Intercultural Humanism: How to Do the Humanities in the Age of Globalization

Title

Intercultural Humanism: How to Do the Humanities in the Age of Globalization

Author

Jörn RÜSEN

Page

1-24

DOI

Abstract

The paper starts with a diagnosis of new needs for cultural orientation in the globalizing process. The challenge of cultural difference in processes of identity formation demands a strategy of understanding and recognizing this difference, which can be accepted by all participants in intercultural communication. The place for developing such a strategy is the humanities. The humanities as academic disciplines emerged at the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century in Europe. Their main task was to come to terms with the growing experience of cultural difference in space and time. In order to fulfil their task as institutionalized places for understanding cultural difference they developed cognitive strategies, which claimed for universal validity. These strategies mainly consisted of a concept of universal history and a method of hermeneutics. Both elements are deeply influenced by modern humanism.
The paper describes the basic elements of this humanism, its advantages and limits. It critically picks up the tradition of this humanism attempting to re-new its basic patterns and methods of interpretation. This will be demonstrated by analyzing the basic category of intercultural understanding — the idea of humanity. Present-day cultural orientation is deeply influenced by different ideas of humanity and humankind stemming from different cultural traditions. Within the unbroken validity of these traditions different ideas of humankind and humanities each scooped each other. This mutual exclusion has caused tensions, even clashes. In order to overcome them the logic of understanding brought about by the humanities has to be changed from an exclusive to an inclusive interrelationship of the concepts of the humanities and of its related methods of research and interpretation.

Keyword

Humanities, humanism, intercultural communication, cultural identity, civilization

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