Ram Adhar Mall’ s "Cognitive Modesty"
For the first time "Vox Journal " presents to its readers intercultural philosophy which got institutionalization in 80-90 of the passed century. Taking into account the thematic of the Journal this article is focused on the central for intercultural philosophy principle of "cognitive modesty." This orientation within the practice of philosophizing waives of the universalization or claim on the superiority of one's own position. R.A. Mall aims to create "analogous hermeneutics" based on understanding that the differences that exist between the philosophies are particular cases of one inherently phenomenon. His conviction is that the two fictions of total translatability and commensurability on one side and of radical untranslatability and in-commensurability among cultures on the other must be given up in favor of a metonymic thesis of dynamically overlapping structures. Since no culture is a windowless monad, all cultures possess points of intercultural overlap occurring in varying degrees. Total identity is the dead end of philosophy and total difference lacks even the very minimum of agreement among ways of doing philosophy. The article points out to two main sources that influenced the creation of an "analogous hermeneutics". The first is Jain epistemology - anekantavada. Influence of Jainism on formation of the method for intercultural philosophizing, as a whole, and on the views of Mall, in particular, is widely accepted. Yet, it remains unnoticed no less important factor that allows claiming that Mall is a kind of "product" of intercultural interaction. This assertion is lawful considering his biography. Hailing from India, Mall received high education in Germany, where he taught at the universities of Göttingen, Cologne, Wuppertal, Bremen, Heidelberg, and Munich. Since 2016 he is a senior Professor at the University of Jena. It is noteworthy that his doctoral thesis and a number of important publications are devoted to David Hume. Thus it is hard to imagine that Mall could miss such passages from Hume’s “Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding” (Section XII, Part III) as the following: “The greater part of mankind are naturally apt to be affirmative and dogmatic in their opinions; and while they see objects only on one side, and have no idea of any counterpoising argument, they throw themselves precipitately into the principles, to which they are inclined; nor have they any indulgence for those who entertain opposite sentiments.... There is a degree of doubt, and caution, and modesty, which, in all kinds of scrutiny and decision, ought for ever to accompany a just reasoner”.