polylog 3
1999
Andere Geschichten der Philosophie
Herausgeber des Thementeils: Michael Shorny
THEMA
Philosophiehistorie in interkultureller Orientierung
By way of six propositions a program of research is delineated which is supposed to be adequate if historiography of philosophy is done in an intercultural orientation. The said propositions are related to the subject matter, to the concept of the author of philosophy, to the question concerning the empirical data, to the question in what sense historiography of philosophy is dealing with things past, to the question whether there can or ought to be a unified classification and terminology, and finally to the question concerning adequate description and explanation.
Historiographische Gedanken zu einer Ideengeschichte in Lateinamerika
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Presently the notion of postmodernity and its usage is in a crisis, as is obvious in social, philosophical, historical, scientific, and political reflection. The present situation of philosophy and science carries the possibility of a paradigmatic turn. Therefore, one has to try to change the basic starting point of reflection, the associative, even repulsive relations between some of the initial concepts in cases where the whole structure of reflection and of all possible discursive developments depend on such concepts.
John C. Plott, James M. Dolin und Paul D. Mays
Ingvild Birkhan & Simo & Ram A. Mall
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FORUM
Tradition und die Frage der Demokratie in Afrika.
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Taking off from reflections on the relevance of traditional political ideas for a democratic order in contemporary Africa, some traits, chances, and problems of Kwasi Wiredu's model of a non-party consensual democracy are analyzed. The goal of this article is to show that a currently viable adaption and transformation of the African democratic heritage could help to consolidate Africa's multicultural societies. A central task in this process lies in the reconciliation of democracy and justice via the establishment of a consensus-oriented dialogue for decision-making, a constitutional legitimation of the rule of ethnic groups, and a decentralisation of political power, so that local and regional autonomy becomes possible.
Polylog bedarf der Transdiziplinarität.
Zur aktuellen Debatte über Konsensethik und Konsensdemokratie à la africaine.
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In reaction to Wiredu's plea for non-party democracy, Eze's criticism of that, and Presbey's article on the role of Akan queenmothers in a political system characterized by consensus, Senghaas discusses African models of consensual democracy in the light of global discussions on the construction and application of alternative democratic systems. He points out that the problem in question is not to be solved by a simple either-or approach of choosing between a Westminster model of democracy and a consensus model of African origin, but a wide variety of worldwide existing forms of democratic government should be considered in the discussion. For a successful solution, Senghaas emphazises the need for interdisciplinarity and an input of empirical knowledge for the construction of political theory.
Zwischen KulturImperialismus und KulturRelativismus.
Zur Begründung universeller Menschenrechte im Kontext der Interkulturalität.
This article deals with the justification of universal human rights in the context of interculturality. In the question of validity of human rights the author maintains a viewpoint describable äs 'conditional universalism' and locate it between a naive universalism of Western values and a resigned strict cultural relativism. While pointing out the contingency of the historical evolution of ideas concerning human rights in the West and demonstrating the obvious theoretical and practical difficulties of a cultural-relativistic position, within which the possibility of inter-cultural validity of norms is generally denied, the author argues that transcultural empirical studies, however, show that some moral decisions are based on implicit intuitions which are universally valid and thus may justify certain human rights. Within a contentious field a universal consensus may only be reached on the level of discourse. As discourse ethics obliges to recognize all those potentially taking part in the discourse, i.e. human beings of all cultures no matter which social class or which sex they are belonging to, the author argues that the rules of practical discourse provide an effective measure for judging certain cultural practices concerning the justification of underlying norms. Referring to discourse theory he concludes that a justification of universal human rights is only possible by universal participation in it.
LITERATURBERICHTE, REZENSIONEN UND BUCHTIPPS
BERICHTE & EREIGNISSE
Von den Gehversuchen eines Grautiers auf Neuland. Das Projekt "Afrikanische Philosophie" an der Universität GH Kassel. S. 105-107
Afrikanisches Zentrum für höhere Studien. Projektentwurf für Porto Novo, Benin. S. 107-108
Lateinamerikanische Philosophie in Farbe. Das Zentrum für Lateinamerikastudien in Mexiko-Stadt. S. 109-110
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Bewußtseinsforschung in interkultureller Diskussion. S. 111-112
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