Understanding Cultural Diversity and Knowledge
Types of Cultures
Real culture encompasses all that members of a particular society think and do during their lives. Ideal culture is considered a model that society may or may not attain, and it’s reflected in their behaviors and attitudes.
The first view, looking at a culture from within, is called the emic perspective, where the anthropologist tries to adopt the perspective of a participant in that culture. The second point of view involves stepping back and analyzing the cultural group from the outside; this is called the etic perspective.
Culture, Subculture, and Counterculture
A subculture is formed when a social group possesses and transmits a series of cultural patterns that differ from those of the dominant culture. A counterculture is a subculture whose ways of feeling or acting deliberately challenge or oppose the dominant culture.
Relationship to the Individual
Two opposing positions are possible:
- The first asserts the priority of culture, stating that everything is already given by the culture, and the individual is merely a result of it.
- The second gives priority to the individual, who can change the culture and keep it alive.
Both are false. A third position is that culture conditions us so that we can act and live.
Plurality of Culture
The world is presented as something hopelessly plural. Plurality is the fundamental characteristic of our society; to live is not only a plurality.
Positions on Cultural Diversity
There are three fundamental attitudes:
- Ethnocentric attitudes: Judging other cultures based on one’s own, it is an assimilationist attitude: the other must adapt to my culture to live with me. This can lead to xenophobia and racism.
- Attitude of cultural relativism: Cultures cannot be judged from the outside; each culture implies a way of understanding the world. While seemingly respectful, this attitude does not prevent racism or xenophobia because, although it does not seek to assimilate another culture, it prefers to avoid any contact.
- Attitude of cultural hospitality: Considers respect for other cultures necessary but does not exclude dialogue. It recognizes that cultures are diverse ways of expressing humanity. To navigate this plurality, it is necessary to bring into play the contents of our traditions, seek common ground, and allow ourselves to be challenged by the discoveries of others.
Dialogue is crucial and involves:
- An awareness of our own tradition.
- A process of distancing from cultural heritages.
- A rediscovery of one’s tradition through the eyes of another culture.
- An encounter in depth to discover a common humanity.
Knowledge: Why and How
There are two dimensions: what we know (the object of knowledge) and the ability to know (the subject who knows).
Disciplines that Study How We Know
- Neurobiology: Studies brain functioning, the organ of knowledge par excellence.
- Psychology: Studies cognitive processes and their relation to the psyche.
- Philosophy: Asks what knowledge is. Within philosophy:
- Epistemology: Questions the validity and possibility of knowledge.
- Metaphysics: Questions the reality we know, the meaning, scope, and ultimate limits of knowledge.
Knowledge as the Philosophy of Knowledge
Philosophy studies human knowledge, and the act of reflection is the possibility of thinking while I am thinking. Throughout history, numerous theories have been proposed to explain this phenomenon. Philosophy poses the most radical questions about human existence.