‘The Truth Looks Different from Here...’1

Abstract

Young people today grow up in a world of radical pluralism and consumer omnipotence, for theirs is ‘the age of over-exposure to otherness’.2 Esoteric as postmodern philosophy is, something of its ‘incredulity towards metanarratives’3 has filtered into popular consciousness with the sense of suspicion towards those who profess bold truth claims about their beliefs. Along with a new postcolonial consciousness, we have become more aware of the ethical challenge of ‘the other’. However, recent world events have also complicated our consciousness with the spectre of growing terrorism and fundamentalism. Who wields the totalising metanarrative? Who is the other? To whom should we extend tolerance? Is tolerance always a virtue? Should it be nurtured? What are its limits? What part should education play?