Towards an Intercultural Construction of Rationality

The challenge of building rationality along intercultural lines has faced humanity since time immemorial. In our era, however, there is a major difference, because for the first time in history we are confronted with all the phenomena encompassed by globalisation. The modern world order is characterised by a systematic spread of philosophical, scientific and technical rationality, homogenising the age-old diversity and complexity of human existence. Although a distinction has rightly been made between economic and cultural globalisation, today's worldview can be said to be dominated by a kind of rationality that causes other proposals – both theoretical and practical–to be largely ignored or overlooked.At the same time, ours is also an epoch characterised by the explosive increase of plurality and difference. In the theoretical realm, this has found expression in the continuous rephrasing of categories, paradigms, ways of thinking and language in an attempt to accommodate an experience of change and diversity which has been fully expressed by postmodern thinkers. In the practical field, this tendency has become manifest through the rephrasing and mutual confrontation of economic, political, artistic and other models, belying any claim to a single overriding thought or unique order.