Seibt, 11/16/18

Research unit ICON (Interculturality, Conflict, and Value Studies)

Description and status report February 2010

(prepared by J. Seibt)

Table of Contents

Idea......

Motivation......

History of ICON......

People involved (2008-2010)......

Grants received

Grant applications

Activities

PPS workshop series

The Global Dialogue Initiative......

(I) The Global Dialogue Prize......

(II) The Global Dialogue Conference Series......

(III) The Interculturality Congress Series......

Networking

Teaching and outreach

Publications

A possible future of ICON?......

Budget......

1

Seibt, 11/16/18

Idea

ICON is an informal grouping of researchers at Danish institutions (coordinated at Aarhus University, Department for Philosophy and the History of Ideas) who joined in 2005 with the aim to carry out a new research initiative, which consisted in the combination of:

  • intercultural value studies, a subfield of Comparative Philosophy or World Philosophy
  • interdisciplinary interactions between psychology, anthropology, sociology, political science, and theology (religious studies) with recent research in the area of “Conflict Analysis and Transformation”, a subfield of International Relations.

ICON was to provide a platform for research exchange among Danish researchers but also a focus unit for:

  • International research collaboration on intercultural ontology, value theory, and conflict studies
  • International education: MA courses and e-learning units on cultural diversity and creative conflict transformation
  • Outreach activities: Consultation on intercultural communication and learning, for school teachers and businesses with international employees

Motivation

ICON is a response to an increasing need for research in intercultural ontology and value theory (worldview analysis), undertaken with the aim to enhance our theoretical understanding of cultural diversity and our practical competence in the creative peaceful utilization of culture-based conflicts.

While in the past social tension has centered on economic differences (class), more recently interpersonal and intergroup conflicts are perceived as driven by ‘cultural identities’. The increasing cultural motivation of conflicts creates new research tasks and social relevance for cross-cultural research on the theoretical and normative core of worldviews. Intercultural ontology and value theory has direct social import, especially if it is focused on the role of cultural ‘depth structures’ (core commitments) for conflict escalation and de-escalation.

ICON is driven by a process-view of cultural contents, where ‘interculturality’ labels both a research hermeneutics and a practical mind set.

  • Increased contact between groups from different cultures requires increased attention to the deep meaning of cultural symbols and practices. While ethnographic field research offers descriptions of the empirical surfaces of cultures, the analytical and hermeneutic methods of philosophy and the history of ideas offers new ways of reaching into cultural depth structures or core commitments, beliefs, and values in different cultural “cosmovisions” (worldviews including religious beliefs).
  • Intercultural value studies is a new research area in philosophy and the history of ideas (a subfield of an area called ‘comparative philosophy’ and ‘comparative history of ideas’) that investigates different the contents of cultural values (moral values and epistemic values) with particular focus on the interaction of symbolic depth-structures across cultures. Given the fundamental diversity in knowledge paradigms and conceptual organization transcultural interpretation is no simple translation but engagement of cultural diversity. It requires a method of ‘radical hermeneutics’ called ‘intercultural dialogue’.
  • Intercultural value studies is also an area that thrives on cross-disciplinary interaction in the humanities. The intercultural or comparative investigation of values from within philosophy and the history of ideas ties in with similar comparative programs in psychology (‘intercultural psychology), social sciences, religious studies, anthropology, cognitive science, and education.
  • Intercultural value studies, like any other academic research initiative, constitutes itself a cultural activity that cognitively disposes to the creative use of cultural diversity. One of the main purposes of this research initiative is to investigate, teach, and promote interculturality as a new area of ‘pure’ research in the humanities but also as an area of ‘applied research.’ Interculturality is an effective strategy, for the public and sector, to prevent violent conflicts and implement user-driven social innovation. The practical intentions of the research initiative is a reflection of the fact that philosophers and other researchers in the humanities bear a special responsibility to help mitigating the new type of value-based conflicts that have surfaced at the end of 20th century and are an obstacle to many global policy tasks of the 21st century.

History of ICON

The research unit ICON is the successor of the work group “Process, Person, and Society—From Conflict to Interagency” (PPS) which was constituted in 2005 as the national division of SOPHIAEuropa , an interdisciplinary research network sponsored by the METANEXUS Foundation (branch of the John Templeton Foundation, USA). SOPHIAEuropa (September 2005-September 2008) was a special extension of the worldwide METANEXUS program which supports worldwide interdisciplinary research between the natural and social sciences and philosophy, theology, and religious studies. The SOPHIAEuropa network comprised about 170 researchers collaborating within and across 15 national divisions (“local societies”) of European countries, organized into 3 thematic areas (…). PPS collaborated in the thematic area “Causality and Motivation” with research groups from Italy, Poland, Ireland, the UK, and France on the topics: the ontology of causality, natural interaction and emergence, current accounts of intentionality and representation, the ontology of emotion social interaction and conflicts dynamics.

