
explains some background. Then the inquiry starts by using the good thinker’s
toolkit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqiHX_fdwqM
In all of this, the most important thing is making the children realize that the
topics come from them and that they determine the course by their interests.
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Once the children realized this, the quality and seriousness of their thinking is
truly amazing. As written above, Jackson always stresses that p4c Hawai’i is not
in a rush to get anywhere. But in the end we always can realize that “we have,
9
Jackson 2004, p. 8.
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References
(All internet sources have been accessed lastly October 13, 2015.)
Hawai‘i at Manoa, Vol. 14, No. 1&2 (2012), Special issue: Philosophy for
Children:
https://coe.hawaii.edu/sites/default/files/field/attachments/publications/
Vol44-1-2.pdf
Jackson, Thomas E.: “The Art and Craft of ‘Gently Socratic’ Inquiry”, in: Arthur
Jackson, Thomas E.: “Philosophy for Children Hawaiian Style – ‘On Not Being
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Links
institutes/iapc/
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a talk in Bonn on the cultural shaping of delusions. Could you shortly explain first
is unusual (but non-bizarre) in the context of the patient’s culture, in this case both
the US and Indian cultures, and the patient cannot be persuaded that the belief is
incorrect, despite all evidence to the contrary or the weight of opinion of other
trusted people. Delusions can be of various types, the two discussed here will be:
which are beliefs that are socially shared or not clearly false but continue to be
held despite lack of proof that they are correct, such as superiority of one’s race or
political party.
OK, there may be hallucinations of touch or smell within the patient’s delusional
experience but they take a backseat or they are specific to the delusion and they
won’t be prominent. Also, the patient will experience the delusion for at least a
month before being given the diagnosis and other concerns will be ruled out,
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on cognition, sense, and sexuality are in part based on and connected to Anisha, a
patient you have been treating in the course of the last year. What is her story in
general?
traditional family in southern India. She spent her early childhood in Bangalore, a
large metropolitan city in south India. Anisha’s mother is in her mid-60s and a
home-maker, and her father, in his early 70s, holds a doctorate from IIT Madras, a
premier educational institute. Anisha reports “good” relations with her sister and a
“good” relationship to her parents. She is “very attached” to her mother and her
father is her role model. The youngest of five girls, she was doted upon by her
When she was 21 years old, Anisha was introduced to Vasu by a family friend. At
the time, Vasu had just gotten a job as an engineer in Chicago. For thousands of
years, parents in India have arranged marriage for their children in India; Vasu had
long understood too that when he married it would be to someone his parents
had selected. He had come back to India for 30 days, determined to find his
future bride during this period. He scoured the ubiquitous marriage sites, more
than 1500 today and upon his parents’ approval, for a suitable partner – one who
is fair, educated, and docile, and eventually he provided Anisha’s family with his
marriage proposal. Following the proposal, his parents came for Anisha’s viewing,
a largely public meeting where the future bride is displayed to the groom’s family
and judged on all aspects – ranging from her mannerisms, hobbies, speech,
docility to elders, and so forth. Following the meeting, he felt she would be a
suitable bride, and they married within the month, in August 1996. Theirs was a
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November 1996 Anisha arrived in the U.S. In the initial years of their marriage, she
After two years of marriage, their fights started to erupt over excessive intrusion of
her in-laws in their married life, their ongoing criticism of her behaviors and over
Vasu’s financial assistance to his parents that was siphoning their savings. One day
as arguments over financial help to his parents occurred, he started to hit her. The
first instance of violence occurred when Anisha’s first child was still an infant.
Anisha called the police who arrived, but since Vasu was remorseful and promised
the violence would never occur again, she did not file any charges. But after this
episode, Anisha began to feel overwhelmed with hopelessness, that “No matter
what his family will do to me, he will always support them.” Mental breakdown of
young Indian wives in the face of family stress is common in Indian families, and a
form of psychotic breakdown is delusional disorder; such marital strife without the
necessary support in a new culture may have initiated its start in Anisha.
believe he was having an affair with his female colleague. Soon, that thought
morphed into the belief that her husband had not one affair but several affairs,
including some with women he met on Craigslist. She cited as proof “messages
exchanged with other females” but never alluding to the nature of the messages.
