Towards an Ethical Framework for Inter-Cultural Dialogue

Abstract

In this article I attempt to provide an ethical framework for inter-cultural dialogue, which I argue can contribute to efforts at facilitating multicultural understanding. Such an ethical framework for inter-cultural dialogue which finds its roots in postmodernism, I will argue, provides the impetus for the creation of critical civil societies which demonstrate a culture of tolerance, public debate and accommodation of differences and competing interests. The construction of such an ethical framework for inter-cultural dialogue seeks to promote and support a critical inter-cultural discourse engendered by a sense of plurality, fallibalism, pragmatism and judiciousness. The ideal of such an inter-cultural discourse is directed at epistemologically rich societies embedded in multiple sets of conceptual schemes, each giving us an entry into reality and maximising a many sided multicultural understanding of whatever issues are at question in such societies, and in this way contribute to the establishment of a democratic ethos and a culture of human rights by means of dialogical encounters conducive to critical discourse and experimental thinking, cultural tolerance, and a common commitment to a humane social order.

Keywords: Dialogue, Inter-Cultural, Ethical, Postmodernism.