Implications of Pluralism

Implications of Pluralism

____________________

Essays on culture, identity and values

Edited by

G?ran Collste

Institute of Ethnic Studies Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Bangi 2011

Implications of Pluralism Essays on culture, identity and values

Copyright ? G?ran Collste

PUBLISHED BY

Institute of Ethnic Studies (KITA) Level 4, Administration Building

Kolej Keris Mas Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

43600 Bangi Selangor Darul Ehsan

PRINTED BY Publisher

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 43600 Bangi

Selangor Darul Ehsan

ISBN : 978-983-44318-9-1

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be produced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the author.

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Contents

Preface........................................................ii

Notes on the contributors........................... iii - v

Introduction G?ran Collste

.............................. 1

Chapter 1 The Problem of Cultural Identity Peter Gan Chong Beng......................7

Chapter 2 Basing Political Pluralism on Epistemology: The Case of Thailand's Southern Violence Soraj Hongladarom........................32

Chapter 3 Value Pluralism and Prospects of Global Consensus G?ran Collste.................................55

Chapter 4 Models of Religious Co-Existence Hans Ingvar Roth...........................78

Chapter 5 Pluralism as an Educational Problem and Task in a Democratic Society? the Swedish Case Edgar Alm?n.....................................106

Chapter 6 Pluralism, the State and Free Will in the Political Thought of Michael Oakeshott Dominic Cooray...........................117

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Preface

This volume contains a selection of papers that were originally presented at the International Conference on "Rethinking Realities, Reimagining Pluralism: Future Landscapes of Pluralism for Democratic Societies" held on 14-15 December 2010 at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysiar (UKM), Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia. This conference was jointly organised by the Institute of Ethnic Studies, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, CSR, Philanthropy and Transdisciplinary Action Group (CPTAG),Universiti Sains Malaysia and Link?ping University, Sweden. It was also the final conference of the research project "Possibilities of Religious Pluralism", a joint project involving researchers from Sweden and Malaysia and funded by SIDA (Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency).

The papers in this volume have been revised and updated for purposes of publication. This publication would not have been possible without the encouragement, help and support of several people and parties. I would like to record my heartfelt thanks to the researchers involved in the joint research on "Possibilities of Religious Pluralism" and on which some of the papers in this volume are based. They are Reevany Bustami, Ellisha Nasruddin and Peter Gan from Malaysia and Edgar Alm?n, Annika Rabo and Hans Ingvar Roth from Sweden. I also thank Monica P?hlsson at the Centre for Applied Ethics, Linkoping University, for editorial assistance. Last but not least I would like to express my thanks and gratitude to Distinguished Professor Datuk Shamsul Amri Baharuddin, Founding Director of the Institute of Ethnic Studies and Professor Dato' Sharifah Zaleha Syed Hassan, Principal Research Fellow of the Institute of Ethnic Studies for ensuring the speedy publication of this book.

Editor November 2011

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Notes on the contributors

Edgar Alm?n is currently a docent in the Theology and Religious Studies Department, Link?ping University, Sweden. For a period, he held administrative tasks in the teacher education programmes at the university and nationally. Alm?n's research interests include systematic theology in Germany in the 20th century, contextual theology with particular focus on Africa and religious education in different countries. Alm?n's major publications are Glaube und Geschichtliche Verantwortlichkeit(1976) Religious Education in Great Britain, Sweden and Russia ? Presentations, Problem Inventories and Commentaries (2000) and Two perspectives on the history of the objectives of religious education in Sweden ( 2005).

G?ran Collste is Professor of Applied Ethics, Link?ping University, Sweden. Collste's research and teaching concern problems in ethics and applied ethics, e.g. the principle of human dignity, work ethics, global justice and ethical issues related to information and communication technologies. He is the author of several books and articles published in international journals on ethics, ICT ? ethics, and global justice. Collste is coordinator of the Swedish ?Malaysian Research project Possibilities of Religious Pluralism. He was a member of the Swedish Council for Research in Humanities and Social Sciences (2004-2009) and of a number of ethics and research ethics committees. Collste is

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president of Societas Ethica (European Society for Research in Ethics) 2011-2015.

Dominic Cooray graduated with an Honours degree in 2009 from the Department of Political Science, National University of Singapore. His honours thesis was a comparative analysis of Catholic Church's response to authoritarian rule in Spain and Poland. He is currently awaiting examination of his Master's thesis (also at the National University of Singapore) which compares the political thought of Alexis de Tocqueville and Michael Oakeshott. His other research interests include Catholic social thought and issues of religion, civil society and the state.

Peter Gan Chong Beng is a senior lecturer in the philosophy and civilization section of Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang. He earned a B. Theol and Arts (Honours) from Australia, and a M. Social Science (political philosophy) from USM. Gan's research, publication, and teaching revolve around the discipline of philosophy. Two main areas that consistently captivate his interest are philosophy of religion and metaphysics. His current research, which is his PhD dissertation, works at building a discourse through an association of dialecticism, sublimity, and mysticism.

Soraj Hongladarom is an Associate Professor and Director of the Center for Ethics of Science and Technology at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand. He has published books and

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articles on such diverse issues as bioethics, computer ethics, and the roles that science and technology play in the culture of developing countries. His concern is mainly on how science and technology can be integrated into the life-world of the people in the so-called Third World countries, and what kind of ethical considerations can be obtained from such relation. He is the editor, together with Charles Ess, of Information Technology Ethics: Cultural Perspectives, also published by IGI. His works have also appeared in Bioethics, The Information Society, AI & Society, Philosophy in the Contemporary World, and Social Epistemology, among others.

Hans Ingvar Roth is Professor of Education at Stockholm University and has a doctorate in ethics from Lund University. He has written extensively on affirmative action, minority rights, multicultural education and human rights. Among his publications are The Multicultural Park - a study of values in school and society (1999), What are Human Rights? (2007) and Discrimination (2008). Roth has also worked as senior adviser at the Ministry of Justice and as human rights officer for OSCE in Bosnia. At the moment he is engaged in the EU research project "Accept Pluralism".

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