For a more detailed documentation on SOPHIAEuropa and PPS—its members, organization, and activities—see PPS (coordinator JS) involved 13 researchers from philosophy, the history of ideas, psychology, political science, linguistics, theology, and religious studies at AU, DPU, and KU. PPS organized 4 workshops at Aarhus University, partly with international visitors from other SOPHIAEuropa groups. The program of PPS also included the organization of a large international conference in August 2008.

Even though the project description of PPS did not aim for an intercultural or comparative dimension, this particular perspective developed in the course of the project , due to two factors. First, members of SOPHIAEuropa were required to participate in the annual METAXNEXUS world conferences and thus met with research paradigms profoundly different from their own. Second, while there are many fruitful research connections between philosophy and conflict studies, the recently so prevalent type of conflicts based on cultural and religious differences provides a very special and urgent motivation for the interaction between conflict studies and philosophy (and this history of ideas), especially where the latter is concerned with intercultural and comparative metaphysics and value studies. No one in the project group had the relevant expertise in this area, however, also known as (part of) “world philosophy”. This situation changed when Jesper Garsdal joined the project group in the Spring of 2007. Jesper Garsdal is currently Denmark’s only senior scholar in intercultural or comparative philosophy (especially philosophy of religion) and history of ideas. JG and JS soon realized that the combination of conflict studies and intercultural value studies in philosophy/history of ideas presented a ‘gap in the market’ of research programs and educational programs. In connection with an EU grant proposal JS and JG projected the research unit ICON, the successor to PPS, as a unit that can house or participate in international collaborative research projects. At the same time ICON was to function as a platform for (a) creating research synergies among local scholars in intercultural value studies, (b) a discussion environment for the small but growing number of Danish ph.d.students with intercultural research projects, and (c) an organizational base for various activities of research communication, and finally (d), a clear and visible teaching specialization that would allow IFI to participate in ERASMUS MUNDUS study programs.

The August 2008 conference entitled “Understanding Conflicts: Cross-Cultural Perspectives” (UC2008= I-CON2008) thus became both the last event of PPS and the first event of ICON, with joint funding from METANEXUS and HUM-Videnssamfund. There is considerable overlap between the PPS-group and the ICON-group, and some overlap between the research networks associated with both local groups: some researchers from the SOPHIAEurope network have joined MINT, the network of scholars built up by ICON in the course of its various activities during the last 2 years..

People involved (2008-2010)

ICON core group at IFI (2005-2010):

Johanna Seibt (Category theory, conflict studies (theories of identity-based conflicts), ontology of values,philosophy of culture (intercultural dialogue) ). Coordinator of PPS 2005-2008 and ICON 2008-2010, First co-ordinator of the Global Dialogue Project in 2009.

Since 2007: Jesper Garsdal ( Intercultural Philosophy and History of Ideas, comparative philosophy of religion, philosophy of culture (intercultural dialogue)). Second co-ordinator of ICON2008 and second coordinator of the Global Dialogue Project in 2009.

Steen Wackerhausen (Philosophy of culture, Learning theories, philosophical anthropology). In the ICON group since 2008.

Raffaele Rodogno (Ethics and philosophy of law, theories of Rights and Values). In the ICON group since 2008.

Morten Raffnsøe-Møller (Political philosophy)). In the PPS group between 2005 and 2008.

Jens Thisted, (Philosophy of Science), In the PPS group between 2005 and 2008.

Jacob Bock, Conference staff for ICON2008, Project manager of the Global Dialogue Conference 2009, Secretary for GDP 09.

Ph.D. Students:

Marco Pedersen (Project: Social Machines—A Cross-Cultural Examination of the Acceptance of Robots in Denmark and Japan)

Stefan Gaarsmand Jacobsen (Project: China in Europe—The Role of China in the History of European Economic Thought)

Christian Gade (Project: The Philosophy of Ubuntu and Conflict Resolution)

Associates at Danish institutions[1]

2008: Thomas Jønsson (University of Aarhus, Psychology). Former PPS-group member.