When Vasu was scheduled to work on New Year’s Day, Anisha grew more
It seems like Anisha’s growing alienation, hopelessness, and distress fueled her
vigilance to catch him red-handed in the act. For instance, she believed
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erroneously that Vasu was using the job in another country in part as a cover for
his affair. In order to find proof, she put together an elaborate plan: she hired a
private investigator, installed a GPS tracker in his car, and tracked his online
behavior. Her efforts did not result in any substantial results: the investigator
reported only a large cash withdrawal coinciding with the colleague’s birthday, at
best an interesting correlation; the GPS tracker took her to the airport parking lot
where Vasu had parked his car during his visit to Toronto and not a seedy motel
she had presumably expected; the surveillance tools too, did not reveal any racy
affairs. All of her tracking efforts to catch him red-handed did not bear fruit and
Vasu continued to deny that he was having an affair, and began to accuse Anisha
(not unjustly) of being obsessive and invasive… Being told that she was imagining
the whole thing only made Anisha more desperate and distressed, and the vicious
cycle continued.
Anisha’s delusional ideation is unique in two different ways: once someone with a
delusion accepts an idea based on one evidence rather than the other, they are
and the contexts and entities they are about, it appears that the content and
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
1
See Garety, Philippa et al.: “Reasoning, emotions, and delusional conviction in psychosis”, in:
Journal of Abnormal Psychology, Vol. 114 (2005), No. 3, pp. 373-384.
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nature of her false beliefs might be shaped by her upbringing in India – especially
when it comes to sexuality – and current technological shifts. In what ways do her
experiences and cultural imprints in sexuality and technology factor into the
digital tools but also revealed that espionage, and eavesdropping was done on
Germany, and countless other countries, Anisha’s constructed unreality that her
texting your partner late in the evening? Banal deception between couples is very
individuals with an average age of 49 years and married 19 years found that
suspicious wives are twice as likely to spy as suspicious husbands. While suspicious
wives will pore over text messages diligently, check the browser histories, and
secretly read their husband’s emails, check their Facebook accounts, and such
textual and technological surveillance does not abate even after 19 years of
The cultural plasticity of technology in delusions was explored by Joel and Ian
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2
See Gold, Joel/Gold, Ian: “The Truman Show delusion. Psychosis in the global village”, in:
Cognitive Neuropsychiatry, Vol. 17 (2012), No. 4, pp. 455-472.
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work further confirms research which suggests that beliefs seem to be sensitive to
technology,3 and the Internet.4 In The Truman Show from 1998, Truman Burbank
moment in his life is being captured by the camera. His closest intimates are paid
Truman, he escaped it. We often believe that a strong boundary separates the
mentally ill from the mentally healthy but research by the Golds shows how mental
illness is porous and permeable to our social contexts, and also pervasive. Culture
or cultural processes act as a trigger that shape the way general psychopathology
InterCultural Philosophy: With regard to your monograph Love will follow: Why
the Indian Marriage is burning,5 you have pointed out that the case of Anisha and
Vasu also serves as an example for the general situation that while in most parts of
the world, the first years of a marriage are perceived by men and women to be the
“honeymoon phase”, in India’s culture the opposite is often the case. Can you
elaborate on this and to what extent unfulfilled expectations and the strong wish to
and the functional or useful role they can actually play for her?
or psychotic ways – and not necessarily on psychotic defenses alone, and in this, it
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
3
See Eytan, Ariel et al.: “Electronic Chips Implant: A New Culture-bound Syndrome?”, in:
Psychiatry. Interpersonal and Biological Processes, Vol. 65 (2002), No. 1, pp. 72-74.
4
See Bell, Vaughan et al.: “‘Internet delusions’: a case series and theoretical integration”, in:
Psychopathology, Vol. 38 (2005), No. 3, pp. 144-150.
5
See Sandhya, Shaifali: Love Will Follow. Why the Indian Marriage is burning. Noida: Random
House India 2010.
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is maladaptive to her.
Why doesn’t Anisha have access to that part of the cultural norms that helps her
deploy mature defenses? Anisha’s struggling with her marital tensions has roots in
cultural development and culturally formed ways of dealing with conflict. There
It’s true that in modern India today, a domestic revolution is unfolding in Indian
homes and divorces have exploded exponentially but divorce is not an option for
religious communities such as Anisha’s. For much of the history of Hindu marriage,
divorce did not occur; when it did, it occurred in extraordinarily rare cases of a
remedy for an ailing marriage, divorce was considered a fate worse than disease.
