Bulletin of Intercultural Philosophy (ISSN: 2759-3215)

Preliminary Words to the First Issue

Fernando Wirtz — 2025-11-30

The term “intercultural philosophy” may sound anachronistic, belonging to the debates on political multi- and interculturalism that took place in the second half of the twentieth century rather than to our current situation, be that what it may. Quite probably, impression is at least partly accurate. The term became popular within a certain German-speaking context, with philosophers such as Franz Martin Wimmer, Ram Adhar Mall, and the students of Heinrich Rombach. It also resonated in Latin America through Raúl Betancourt, who was likewise trained in Germany. This expansion, moreover, often took place under the auspices of Catholic organizations such as Missio and Icala.

Although this particular genealogy cannot be ignored, our journal does not seek to align itself with a single tradition. Rather, our aim is to critically —we might even say strategically— re-appropriate the term “intercultural philosophy” to provide a space that remains underdeveloped and largely unavailable within academia. Despite the growing international interest in non-European philosophies, “culturalized” (or “exoticized”) philosophies continue to be marginalized by predominant academic currents: proof of this is that, while specialists in, say, Ōmori Shōzō or Gamaliel Churata are taken to be doing, respectively, Japanese philosophy and Latin American Philosophy, those working in the more established academic traditions are taken to be doing philosophy tout court.

In this sense, our goal is not merely to offer a “space for dialogue.” While dialogue is indeed a fundamental element of intercultural philosophy, it would be a mistake to reduce the purpose of intercultural philosophy to a kind of diplomatic function connecting different “philosophies.” On the contrary, what interests us is to recover the critical and creative potential of the world’s “culturalized” philosophies, to rediscover their capacity to make us doubt our entrenched assumptions, challenge the methodologies we take for granted, and force us to become conscious that, no matter what we do or what we aim at, we all engage in philosophical practices while standing somewhere. Hence, our desire that intercultural philosophy be engaged in as a “bottom-up” practice, that is, not as starting from a given cultural whole, but from local ways of thinking.

We expect to publish a small number of peer-reviewed articles annually, along with essays, interviews, and book reviews that seek to engage with the current situation of post-Eurocentric philosophies.

Population ≠ Populism = Populism

Dennis Stromback — 2025-09-10

This article examines the concept of populism by reevaluating its historical and theoretical dimensions, particularly through the lens of the neglected periphery. Drawing on the philosophies of Miki Kiyoshi, Tosaka Jun, and Enrique Dussel, the study critiques the conventional portrayal of populism as a regressive force, exploring its potential to serve as a transformative tool for marginalized communities. By integrating the Kyoto School’s dialectical logic with Dussel’s concept of el pueblo, the article develops a framework for asserting populist movements while resisting reification and hegemonic tendencies. It emphasizes the importance of myths as tools for fostering collective resistance and transformative praxis, advocating for a continuous process of self-negation to ensure inclusivity and prevent ideological capture. Through this cross-cultural philosophical synthesis, the article proposes a re-paradigm of populism that aligns with democratic empowerment and the decentralization of political power, creating a more equitable and pluralistic socio-political order.

Cultural Flesh and Intercultural Phenomenology: Theory and Practice

Kwok-ying LAU — 2025-09-14

In this essay, the present author will explain in what sense and in what way his apprenticeship and practice of philosophy in Hong Kong since the very beginning is an intercultural affair: serious philosophical practice is necessarily a matter of intercultural understanding. Not satisfied with Derrida’s mere deconstruction of the Eurocentric pretention of Husserl’s Idea of philosophy as “pure theoria”, the present author tries to make sense of the intercultural nature of contemporary philosophical practice by the concept of “interworld” (“inter-monde”) suggested by Merleau-Ponty. The paper will also explain the necessity of intercultural understanding in the establishment of philosophical truth. It will go on to explain the relevance of Merleau-Ponty’s concept of flesh (la chair, 肌膚存在 ) as well as the concept of cultural flesh, proposed by the present author, in providing the ontological basis of the inter-world and inter-cultural understanding. The final part of the paper will highlight some of the results of the author’s twenty years of research in intercultural understanding in philosophy from the phenomenological approach recorded in his book Phenomenology and Intercultural Understanding. Toward a New Cultural Flesh (2016).

Interculturality and the African Philosophical Heritage

Ikechukwu Anthony KANU — 2025-09-14

Intercultural philosophy allows for a broad and pluralistic mindset and a philosophical culture that emphasizes the significance of the attitude that no one culture can claim an absolute priority or status as the culture of the whole of humanity. This development has opened a new page in the historical evolution of philosophy. It is within the context of this sacred space of interculturality that this paper studies intercultural philosophy, not from a general perspective, but from an African lens. While there are several works on intercultural philosophy, this paper focuses on the African contribution and perspective. A study of the perspectives of major African thinkers was undertaken, and flowing from these perspectives is the underlying spirit of the African philosophical heritage, which centers around the complementarity of reality. This rich African philosophical tradition is manifest in the metaphysical, cosmological, ontological, and anthropological foundations for the development of a unique African philosophy of interculturality. This study adopted the Igwebuike theoretical framework for the interpretation and understanding of the peculiar African perspective and contribution. The hermeneutic, analytical, and critical methods of inquiry were adopted. The paper argues that the spirit of complementarity, at the heart of African philosophy, is a basic contribution of the African philosophical heritage to the ongoing conversation on intercultural philosophy.