Some reflections on existence and imagination in relation to interreligious dialogue and intercultural philosophy of religion

摘要

This article discusses notions of philosophical grammar, existence, imagination and reason in light of religious plurality in modernity and intercultural philosophy of religion. More specifically the first part of the article presents a model that aims to combine a central modern human experience - that there is a plurality of religious and non-religious ‘non-reducible’ ontologies and existential interpretations of them - with an awareness of the possibility of non-reductionist dialogical existential inter-subjectivity, specifically in relation to ontology, philosophy and religion. The second part of the article discusses briefly the definition of modernity as a global condition, and argues that the plurality of worldviews and a Kantian inspired focus on the individual's courage to use his or her own reason should be seen as central aspects of worldviews in modernity, but without the need necessarily to follow Kant's ‘universalistic’ approach to individuality. The third part of the article presents some views on ‘existence’ and ‘essence’ and how these notions are related in various ways to notions of imagination in some parts of the Muslim philosophical tradition. The fourth part of the article returns to the issue of how to conceive of what it means to be individual and the relation between the individual, communal reality and ontology.View full textDownload full textKeywordsIntercultural philosophy, philosophy of religion, Islamic Philosophy, speculative grammar, ontology, existence, imagination, reason, dialogue, sociology of religion, Ibn ArabiRelated var addthis_config = { ui_cobrand: "Taylor & Francis Online", services_compact: "citeulike,netvibes,twitter,technorati,delicious,linkedin,facebook,stumbleupon,digg,google,more", pubid: "ra-4dff56cd6bb1830b" }; Add to shortlist Link Permalink http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09596410.2012.681872