Even though there are radical social changes occurring in the domestic revolution
in Indian homes such as: later marriages, an increasing emphasis on education for
girls, splintering of the extended family into nuclear households, increase in live-in
divorced women face considerable social ostracism. In both India and the U.S.,
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Faced with the potential wrath and blame from her conservative family, her
delusions have usefulness for her, as they align with the social understandings of
her cultural heritage and buffer her from ostracism. Indeed, Vaillant, an expert in
delusions are the most distorted forms of adaptation involving a break with
external reality to suit the inner needs of the person. Seen from this lens of the
explanation for her behavior can be seen as one of the only avenues available to
her. In pursuing her dogged belief of his philandering ways, she is taking troubling
Her delusions might then be seen as altering the expression of her conflict and
creating a parallel but profoundly distorted reality, but one that might serve five
adaptive functions for Anisha: attenuate her intra-psychic conflict and buffer her
from her growing despair, save face in her religious community when divorce
occurs, maintain her perception of herself as a good mother and wife and
preserve her self-esteem, create engagement with others, and enable her to
InterCultural Philosophy: In your talk, you have also pointed out that due to the
amount of ‘smaller’ delusions within each society’s population that simply do not
become clinically relevant since they remain under a certain threshold of attention
or bizarreness. Can you elaborate on these estimations and findings and what
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believe that they are the chief disciple of the Buddha (Yip, 2003);6 Saudi sufferers
of “turabosis” believe they are covered by sand;7 in West Bengal where humans
may legally marry dogs, suffering from the delusion of being pregnant with
life and colors her delusion; on one hand, she believes she will find proof of her
husband’s infidelity through installing spyware and on the other, she believes
that from an abstract viewpoint outside a respective culture, one could actually call
large parts of its population delusional regarding certain aspects of public life or
reality in general. Examples include e.g. the ancient Greeks’ belief in the pantheon
or the conviction, widespread in medieval Europe, that there are witches. There
delusional beliefs and their connection to cultural standards into a more holistic
perception and our concepts of the self, society and their relation to
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
6
See Yip, K.: “Traditional Chinese religious beliefs and superstitions in delusions and hallucinations
of Chinese schizophrenic patients”, in: International Journal of Social Psychiatry, Vol. 49 (2003),
No. 2, pp. 97-111.
7
See Qureshi, N.A./Al-Habeeb, T.A./Al-Ghamdy, Y.S.: “Making psychiatric sense of sand: a case of
delusional disorder in Saudi Arabia”, in: Transcultural Psychiatry, Vol. 41 (2004), No. 2, pp. 271-
280.
8
See Chowdhury, A.N. et al.: “Puppy pregnancy in humans: a culture-bound disorder in rural West
Bengal, India”, in: International Journal of Social Psychiatry, Vol. 49 (2003), No. 3, pp. 35-42.
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one another. Do you think that the theoretical and empirical work on delusions
ideology? And if so, to what extent do you think that psychology would have to
question and reevaluate itself again in the process, considering the fact that it is
Truth? Not really – because the truth changes across social groups and through
history. Take the ancient Aztec conviction that the flow of human blood would
keep the sun rising; their belief that their existence depended on tearing out the
heart of another human being, and it cost 20,000 humans to be sacrificed each
year or, the 25% of Americans who continue to believe that Obama is Muslim and
from Kenya, or 48% of those who believe in UFOs, or 90% of those Americans
who believe in the existence of God? And what of the German intellectuals like
Nietzsche, Herder, and Wagner who pursued with much fascination and obsession
Greek mythology?
Depending on the belief and time in history, a large proportion of society can be
ideational – not sensate thinkers relying on Science. Delusions, then, are mental
constructions so egocentric that they need a social following, some friends, and
someone believes in our story or not, otherwise we run the risk of our beliefs
turning into delusions, our character reduced to insanity, and being like Anisha.
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Further Reading:
counselor and therapist for families and couples in Chicago. Major results of her
work and research are to be found in her monograph Love Will Follow: Why the
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