Reporter w wielokulturowym świecie: między relatywizmem, prowincjonalizmem i krytycyzmem (The Reporter in a Multicultural World: Between Relativism, Provincialism, and Criticism). In: A. Głąb, Filozofia i literatura, Warszawa: Semper 2011, 317-327.

Abstract

The chapter examines the intellectual challenge posed by cultural relativism in a multicultural world, using the figure of the reporter—exemplified by the literary work of Ryszard Kapuściński—as a philosophical lens. It reconstructs cognitive and ethical relativism as reactions to cultural diversity and argues that their appeal rests on two illusions: the view of cultures as closed and static systems, and the belief that provincialism is the only alternative to relativism. Against both relativism and provincialism, the chapter defends a critical stance according to which the idea of objective correctness retains a regulative function without being identified with the standards of any particular culture. Drawing on Kapuściński’s reportage and on Herodotus as an early model of intercultural inquiry, the author shows that encounters with other cultures enable self-knowledge, learning, and internal critique. Multicultural dialogue is thus presented not as a confrontation of incommensurable perspectives, but as an interaction between open traditions capable of mutual transformation.