Vom Umgang mit kulturellen Differenzen in der Philosophie

Intercultural encounters often have been determined by the misleading tendency to interpret different traits of another culture almost automatically as deficient. Examples from history and philosophy are discussed and analysed: namely colonialism, Leibniz, Herder, Hegel and race theories of the 19th and 20th century. Three possible valuations of one’s own culture are discussed which can be seen as being exclusively valuable, equal to all others, or complimentary to others. Describing the latter as the most adequate interpretation, the author argues for dialogical or rather polylogical interactions in the field of philosophy. This does not, however, exclude centristic tendencies. Therefore, finally four different types of centrism are proposed as influential patterns in intercultural encounters: expansive, integrative, separative, and tentative centrism. This concluding discussion of centrisms hopes to establish fruitful models of intercultural interactions in philosophy and related fields