INTERCULTURAL PHILOSOPHY

between the radical expansion of sources of philosophical practice and cultural hybridization

Abstract

The focus of this study is to present intercultural philosophy through the perspective of its main conceptualizer, the Cuban philosopher based in Germany, Raúl Fornet-Betancourt, and his 1994 work Filosofía Intercultural. This study begins by investigating the reasons why, in the current context, intercultural philosophy has re-emerged as a disciplinary project at UNICAMP. It then provides a concise overview of Fornet-Betancourt’s proposal for intercultural philosophy, emphasizing what he sees as the novelty of his approach. His advocacy for expanding the sources of philosophical practice, identified in this study as the strongest point of his proposal, is exemplified through other philosophical works that have contributed in a similar direction. Finally, some internal limitations of Fornet-Betancourt’s proposal are highlighted. Additionally, drawing on authors who work with the concept of culture, the understanding of interculturality is expanded to include perspectives such as cultural hybridization and processes in which domination operates across cultures, moving beyond the cultural centrisms that Fornet-Betancourt’s intercultural project aimed to overcome.