A Multicultural Society Needs a Relational Reason

Since being adopted as official policy in several countries, the political doctrine of multiculturalism has generated more negative than positive effects (social fragmentation, separateness of minority groups, and cultural relativism in the public sphere). Today, in its place, we speak of inter-culturalism. But this expression too seems more or less vague and uncertain. This paper discusses the possible alternatives to multiculturalism. Interculturalism today is subject to insurmountable deficiencies because it presents an insufficient internal reflectiveness to individual cultures and it lacks a relational interface between cultures (between the subjects that are bearers of culture). To get beyond multiculturalism's shortcomings and the fragilities of interculturalism, a secular approach to the question of coexistence between cultures is needed – one that is capable of restoring life to reason through a new semantics of inter-human difference/diversity. Making reason more relational could be the best way to imagine a new configuration of society that will be able to humanize the processes of globalization and the growing migrations.