Eco-Phenomenology of the Human Environment: The Case of Intercultural Dialogue

Abstract

The historical moment in which we live creates an opening onto cultures and religions different from our own, and it does so not only for reasons of knowledge and spontaneous curiosity but also to establish comparisons and to strengthen connections, all in the hope of realizing the unity of humanity that goes beyond difference. Following this direction of inquiry, which makes possible an encounter and, therefore, a dialogue, both the theoretical and practical can be correlated.

Phenomenological inquiry is very “versatile,” and it is successful at finding an originary common ground, which is useful for interpretation, especially in terms of analyzing the essence of what we call “lived experiences.” By probing the cognitive-expressive structure of human beings, it becomes possible to understand the sense of cultural formations and visions of the world that characterize diverse peoples.

I find phenomenological archaeology the most adept instrument for probing the inside of cultures and religions. In this regard, I would like to demonstrate how phenomenological inquiry can investigate connections and differences among cultural and religious expressions as well as how this investigation can be useful for concrete and lived human encounters from an ethical perspective. My research is in the line traced by Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka when she inaugurated the book series “Islamic Philosophy and Occidental Phenomenology in Dialogue.”

Invisible Harmony is better than Visible Harmony

(Heraclitus, fragment 14)

Translated by Antonio Calcagno