Cover of Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology
>> Go to Current Issue

Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology

Volume 14, Issue 2, 2017
Cross-Cultural Semiotic Dialogue Between East and West

Table of Contents

Already a subscriber? - Login here
Not yet a subscriber? - Subscribe here

Browse by:



Displaying: 1-9 of 9 documents


1. Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology: Volume > 14 > Issue: 2
N.N. Trakakis

abstract | view |  rights & permissions | cited by
Taking as its starting-point Eva Illouz's sociological study Why Love Hurts (2012), this paper develops a philosophical framework for understanding love and marriage, particularly in their contemporary manifestations. To begin with, premodern practices in love and marriage during the ancient Greek and Byzantine eras are outlined and contrasted with modern forms of love, whose overriding features are (according to Illouz) suffering and disappointment. To cast some light upon this great transformation in the fortunes of love the discussion takes an axiological and metaphysical turn by placing the transformation within the context of the kind of relational morality and metaphysics proposed by many idealist philosophers.

2. Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology: Volume > 14 > Issue: 2
Hamid Andishan

abstract | view |  rights & permissions | cited by
Can all values be reduced to one or a few fundamental ones? Two values may neither exceed the other in importance nor be equal. In such situation, they cannot be reduced to each other or to a third value, and we can call such values as ”incommensurable”. Drawing on the concept of incommensurable values and what recently is called ”global ethics”, I will argue that if two values from two different cultures conflict, one must pay enough attention to the idea of ”incommensurability of values” in order to avoid a bias judgment of either. I will show how this is the case in the conflict between the Islamic ethics and the secular ethics, examining a specific case: Islamic prohibition on images of Mohammed and the liberalist reverence for freedom of speech.

3. Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology: Volume > 14 > Issue: 2
Motsamai Molefe

abstract | view |  rights & permissions | cited by
This article repudiates the dichotomy that African ethics is communitarian (relational) and Western ethics is individualistic. „Communitarianism‟ is the view that morality is ultimately grounded on some relational properties like love or friendship; and, „individualism‟ is the view that morality is ultimately a function of some individual property like a soul or welfare. Generally, this article departs from the intuition that all morality including African ethics, philosophically interpreted, is best understood in terms of individualism. But, in this article, I limit myself to the literature in the African moral tradition; and, I argue that it is best construed in terms of individualism contrary to the popular stance of communitarianism. I defend my view by invoking two sorts of evidences. (1) I invoke prima facie evidence, which shows how both secular and religious moral thinkers in the tradition tend to understand it in individualistic terms. And, (2) I invoke concrete evidence, I show that the two terms that can be said to be definitive features of African ethical framework, namely: personhood and dignity, are individualistic. I conclude by considering possible objections against my defense of individualism as a central feature of African ethics.

4. Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology: Volume > 14 > Issue: 2
Bina Nir

abstract | view |  rights & permissions | cited by
Judeo-Christian Western culture recognizes a legislating, judging and punishing God. The view that a judge separate from man indeed exists, constitutes, among other things, cultural motivation for the pursuit of success, on the one hand, and fear of failure, guilt, on the other. The human-being fears the consequences of judgement, especially those entailing punishment, and attempts with all his might to succeed in the eyes of the judge. This study‟s underlying assumption is that judge-ment constitutes a deep structure in Western culture and that its religious origins are in the culture‟s Jewish and Christian sources. Although religious judgement under-goes processes of secularization throughout the culture‟s history, it remains a deep cultural construct; while worldviews are deeply embedded in the religious expe-rience, as Jung (1987) contends, they have a latent capacity for preservation in the secular experience. A genealogical methodology will be applied to examine the con-cept of judgement. While genealogy deals with the past, its aim is to understand and critique the present reality. The genealogy will scrutinize the Jewish judgement (as portrayed in the biblical doctrine of rewards), the Catholic judgement and the Calvinist judgement, while calling attention to their similarities and differences.

5. Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology: Volume > 14 > Issue: 2
Mónica Gómez Salazar

abstract | view |  rights & permissions | cited by
Based on onto–epistemological pluralism and social practices this work maintains that the proclamation of cultural neutrality originating in the idea of equality without any distinction of color, sex, language, religion or political opinion, really favors white racism and cultural imperialism of the liberal way of life.This article argues that the process of reasoning which justifies human rights is distorted by particular interests, such as the colonization of American territory in the case of the Declaration of the Good People of Virginia in 1776. As no–one questioned the reasons upon which the false belief that some human beings were classified as inferior or superior according to their physical features, it was reiterated as if it were a truth and, consequently acted upon, thereby fixing this belief in stereotypes. In this article I argue that the present Declaration of Human Rights is the result of continuing inherited presuppositions from the 18th Century. These have not been questioned and have constituted the world in which we live as a racist world in which the liberal tradition has consolidated its political power.

6. Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology: Volume > 14 > Issue: 2
Inna Valerievna Miroshnichenko, Elena Vasilievna Morozova

abstract | view |  rights & permissions | cited by
The authors prove and describe the action of new networking mechanisms of formation of identities which arise in the context of societal transformations of the modern society. The networking mechanisms of identity formation represent a complex of interrelated and interdependent practices in global information and communication space, promoting individual and collective identification, interiorization and reflection. The complex includes the mechanism of network communication, mechanism of reflexive involvement of a person into the public space, mechanism of network topos-structuring and mechanism of public crowdsourcing. The results of the empirical research show that the functionality of the mechanism of network communication for reproducing/positioning traditional identities and projecting new identities resides in its digital nature (readiness and openness for changes) and a network ethos (orientation to the integration into the community of different value orientations and statuses of actors and provision of cooperation between them on the basis of the development of the uniform complex of values and standards). The mechanism of reflexive involvement of individuals into the public space enables individual and collective actors to project the independent social worlds requiring the creation of their own virtualized public spaces that are closely linked with the common social space. The mechanism of network toposstructuring and mechanism of public crowdsourcing, forming situation and problem identities, have the high mobilization potential to update the activity of network communities in the form of individuals’ initiatives and large-scale civil movements where new sustained identities form which can also gain the protest nature. The authors come to conclusion that the complex of network mechanisms produces the dynamic matrix of the identity of a modern person allowing to take the opportunities for its development in the contemporary conditions of new social reality formation. At the same time, the complex of networking mechanisms is not stable; its content depends on those institutional practices which determine further conditions, processes and results of formation of identities, requiring their conceptual understanding and empirical research in social sciences.

7. Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology: Volume > 14 > Issue: 2
Corneliu C. Simuţ

abstract | view |  rights & permissions | cited by
This paper investigates the possibility of identifying various ecodomical or constructive possibilities which have the potential to ideologically transform the world at a global scale in the sense that they can promote a set of ideas with positive connotations in dealing with the extremely complex issue of religion. Whether religion is good or bad, positive or negative has nothing to do with this article’s basic methodology which seeks to isolate various theoretical attempts aimed at approaching the issue of religion through a common denominator. For this paper, this common denominator is the human being and, by association, the notion of goodness which will be used in order to demonstrate that, concerning religion, it can provide not only a theoretical framework for positive discussions about religion but also an ecodomic possibility whereby humanity can transform the world into a safer environment for persons of all races and convictions. Four such ecodomical attempts to use the notion of goodness will be analyzed in connection with the reality of religion: John Shelby Spong who promotes goodness in order to free society of religion so for him religion is useless, Ion Bria for whom goodness cannot be detached from religion so religion is vital, Vito Macuso whose conviction is that goodness exists with or without religion so religion is neutral, and Desmond Tutu who believes that goodness can turn religion, any religion for that matter, in a positive reality, so in his understanding religion is positive.

8. Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology: Volume > 14 > Issue: 2
Weilin Fang

abstract | view |  rights & permissions | cited by
This article focuses on the study of the emotional discourses contained in the Chu bamboo slips dating back to the Chu kingdom of the Warring States period, and announces a newly discovered tradition of Emotionalism in ancient China. In addition to the two main traditions of Confucianism and Taoism, there is a third tradition of Emotionalism that has hitherto not attracted adequate attention and has not been sufficiently studied. I propose that rather than perceiving traditional Chinese culture through the binary looking glass of the dichotomous concept of “Complementation of Confucianism and Taoism,” Chinese culture may be represented more accurately if viewed in the light of a “Threefold Coexistence of Confucianism–Legalism, Taoism–Buddhism and Civil Emotionalism,” along with other lesser-known schools of thought. The uncovering of the hidden tradition of Emotionalism will reveal new perspectives on the modern transformation of traditional Chinese culture. This third tradition represents a conviction of civil liberalism that is of great importance to the transformation of ancient Chinese tradition into a modern constitutional culture.

9. Cultura International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology: Volume > 14 > Issue: 2
Perihan Elif Ekmekci, Berna Arda

abstract | view |  rights & permissions | cited by
Interventions in medicine require multicenter clinical trialson a large rather than limited number of subjects from various genetic and cultural backgrounds. International guidelines to protect the rights and well-being of human subjects involved in clinical trialsarecriticizedforthe priority they place on Western cultural values. These discussions become manifest especially with regard to the content and methodology of the informed consent procedure. The ethical dilemma emerges from the argument that there are fundamental differences about the concept of respect for the autonomy of individuals in different cultures and religions. Some communities prioritize the consent of community leaders or the head of family –usually men – over the voluntary and free consent of the individual. The aim of this work is to discuss this ethical dilemma to determine a base for a consensus that satisfies the sensibilities of different cultures without damaging the rights and autonomy of human subjects.