ABSTRACT
Cultural diversity is increasingly becoming an inevitable
feature of most modern states. This is because trade, tourism,
international dialogue amongst scholars, scientists and artists and the
movement of skilled labour as well as migration have ensured that few
countries do not contain within them significant numbers of peoples from
other cultures. A likely consequence of this diversity is clash of
cultural interests, especially between minority and majority cultural
groups, in response to which proponents of multiculturalism argue for
minority rights and recognition for cultural minorities. But
multiculturalism tends to over emphasize the “cultural self” at the
expense of the “cultural other” culminating in cultural separatism. This
thesis takes up, however, the argument that a healthy perception and
understanding of ‘the other’ in our relationship with fellow human b
eings is more fundamental to tackling the challenges of cultural
diversity than multiculturalism. The aim of this work, therefore, is to
employ Merleau-Ponty’s reversibility thesis (in which one’s world opens
upon the other and vice-versa when people come in contact with one
another) as an alternative model with which to better understand the
ontological nature of the self’s relation to the other as the basis for
intercultural reversal of perspectives for social harmony.
Methodologically, the qualitative research design is used for this
study. Data for the study are collected from books, journals articles,
biographies, and interviews. Data from these sources are analyzed by the
use of historical-hermeneutics and philosophical exposition/analysis.
Historical-hermeneutics is employed to survey and understand previous
conceptions of alterity and the self’s relation to alterity in the
history of philosophy/thought. Philosophical exposition is used to
highlight the relational ontology of the self to alterity in
Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy of reversibility and also highlight the
increasing reality of cultural diversity and minority rights claims.
Philosophical/textual analysis is used to analyse Merlau-Ponty’s
ontology of alterity and reversibility in order to apply it to the
challenges of cultural diversity and multiculturalism, with social
development in view.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.2 Background to the Study
In our experiences, others seem so close; yet in our thinking, they remain remote...
-William Ralph Shroeder1
The experience of others becomes an issue of concern and interest
for basically two reasons- cultural and intellectual. From the cultural
perspective (which is of primary concern in this work), we are
confronted with some facts. Personal relationships are troubled:
divorces are increasing; families are breaking apart; cultural groups
clash over conflicting interests and friendships exit under great
strains. We oscillate between a desperate effort to commit ourselves
completely and an insistence on remaining islands unto ourselves. Even
for those who try hardest and care, most interpersonal relationships
seem only to touch the surface; at best, they leave one unharmed; more
often, they deliberate and disorient.2
Although interpersonal life promises a full-course meal, for many, it provides only a series of appetizers.
A related fact is the lowered expectations people have for relationships as a result of
which
Careers take precedence; relationships are sacrificed. Injunctions
to be individual, authentic and concerned only about oneself are hawked
from street corners by self-help proselytizers. One becomes convinced
that one must continually oppose others if one is to remain oneself. One
trusts very few; from the rest, one hopes for indifference rather than
resistance. As our hopes diminish, our efforts to create radiant
relationships are abandoned, and a cycle of entropy ensues.3
Intellectual issues are the second motivation, the question of which
lie at the foundation of social sciences and ethics. One’s conception of
the nature of others determines what can be observed and known about
them and what procedures of inquiry can be most productive. One’s
position on the nature of interpersonal relations determines what social
entities should be investigated. In addition, the importance people
give to ethics and politics depends on the adequacy with which they
grasp the reality of others and the clarity with which they understand
their relationship with others. If one does not or cannot experience the
presence and personhood of others, then ethical and political thought
becomes merely academic. Therefore, if ethics is to discover realizable
ideals and to seriously address the contemporary interpersonal
situations, an incisive phenomenology of interpersonal experience will
be indispensible....