Asian-Arab Philosophical Dialogues on War and Peace
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UNESCO Bangkok Regional Unit for Social and Human Sciences in Asia and the Pacific Asian-Arab Philosophical Dialogues on War and Peace War Dialogues Philosophical on Asian-Arab UNESCO Bangkok Regional Unit for Social and Human Science in Asia and the Pacific Asian-Arab Philosophical Dialogues on War and Peace Asian-Arab Philosophical Dialogues on War and Peace Editors: Darryl R.J. Macer and Souria Saad-Zoy Published by UNESCO Bangkok Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education Mom Luang Pin Malakul Centenary Building 920 Sukhumvit Road, Prakanong, Klongtoey Bangkok 10110, Thailand © UNESCO 2010 All rights reserved ISBN 978-92-9223-315-0 (Print Version) ISBN 978-92-9223-316-7 (Electronic version) The designations employed and the presentation of material throughout this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNESCO concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The authors are responsible for the choice and the presentation of the facts contained in this book and for the opinions expressed therein, which are not necessarily those of UNESCO and do not commit the Organization. Edited by Darryl R.J. Macer Design/Layout by Alessandra Blasi (cover) and Darryl R.J. Macer, Raine Boonlong and Sirasak Chaiyasook Cover photo by © UNESCO/S. Chaiyasook Printed by UNESCO Bangkok Printed in Thailand SHS/10/OS/022-1000 CONTENTS Preface .........................................................................................................................................................v Towards a Trans-cultural Ethics of Human Rights ........................................................................1 In-Suk Cha, Republic of Korea The Present Challenges of Cultural Diversity ...............................................................................4 Souria Saad-Zoy, UNESCO Rabat, Morocco The Idea of “Glocal” Public Philosophy and Situating Cosmopolitanism ............................8 Naoshi Yamawaki, Japan Tolerance: The Indian Perspective .................................................................................................. 13 Daniel Nesy, India Considerations about Foundation of Wisdom for Peace ...................................................... 17 Abdessamad Tamouro, Morocco Education in Philosophy and its Role in Reducing Disputes and Violence ..................... 21 Khom Sakhan, Cambodia The Use of Non-Violence in War and Peace ............................................................................... 26 Sivanamdam Panneerselvam, India Violence and Dialogue: An Epistemic Analysis .......................................................................... 31 Luca Maria Scarantino, FISPH Strengthening People’s Voices in Peace Building in Conflict and Post-Conflict Context Offers the Best Menu for any Lasting Peace Deal ..................................................................... 36 Richard Kibirige, Uganda iii Understanding the Impulse to War in Terms of Community Consciousness and Culturally Specific Religious Values................................................................................................ 40 John Mensing, Sri Lanka Islamic Organization in Thailand: A Dialogue for Human Security and Peace ............... 41 Plubplung Kongchana, Thailand The Roles of Philosophy in War and Peace .................................................................................. 51 and Peace War Dialogues on Philosophical Asia-Arab Chanroeun Pa, Cambodia Finding a Basis for a Just and Cooperative World Order ........................................................ 53 Surjeet Kaur Chahal, India The Implications of the Structure of the Human Brain on War and Peace ...................... 56 Rainier A. Ibana, The Philippines Perpetual War: Is Peace Possible? ................................................................................................... 60 Ayoub Abu Dayyeh, Jordan The Philosophy of War: Towards ‘Peoples War’ and Counter–insurgency ........................ 64 Jonathan Krougl, United Kingdom Japanese Student Soldiers on War and Peace ........................................................................... 76 Akira Tachikawa, Japan Japan’s Kamikaze Pilots and Contemporary Suicide Bombers: War and Terror ............. 82 Yuki Tanaka, Japan CONTENTS The Philosophy of War in Islam ....................................................................................................... 86 Makram Abbes, Tunisia The Invasion of Kuwait: Reasons, Agents and Chances for Peace ...................................... 