A philosophical investigation of the concept of interculturality

The conception of a plurality of distinct, bounded cultures together constituting -- in some kind of patchwork-quilt fashion -- the modern world, has installed itself in the collective representations of the modern and postmodern world with amazing effectiveness. From this dominant perspective, a person would be able to live her/his entire life within one culture, and interculturality would be not the rule but the exception; intercultural philosophy would be the study of the foundations of relations and interactions between 'cultures' conceived in this way. However, much as this conception of culture owes a great debt to cultural anthropology, developments in that discipline during the last three decades have rendered this conception obsolete; instead, the situational, performative, optional, plural, strategic nature of culture as a political idiom of recognition is increasingly stressed along with the constructed and dynamic nature of cultural identity. This necessitates a philosophical rethinking of interculturality, which is currently undertaken within the context of

the chair of Foundations of Intercultural Philosophy, Erasmus University Rotterdam, and

the Dutch-Flemish Association for Intercultural Philosophy.

In addition to Wim van Binsbergen's inaugural address devoted to this topic, and his work on globalisation, virtuality, ethnicity, cultural diffusion, and Ancient models of thought, the philosophical investigation of the concept of interculturality is pursued through participation in joint Rotterdam-based projects, such a that on Sensus communis; the work of Felix Guattari; and the study group on the Philosophy of Information and Communication Technology.

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