2008: Marie Wejrup Nielsen (University of Aarhus, Theology--Systematic Theology). Former PPS-group member.

2008: Else Marie Wiberg Pedersen (University of Aarhus, Theology--Systematic Theology). Former PPS-group member

2008: Robin Schott (Danish University for Education, Philosophy--Philosophy of Education). Former PPS-group member.

2008: Thomas Brudholm (Copenhagen University, Political Philosophy)

2008: Martijn van Beek (Aarhus University, Anthropology)

Mark Sedwick, Aarhus University, Center for Islam and Arabic Studies

Jørgen Christensen, Copenhagen University, Center for European Islam Studies

Henrik Bødker, Aarhus University, Center for University Education in Journalism

Kirsten Sparre, Aarhus School of Business, Peace Journalism

Matthew Haigh, Aarhus School of Business, Responsible Investments

Peter Neergård, Copenhagen Business School, Center for Corporate Social Responsibility

International associates: From SophiaEuropa to MINT

The SophiaEuropa group consisted of about 80 European researchers in philosophy, sociology, psychology, cognitive science, physics, biology, and theology (see Many of these past contacts have survived and are integrated into the MINT-network (Meeting on Intercultural Thought), which has been instituted after ICON2008 and is continuously extended in connection with the Global Dialogue Project (the Global Dialogue Conference 2009 and the Global Dialogue Prize 2009). Currently MINT comprises about 300 researchers from all over the world; a professional website for MINT is overdue but so far the necessary funding could not be secured.

Grants received

Year / Source / Type / Purpose / Amount in DKK
2005-2008 / Metanexus Foundation / Project grant / PPS workshops / 100.000
(15.000 US $)
2008 / SophiaEuropa / Conference grant / ICON2008 conference / 88.000
(14.000 US $)
2007 / Research Focus Area Videnssamfund / Project grant / Course development, research, ICON2008 conference and ICON series / 100.000
2008 / Research Focus Area Videnssamfund / Project grant / Course development, research, ICON2008 conference and ICON series / 250.000
2008 / Research Focus Areas ‘Globalization’ / Conference grant / ICON2008 conference / 15.000
2008 / ‘Rektor’s pulje’ AU / Deficit guaranty / ICON2008 / 250.000
2008 / HUM, AU / Deficit guaranty / ICON2008 / 100.000
2009 / Grundfos Foundation / Resource / GDP 2009/11 / 1000000
2009 / Aarhus Kommune / Grant money / Organization GDP / 150.000
2009 / VisitAarhus/Region MidtJylland / Grant money / Organization GDProject / 450.000 (originally 600.000)
2009 / AU and HUM / Grant money / Organization GDProject and GDC09 conference / 700.000
2009 / Institut für Konfliktforschung und Kommunikationsberatung / Sponsorship / GDC09 conference / 32.000

Grant applications

2007a: PROSPER: Process-based Strategies for Conflict Intervention and Peace Research

FP7 grant application for a research collaboration project, 1.2 Mill Euro. Prepared by J. Seibt and J. Garsdal (50 pp.)

Abstract:The project PROSPER will provide novel conceptual and practical tools for violence prevention, conflict transformation and peace-building for the recently dominant type of “identity-based” conflict. Our focus is on conflicts generated by ethnic, cultural, and religious ‘identities’, as well as social transitions connected to gender, where cognitive schemata (carrying conceptual and emotional content, e.g. stereotypes) play a decisive role. ‘Identities’ so far are mainly treated as ‘black box’ explanations for protracted conflicts—PROSPER will undertake a detailed interdisciplinary investigation into what collective identities are, how they are generated and mobilized, why and when they can motivationally override personal values, and how they relate to (different phases of) conflict dynamics and peace-building.

PROSPER will advance our knowledge about methods of altering cognitive schemata that enable new strategies for social change and stable relations in civil society as the key factor for facilitating non-violence and, in particular, for consolidating peace after so-called ‘identity-based’ conflicts. Based on the strategic premise that personal and collective ‘identities’ are not ‘immutable essences’ but processes, PROSPER will develop cognitive tools that can be used in preventive diagnostics (early warning), for conflict transformation and, most importantly, for the purpose of building durable cultural peace. PROSPER tools are differentiated for different user groups: individuals, the media, and in third-party mediation, facilitation, and consultation; they will be implemented as (electronic) research publications, a web-portal for intercultural ontology, and course designs for e-learning. PROSPER tools are built by combining conceptual and empirical research on cognitive schemata and collective identity formation in the social and human sciences, history of ideas, and philosophy in interaction with case studies in Germany, Albania and Burundi.