89 Lana Issa, Iraq The Iraq War as Seen from Hiroshima: DU (Depleted Uranium) Weapons as the Nuclear Shadow ................................................................................................................................................................ 97 Nobuo Kazashi, Japan Guidelines for Philosophical Understanding in Different Cultural Traditions .............103 Sivandam Panneerselvam, India Inter-regional Philosophical Dialogues Critical for Our Future ..........................................114 Darryl Macer, UNESCO Bangkok About the Contributors ....................................................................................................................120 iv Asia-Arab Philosophical Dialogues on War and Peace War Dialogues on Philosophical Asia-Arab PREFACE Dialogue is essential for developing a better understanding of not only others, but even ourselves. Dialogue is an exchange between different people, communities, and entities. The papers in this volume are written by individuals expressing their own opinions at conferences convened in the context of dialogues between philosophers in the Asia-Pacific and Arab regions. Their publication is aimed to broaden intercultural communication, to strengthen the role of philosophy in public policy, and to promote the teaching of non-Western philosophies around the world. These dialogues have been held over the past five years in Seoul, Rabat, Hiroshima, Paris, and Bangkok. These dialogues occurred in the United Nations Decade of the Culture of Peace with the coordination of the Regional Unit for Social and Human Sciences in Asia and the Pacific (RUSHSAP) at UNESCO Bangkok, UNESCO Rabat, and UNESCO Paris, and the efforts of academics throughout the world. The Interregional Philosophical Dialogue project was born from a resurgence of interest in and a strengthening of philosophy within UNESCO, supported by member countries. As people in many countries of the world express dismay at the directions that society is pursuing, some are reminded of the former important roles of philosophers as navigators of the courses that societies should take. There have been five working groups established in the Asia-Arab Interregional Philosophical Dialogues including: 1. Challenges of globalization to philosophy and democracy; 2. Philosophy facing the challenges of modern technology; 3. The roles of philosophy in war and peace; 4. Human dignity and philosophy; 5. Philosophy and environmental ethics. In this volume we especially thank Dr. Nassrine Azimi and colleagues at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), Hiroshima, and Dr. Glen Kurokawa, for convening a joint UNESCO- UNITAR Dialogue in July 2008, where some of these papers were presented. We appreciate the encouragement of many philosophers, especially Professors Ali Benmakhlouf and Insuk Cha, and Mrs. Moufida Goucha and Dr. Pierre Sane of UNESCO Paris. We also appreciate the assistance of Ms. Raine Boonlong, Mr. Jonathan Kougl, Ms. Nydja Mercer-Bey and Dieter Schlenker in the preparation of the edited volume. Darryl Macer Souria Saad-Zoy UNESCO Bangkok UNESCO Rabat Towards a Trans-cultural Ethics of Human Rights In-Suk Cha, Republic of Korea When the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was first drafted, many nations in both the Asian and African regions were not represented and a suspicion of Euro-centrism surrounding the concept of human rights aroused on the part of non-Westerners. Now, however, after sixty years of its inception, the civil, political, economic and social rights stipulated in the Declaration are believed to be acknowledged by the greatest part of the entire international community. The ever-widening diffusion of the concept of human rights today is the result of a long, tenuous, historical process of humanity’s struggle to free itself from the conditions that threaten to degrade individual dignity and significance. Certainly, the idea of human rights is neither universally accepted nor even always recognized in those areas of the world where philosophers and thinkers first articulated and fostered democratic ideals such as social justice and individual rights. Nevertheless, over centuries of dissemination processes and deliberations, the concept of human rights has come to include the whole of humanity. Moreover, nearly all lifeworlds brim with potential value schemata by which to render practices insuring human dignity and social justice to all individual human beings. These concepts are capable of reaching so many because the abuse of them resonates in all of our histories, all of our pasts. When ideas, articulated in the idiom of a culture outside our own, are transferred to our own world, we may first view them as different and analyze them as alien. However, we come to recognize them as our own if, and only if, they connect in some way with the deep structures