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1. Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology: Volume > 12 > Issue: 2
Polycarp Ikuenobe

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I examine the plausibility that culture may induce moral ignorance to mitigate or vitiate blameworthiness. I show how culturally induced moral ignorance may explain and provide an excuse, but not a justification for, terrorist acts, and how a recognition of their moral ignorance and the basis for it, may indicate the proper moral response to extremist Islamic terrorism. I argue that Moody-Adams' criticisms of culturally induced moral ignorance fail to consider how the brainwashing processes, false beliefs, and the closed nature of oppressive cultures may vitiate an epistemic requirement for blameworthiness. I argue that we cannot assume, as Moody-Adams did, that because relevant moral facts are out there, and because people are rationally capable of knowing those facts and reflecting on their cultural principles as the basis for their actions, when they act immorally, it is because they simply refused to know the relevant moral facts or chose not reflect on their cultural principles.

2. Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology: Volume > 12 > Issue: 2
Tomas Kačerauskas

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The article deals with the concepts and problems of creative society. The author analyses the postmodern, post-industrial, post-rational, post-democratic, post-economic, post-capitalistic distinctiveness of creative society. According to the author, creative society has characteristics such as "outstanding-ness" (of both individual and society), creative living, and casual work relations. The paper deals with the creative aspects of entertainment and with the role of technologies in creative society. The author presents the sketches of creative ecology and creative ethics, the difficulties of empirically researching creativity and potential creative indexes as well as the problems regarding their evaluation. The research appeals to different approaches of creative society (including sociological, and philosophical) as well as methods used in different fields of the humanities (communication, media studies, narrative studies, and cultural studies). The author presents the key scholars of creative society and possible avenues of research emerging from this new subject.

3. Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology: Volume > 12 > Issue: 2
Rubén Herce

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This paper is an approach to the context in which Dawson's work originated as well as to the main critiques of the works by Oswald Spengler, Arnold Toynbee and Thomas S. Eliot, with whom he differed on how to address the study of culture. The contrasts between Dawson and the views of these authors are significant and help to refine the concept of culture Dawson used in his philosophy. The paper highlights both Dawson's perspective and what separates or brings him closer to these authors. Conclusions are drawn about the elements Dawson took from each one of them.

4. Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology: Volume > 12 > Issue: 2
Mahdi Dahmardeh, Hossein Parsazadeh

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The role of culture in a field as vast as applied linguistics is so pronounced and vital that even a highly selective overview might not be sufficient to be comprehensive. What follows might be a synoptic account of the role of culture in the realm of applied linguistics. The enigmatic point which even makes the vast field of applied linguistics goes to unbeaten tracks is the similar nature of culture. Due to the aforementioned point, here the canonical overlap of them is emphasised. Moreover, as culture and language are intrinsically intertwined, we decided to have a more cultural stance rather than a linguistic one. Therefore, first, we go through the major studies in connection with language and culture. These studies might fall into three broad categories, namely those relating to epistemology of culture, those relating to its relation to language, and finally those relating to its presentation through a given language. Then, we touch on the trends, and in the end we try sum up and to unravel, or better to say, to come to grips with this enigmatic riddle, culture. In other words, in conclusion, we attempt to portray what culture will be.

5. Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology: Volume > 12 > Issue: 2
Weilin Fang

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Anoixism is a new contemporary philosophy which has spread from Asia to Europe in recent years. Anoixism lists openness as its first principle, accepting and acknowledging every doctrine and philosophy in the world. Phoenixist liberalism and Anoixist naturalism are two main parts of Phoenixist ethics. It starts from human nature and respects every individual's human rights through Phoenixist Constitutionalism. Phoenixist ethics insists on respecting freedom to the maximum degree through its principle of openness, supporting "ethics with the least amount of norms" and "government with the least amount of control (violence)," although it proposes a non-violent liberalism which places reservations on violence so as to respect the value of nature, life and humanity. With the Anoixist concept of being open to nature, life and humanity, Anoixism achieves Buddhist Non-being, Taoist Tao, Humanist liberty and any other possible ultimate value.

6. Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology: Volume > 12 > Issue: 2
Georg W. Oesterdiekhoff

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There has been a long history of discussion whether intellectual or socioeconomic factors caused the rise of constitutional state and democracy, replacing the previous authoritarian forms of government. Some authors emphasized the role developmental psychology could play in illuminating the intellectual causes to these political phenomena. According to Piagetian researches, modern humankind has run through a psychogenetic evolution during the past several centuries. This psychological transformation entails higher forms of socio-moral consciousness decisive to the loss of legitimacy of authoritarian forms and to the erection of more humane political forms such as constitutional state and democracy.

7. Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology: Volume > 12 > Issue: 2
Alexandru Petrescu

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In the following lines, we consider the current debate concerning the origin, the specificity and evolution of analytical philosophy. We will try to motivate the idea that the origins and evolution of analytical philosophy are not entirely due to the British philosophers; in fact, this problem cannot be properly explained in terms of a single tradition, which would come true by the removal of another one. Regarding the evolution of analytic philosophy, we identify aspects of the German tradition, the British tradition as well as some new elements generated by the interaction between positivism and American pragmatism.

8. Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology: Volume > 12 > Issue: 2
Mariana Momanu, Nicoleta Laura Popa

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Nationalism is inextricably connected with the modern history of nations and nationstates, and reflects the axiological sets derived from the aspirations of young nations. However, recent political, economic and social developments at the global level have determined the resurgence of nationalism, and signs of the pheno¬menon are also visible in Europe, although the old continent has enabled principles of cross-border solidarity and cohesion through transnational constructions such as the European Union. Europeanism, European identity and identification with Europe are still fragile, and rather indefinite, and at the same time challenged by new and powerful types of nationalism. The present work argues that national education emerged and developed as a natural response to the formation and affirmation of nationstates, whereas multicultural, respectively intercultural education may answer the needs of contemporary societies, which face pressure to balance complex national and transnational mutations. This paper's contribution is to focus on the European context, and it stresses the necessity of transnational agreement on terms and semantics connected with intercultural education, given its potential role in supporting equity, solidarity and social stability.

9. Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology: Volume > 12 > Issue: 2
Corneliu C. Simuţ

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This paper is an attempt to offer a concrete contribution to the study of indigenous African religions and in particular to the support of creating a set of traditions from whose perspective one could engage in the study of indigenous African religions as well as of African spirituality in general through the unifying theme of ecodomy. Defined in terms of a constructive process, ecodomy seeks to provide families and communities with a common element, that of ancestors, which is not only specific to African spirituality but also potentially capable of strengthening and improving the life of African people. Thus, this methodology based on working with ancestry as economy is applied to four distinct scholars and their specific approaches to indigenous African religions: John S. Mbiti, who believes that ancestors have mainly social, not religious roles; Issiaka P. Laleye, for whom ancestors make a connection between the social and religious aspects of life; Jacob K. Olupona, who restricts ancestors to religion, and Israel Kamudzandu, in whose philosophy ancestors can provide African societies with the possibility of moving beyond their indigenous religions into accepting other religious beliefs, such as those provided by Christianity.

10. Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology: Volume > 12 > Issue: 2
Cristian Iftode

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In order to grasp the true ethical meaning of Foucault's aesthetics of existence, I begin by explaining in what sense he was an anti-normativist, arguing that the most important thing about the "final" Foucault is his strong emphasis on the idea of human freedom. I go on with a brief discussion about Foucault's sources of inspiration and a criticism of Rorty's kindred plea for "aesthetic life". I strongly reject the interpretation of Foucault's aesthetics of existence in terms of narcissistic individualism, arguing, on the contrary, that it has a definite communitarian dimension. I also claim that it is rooted in the Socratic and Stoic understanding of "care of the self," at the same time allowing new challenging developments fitted for our "post-duty" historical age, by way of analogy with the process of artistic making. I conclude with some short answers to a few questions regarding the status of this aesthetics of living.

11. Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology: Volume > 12 > Issue: 2
Gulbakyt Shashayeva, Zhakhan Z. Moldabekov

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The paper inquiries into the changing patterns of national construction and the importance of hospitality and music in Kazakh culture. In particular, the argument presented here unveils the fundamental role of folk cultural practices and Kazakh nomad heritage in the making of the new nation after independence from the Soviet Union. The paper argues that aspects of the Kazakh hospitality and music tradition serve the purpose of postcolonial national construction. Scholars such as Benita Parry (1994), Partha Chatterjee (1986), or David Lloyd (1997) have argued that nationalism may be a strategy of emancipation from colonial rule. This paper takes this perspective.

12. Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology: Volume > 12 > Issue: 1
I-Chun Wang, Asun López-Varela

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13. Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology: Volume > 12 > Issue: 1
David Lea

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The events of 9/11 have underlined the relevance of the thought of Georgio Agamben in so far as he attempts to explain the genesis of an authoritarianism that increasingly implements extraordinary measures and enhanced surveillance. This can be understood in terms of the expansion of a biopolitical regime. Biometric analysis: finger printing, iris and retina scans etc., are to be understood in their relation to the individual as bare life, the individual stripped of his/her political legal identity and thus identified without reference to the latter. The camp, according to Agamben, is said to be the ultimate space, a lawless zone, wherequestions of legality and illegality become irrelevant. However, this paper argues that Agamben fails to underline the importance of the Cartesian legacy that initiated a form of conceptualization in which the ordering of reality replaced qualitative distinctions with mathematical quantification. Biometric analysis, which relies heavily on mathematized quantification of biological features, is integral to the biopolitical regime, as described by Michel Foucault and Agamben. This paper argues that a rejection of this Cartesian inheritance is necessary if we are to overcome insidious forms of control based on surveillance, biometric identification or even managerial oversight through supposedly quantifiable metrics of performance.

14. Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology: Volume > 12 > Issue: 1
Abobo Kumbalonah

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This essay situates the debate on the philosophy of indigenous thought systems within the context of postcolonial theory. I argue that postcolonialism is areinvention of preexisting indigenous philosophy. Beginning from the late 1960s into the early 1970s a seemingly new wave of thinking was theorized by scholars as postcolonialism. Today, its popularity is evident in the many academic fields that have adopted and adapted it as an instrument of scholarly inquiry. In this essay, I argue, using Akan proverbs, that postcolonialism is not a new philosophy.

15. Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology: Volume > 12 > Issue: 1
Antonia Peroikou

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In his 1987 novel Foe, J. M. Coetzee re-introduces the figure of Friday, a speechless cannibal, who is Robinson Crusoe’s slave and who allegedly had histongue severed by slave-traders. Evidently, Friday’s bestialization and his peculiar position within the narrative are inextricably linked to his status as a nonspeaking character. In contrast to Susan, Coetzee’s “failed narrator” (MacLeod, 2006: 6), Friday narrates nothing in the novel. Hence, his silence can be seen as a site of resistance to the oppressive power that tries to define him, marking the limit of a language and a literature that seek to place him within western logocentrism. Thus, the enigma of Friday and the enigma that is Friday, are the major axis around which the novel and all relationships within it unfold. Susan’s -and by extension, Coetzee’s own- inability to interpret Friday’s silence does not incapacitate the narrative but quite the contrary: it is only through her (and Coetzee’s) productive failure to determine, to identify and to define the figure of Friday that Coetzee is able to restore agency and meaningfulness to Friday’s silence, opening up its void to the possibility of a restitution (and a justice) to come.

16. Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology: Volume > 12 > Issue: 1
Temisanren Ebijuwa, Adeniyi Sulaiman Gbadegesin

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In recent times, African states have experienced multiple challenges. The most disturbing one is the inability to evolve a sustainable culture of dialogue that issuitable for the mitigation of ethnic conflicts in contemporary Africa. It is this failure that has generated many other problems in other spheres. These problems, inconcert, have made the socio-political space largely that of frustration, despair and disappointment. This accounts for the social design of unhealthy alliances and the basis for the affirmation of parochial primordial frivolities at the detriment of a trans-national identity. But why have the affirmation of these primordial alliancesand its attendant conflicts remain daunting, intricate and resilient, in spite of the several attempts by scholars to mitigate it? This paper argues that extant discourse of the above concern fails because it ignores the value of the conditions for the practical realisation of agreement in situations of conflict. The attempt here is to explore indigenous mediation strategies especially from the traditional Igbo speaking people in South-Eastern Nigeria in arriving at trans-national identity in Africa, which will be inclusive other than the divisive structure that has exclusive character in extant discourse. This paper, therefore, will employ the analytic-descriptive method to interrogate the above in a manner many scholars are wont to ignore. Hence, it is expected that this paper will initiate a perspective that will challenge extant interpretation of the conditions of dialogue and consequently human solidarity in African States.

17. Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology: Volume > 12 > Issue: 1
Shiuhhuah Serena Chou

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This essay examines the persistent engagement with cosmopolitan inclusivity through the endorsement of indigenous sacredness in works of ethnographicfiction. I focus on Ursula K. Le Guin’s Always Coming Home, James Cameron’s Avatar, and Taiwanese writer Ming-yi Wu’s science fiction The Man with the Compound Eyes, three iconic environmental representations of indigenous knowledge. These texts illustrate how indigenous thinking has very often been transformed from place-bound, locally-embedded cultural traditions to an embodiment of Euro-American eco-spirituality that overturns both national boundaries and the humannature divide at the turn of the twenty-first century. In settler environmental narratives, the insistence on the ethnographic mode strengthens the desire for authenticity and intimacy.

18. Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology: Volume > 12 > Issue: 1
Stephen Joyce

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Although most colonisations have been invasions of territory by neighbouring peoples with similar appearances, languages, and customs, postcolonial theoryis dominated by cases of inter-civilizational imperialism between the West and the non-West. This article argues that a new theoretical framework is needed to describe intra-civilizational colonial encounters because the psychological conflicts of the intra-civilizational colonial sphere and their political ramifications function differently to those described in postcolonial theory. Drawing on Nobel Prize nominee Richard E. Kim’s memoir of growing up in Korea during the Japanese Occupation, this article explicates the primary differences between the two forms of colonialism with reference to Homi Bhabha’s theories of hybridity and mimicry. It argues that without a visible racial difference between coloniser and colonised, hybridity and mimicry are imperial strategies of assimilation rather than native strategies of resistance and that the growth of cultural nationalism is a logical response.

19. Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology: Volume > 12 > Issue: 1
Oxana Karnaukhova

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In this paper, I focus on the idea of identity hybridization, assuming that multicultural models, relevant for each type of state, depend on complex historical,socio-cultural, and political contexts. This hypothesis directs my inquiry into Russia’s colonial and postcolonial past, contemplated in relation to European development as well as with similar situations in other parts of the globe. My review of intellectual discussions on the topic and of Russian Orientology in particular show that the complexity of Russian national identity can be traced back to contradictions within the process of European intellectual colonization, as well as to Russia’s realization of the Orthodox civilizing mission in its own empire. I propose the expression “secondary orientalism” to refer to the Russian situation.

20. Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology: Volume > 12 > Issue: 1
Michaela Keck

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This article investigates Madison Smartt Bell’s Haitian trilogy as a neocaptivity narrative that combines in new ways the conventions of the slave (captivity)narrative and the Barbary captivity narrative. Furthermore, it examines the culture-crossing of the character of Doctor Hébert in the course of the successful slaveuprising of Saint Domingue (1791-1804). Captivity, I argue, constitutes the central theme and structuring device and also triggers Hébert’s culture-crossing in a reversed Hegelian master-slave dialectic that needs to be read together with Riau’s enslavement. Lacking the social recognition of a free subject, Riau attains his independent self-consciousness through physical resistance and Saint-Domingue’s distinct black culture. Whereas Hébert learns to actively resist slavery as he crosses over into the Haitian society. In their struggles, both undergo the three phases (preliminal, liminal, post-liminal) of rites of passage.