Result: proposal received 9 points out of 15.

2007b: ICON: Interculturality and Conflict Transformation

Application to the Danish Council for Strategic Research. 1,2 Mill DKK. Prepared by J. Seibt and J. Garsdal. (25 pp.)

Abstract: Cultural understanding of practical significance can only be achieved by addressing the real issues in cultural diversity as they arise in the ‘depth-structure’ of worldviews and value systems, i.e., by considering the deep (‘metaphysical’) meaning of cultural symbols and practices. ‘Interculturality’ is a new research area in the humanities that engages different cultures at different levels of interaction, with particular focus on symbolic depth-structures, i.e., on core commitments, beliefs, and values in different cultural “cosmovisions” (worldviews including religious beliefs). Interculturality is itself a cultural activity that cognitively disposes to the creative use of cultural diversity. The main purpose of this research initiative is to investigate, educate on, and promote interculturality as an effective strategy to prevent violent conflicts and implement ‘user-driven’ and sustainable social innovation. The research initiative for “Transdisciplinary Studies on Interculturality, Cross-Cultural Communication, and Process-Based Strategies for Conflict Transformation”(ICON) will advance our understanding of cultural diversity, interculturality, and culture-based conflicts. ICON is praxis-geared theoretical research that combines intercultural philosophy, history of ideas, and philosophy of religion, process theory, anthropology, and the interdisciplinary field of “Conflict Analysis,”[2] to investigate and stimulate intercultural competence. Supported by collaborative links to academic institutions and NGO’s around the globe, including Asia and the Middle East, ICON will for the first time provide a Danish contact point for international research exchange on interculturality and conflict transformation. ICON will implement academic education in these areas and, in interaction with the private sector and a local NGO, develop seminars for business consultants and communal workers.

Result: Proposal receives the highest evaluation of all evaluations by the international experts, but is nevertheless not chosen. ICON files an official ‘complaint’ which is still not answered.

2008a: Interculturality and the Global Good Life Challenge—Denmark as Initiator of a Global Discourse on Process Design and Values in the 21st Century

Application to M-fonden; 2,1 Mill DKK. Prepared by J. Garsdal. 20 pp.

2008b: Interculturality and Conflict Transformation: Values in Process

Short Application (First Round) to the Velux Fund. 5, 7 Mill DKK. Prepared by J. Seibt and J. Garsdal (3 pp.)

Summary: “Intercultural thought not only opens to the surprising reality of the other, but also to the process of how we have become who we are.” (R. Gathman) The project ICON is a contribution to the new transdisciplinary area of interculturality research and conflict analysis, which so far has no proper entrenchment in Danish academia.[3] We focus on the prevalent phenomenon of culture-based (occasionally called “identity-based”) conflicts and relate it to philosophical theories of values, self, and intercultural understanding. Our main project hypothesis is that current culture-based conflicts reveal the dynamic nature of cultural values and agent identities, and that new philosophical models of dynamic permanence (as developed in recent ontological research) will enhance our theoretical understanding of culture-based conflicts in practically relevant ways. To investigate this hypothesis we shall engage in a diversified study of the role of values in culture-based conflicts, combining research on intercultural hermeneutics, intercultural value study, process ontology, conflict theory, and philosophical research on conceptions of trust.

2008c: ID: Intercultural Dialogue: Theory and Praxis of Cross-Cultural Engagements of Values

Application to the Danish Research Council in the Humanities; 5,3 Mill DKK. Prepared by J. Seibt. (6 pages)

Summary: In 2008, the “European Year of Intercultural Dialogue”, a host of activities has been initiated with the aim to implement and foster ‘intercultural dialogue’ as a means to overcome culture-based intergroup conflicts due to migration. But the theoretical foundations of the communicational situation called ‘intercultural dialogue’, its requirements and implications at the theoretical and practical level, are still obscure. The aim of the project is to develop a concept of intercultural dialogue that is geared to the transformation of culture-based conflicts, i.e., conflicts arising from incompatible cultural values, including conflicts due to so-called “social identity” as well as a certain subset of expectable conflicts due to climate change. This will be achieved by creating a novel link between two research areas, the transdisciplinary area of conflict research and so-called ‘world philosophy and history of ideas’ (the study of worldviews including religious beliefs from cultures around the world). The notion of intercultural dialogue developed will be sufficiently detailed to be practically implemented in educational and social praxis, and such implementations will be performed or monitored and discusssed.