Intercultural philosophy and education in a global society: philosophical divides are dotted lines

Abstract

This paper is concerned with ways to make our education system more inclusive, to stimulate a more tolerant and democratic attitude among students, and to equip them to deal with complex issues in our society. Trying to understand and master plural viewpoints is more effective than applying the mainstream western perspective to relate to a fast-globalizing, interactive world. In existing curricula, students and teachers are often confronted with underlying assumptions that can be traced back to the ubiquitous influence of the Enlightenment. They mirror what has been denied, like the colonization of large parts of the world by European countries. This paper illustrates how philosophical divides can be crossed. I elaborate on a method suitable for crossing these divides: dialogue. Finally, I highlight the transformation that the discipline of philosophy and our education system need to go through to open to different forms of obtaining knowledge.

Keywords:

• Intercultural philosophy
• intercultural education
• plurality
• inclusivity
• diversity