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In search of a pluralistic paradigm

The hermeneutical philosophy of Martin Heidegger redefined the cultural paradigm as a creative evolving process in which ‘plural realism’ becomes the new touchstone, and cultural activity is not to be seen as a search for a singular universal objective ideal. This philosophical shift of viewing culture from a pluralistic cultural perspective, provides an alternative blueprint, as it were, to Samuel Huntington’s contention of the inevitable clash of civilisations and cultures.


This hermeneutical concept of culture can be seen to be at the heart of the celebration of the World Cultural Diversity Day, where “cultures need to assemble, and not resemble each other”, as a UN secretary-general put it. Viewing culture as a global public good and setting it within the framework of sustainable development, is a unique UNESCO initiative. In the realisation that cultures and subcultures may flow into each other seamlessly in the modern world, it holds up a multiplicity of perspectives, each to be valued and treasured by the other.

This notion of the assimilation of diverse ideas and cultures has, of course, characterised the Indic mind since time immemorial. Indic thought has constantly returned to this theme of synthesis, and not just in thought but in every aspect of life. Every idea and every culture has been celebrated, even through turbulent times, such has been the Upanishadic vision laid down by the ancients. Sri Aurobindo saw a spiritual aspiration as the “governing force of this culture, its core of thought”.

This spiritual vision gave rise to the idea that there are manifold ways of approaching the eternal, of invoking the elan vital, the life force, as Henri Bergson termed it. In each finite, one can discover the same life-force of the Infinite. The process of Becoming, the thrust towards Being, was equally important to the Indic mind, allowing it to respect each opinion, each view, each culture. “The mind that goes into itself deeply enters on a pilgrimage from which there is no return,” as J Krishnamurti would say, and this inner pilgrimage of the Indic mind has had the shastrartha of ideas circumscribing it, where discussion and philosophical debate decide which is the better idea for the day.

Similarly, the modern hermeneutical notion of culture in western thought sees it as context-dependent, and thereby relative as well. In overturning the traditional epistemological model, it showed to the western mind how each culture-idea can be read as an alternative, enriching experience. The methodology of interpretation in hermeneutics provided the rationale for looking at other cultures and faiths as just an extension of one’s own culture and faith. There is no other, diversity of cultures is to be celebrated in all its aspects. Culture is no longer limited to art, literature, music, but covers the entire range of human activities, and everything is a cultural phenomenon.

The notion that culture is a driving force for development, and mutual respect and understanding of other cultures can provide a fulfilling intellectual and spiritual dimension to life, seems to stem from this hermeneutical perspective. The Indic mind sees it as an evolutionary spiritual journey – as Sri Aurobindo puts it, “Culture is the expression of a consciousness of life, an aspiration to transform one’s lower nature to a higher aesthetic and spiritual Self. ”

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