Cultural Otherness: Correspondence with Richard Rorty PDF
Preview Cultural Otherness: Correspondence with Richard Rorty
CULTURAL ‘OTHERNESS 7 'CORRESPONDENCE ’ * WITH RICHARD RORTY ’ AninditaNiyogiBalslev . Cultural Otherness Correspondence with Richard Rorty AAR TheAmericanAcademyofReligion CulturalCriticismSeries Number4 CULTURALOTHERNESS: CORRESPONDENCEWlTHRICHARDRORTY SecondEdition AninditaNiyogiBalslev Cultural Otherness Correspondence with RichardRorty SecondEdition AninditaNiyogiBalslev ScholarsPress Atlanta CULTURALOTHERNESS: CORRESPONDENCEWITHRICHARDRORTY Copyright©1991bythe IndianInstituteofAdvancedStudy Prefacetosecondeditioncopyright©1999bythe AmericanAcademyofReligion AllRightsReserved. Nopartofthisworkmaybereproducedortransmittedinanyformorbyany means,electronicormechanical,includingphotocopyingandrecording,orby meansofanyinformationstorageorretrievalsystem,exceptasmaybe expresslypermittedbythe1976CopyrightActorinwritingfromthepublisher. RequestsforpermissionshouldbeaddressedinwritingtotheRightsand PermissionsDepartment,ScholarsPress,PO.Box15399,Atlanta,GA30333- 0399,USA. LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicafionData Balslev,AninditaNiyogi. Culturalotherness,correspondencewithRichardRorty/Anindita NiyogiBalslev.—2nded. . cm.—(TheAmericanAcademyofReligioncultural criticismseries;no.4) Includesbibliographicalreferences. ISBN0-7885-0300-6(paper:acid-freepaper) 1.Cross-culturalorientation-Philosophy. 2.Rorty,Richard— Correspondence. I.Title. II.Series. GN345.65.B35 1999 306’.01—dc21 99—38046 CIP RichardRorty'sessay"Philosophers,Novelists,andInterculturalCompari- sons:Heidegger,Kundera,andDickens”wasfirstpublishedinEssaysin HeideggerandOthers,Volume2ofhisPhilosophicalPapers(CambridgeandNew York:CambridgeUniversityPress,1991),andisreprintedherewiththe permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress. Thisbookisprintedonrecycled,acid-freepaper. 9‘)()0()I(I2()3(l4(l5()60708—10987654321 MANUFACTUREDIN'I'HliUNITEDSTATESOFAMERICA ForEvaandOlav.PatriciaandKevin Contents Preface ................................ 9 Letter1:AninditaBalslevtoRichardRorty ........... 25 Letter2:RichardRortytoAninditaBalslev ........... 39 Letter3:AninditaBalslevtoRichardRorty ........... 47 Letter4:RichardRortytoAninditaBalslev ........... 67 Letter5:AninditaBalslevtoRichardRorty ........... 75 Letter6:RichardRortytoAninditaBalslev ........... 89 Appendix:”Philosophers,Novelists,andIntercultural Comparisons:Heidegger,Kundera,andDickens,” byRichardRorty ...................... 103 Preface Whenonestands,asIdo,atthecrossroadsofcultures,one becomesawarethatquestionsaboutculturalissuescannotbe dealtwithadequatelyinamonologueoreveninadialoguewith animaginaryorprojectedother.Rather,theyrequireanopen conversation. Asa scholar, I have felt the lackof this active interchangeofideasin theareasofphilosophyaswellasin religiousandculturalstudies.SeveralyearsagoIinitiatedan exchangeofletterswithProfessorRichardRorty,preciselywith the hope ofcreatingan intellectual space (and eventuallyof settingupaforum)whereitwillbepossibletotrulyengageina conversationabouta rangeofissues thatpresent themselves whenonestandsattheintersectionofcultures.Thiscorrespon- dencetookplaceintheintervalbetweentwoconferencesspon- soredbyPhilosophyEast-West,oneheldinHawaiiin1989and theotherinIndiain1991.Theresultingletterswerefirstpublished inIndiabytheIndianInstituteofAdvancedStudyin1991.Since thenmanyreaders,bothoutsideandinsidetheacademia,have encouragedtheirrepublicationintheUS.Theyappearherein theAmericanAcademyofReligion’sCulturalCriticismSeriesby thekindpermissionoftheIndianInstituteandProfessorRorty himself.ThisvolumealsocontainstheessaybyRortytowhich manyofmyownandRorty’sremarksrefer. Attheoutset,afewremarksaboutthetitleofthisbookmay beinorder.Thethemeof”culturalotherness”hasadefinitive contemporaryrelevance.Anincreasingsharingofadvancedtech- nologyhassignificantlyreduceddistancesbetweentheremotest partsoftheglobeduringthetwentiethcentury,allowingthecatch phrase”globalvillage”toappearinallsortsofdiscourses.Asa consequenceofthis,however,ourawarenessoftheconceptual andculturaldistancesthatstilldivideushasaugmentedconsid- 9 Preface erably.Weoftenspeak,especiallyinacademia,aboutthedifficul- tiesofcrossingculturalboundariesandaboutthe”otherness”of theother.Thisnewclosenesshasalsomadeusconsciousofthe persistenceofcommitmentstoreligiousbeliefsandtraditionsin manysegmentsofsocietyanddifferentpartsoftheworld,thus puttingintoreliefthemajorimportanceofagenuineencounter ofworldreligions. Itistrueofcoursethatagreatvarietyofdifficultiesarisefrom ournewproximity,difficultiesofconcerntobothdominantand marginalgroups.Theseoccurnotonlyinthecontextofhuge complexesofculturedesignatedasEastandWestorNorthand South(oranyotheractualand possiblemodesofconceiving blocksintermsofculturaldifferencesorpoliticaleconomyalone), butalsowithinanygivenculture,moreawareoftheboundaries ofgender,religion,ethnicity,race,andpoliticalideologythanever before.However,whileengagingindiscussionofanyaspectof theproblemsposedbythepluralityofculturesandsubcultures, weneedtoquestionthehardsenseofthemetaphorofboundary thatdividesonefromtheother.Whenthemetaphorofboundary impliesimpermeablebarrier,itisnotconducivetothekindof conversationIhaveinmind,asthisactuallycreatesaspacewhere oldignorancecontinuesandnewclichesprevail.Thesoftsense ofthemetaphor,ontheotherhand,isindeeduseful.Thisallows ustoacknowledgedifferenceswithoutjeopardizingcommunica- tion.l Asapertinentexample,andonewithimportantimplications alsoforreligiousstudies,letmefocusonthemannerinwhichthe so-called othernessoftheIndian philosophical traditionshas beenandstillisprojectedbysignificantphilosophersintheWest. SinceIhavebrieflymentionedthispointinoneofmylettersto ProfessorRorty,letmeelaborateonthisabitmorehereasIbelieve thatthelackofconversationbetweenIndiaandtheWestismost glaringamongphilosophers.AlthoughmanyontheIndiansub- continentareunawareofthefactthatthereisanyproblemwith representingdarsmm(ormlviksiki)asphilosophy,mainstreamWest- ernself-understandinghasalwayspositedthatphilosophyisa uniquecreationoftheGreeksandconsequently thatitisan exclusiveenterpriseofthosewhoarethedirectinheritorsofthat 1()
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