Philosophy and International Relations

The International Institute of Philosophy was created in 1937, at a time when there were not so many philosophy journals, when English was not yet the vehicular language, when travelling to conferences was rare, and when there were not many of these. Papers were not circulated or, if so, using carbon copies, and the main model for collective research was the university seminar, usually ran by a single Professor or chair. There was no internet, no electronic journals, no- e-mail, no Facebook friends or foes, and one crossed the Atlantic by boat, not by plane, not to mention the time it took for travel to China. The IIP was meant to be an instrument of "intellectual cooperation," bringing philosophers of all countries together, in the hope of overcoming the obstacles created by differing traditions, institutional differences and the diversity of languages. Things have changed 1. English is the vehicular language, nearly all journals have electronic versions, and everyone, at least in the academic world, has access to internet and to e-mail. If one of our colleagues writes an article, the whole learned world (or almost whole, since there are a lot of blind spots) has the possibility to read it. Bibliographies, journals, books, encyclopedias, are all on-line. In many ways the differences between traditions are narrowing, at least geographically. A lot more analytic philosophy is done in China, in Korea, India and Japan, than even 20 years ago, and a lot more of Confucian or Buddhist philosophy is published in the US and elsewhere. Hermeneutics is no longer a German and French specialty. Many laugh at the idea that there could be a divide between analytic and continental philosophy: as John Searle once said, the difference is like the one between driving a Toyota or a Volvo: who cares (especially since Volvo cars are made in Japan)? Philosophy has become international. Or so it seems, when we see things on the bright side. So why is there any need to have an International Institute of Philosophy?

The following review explores Intercultural Information Ethics (IIE) in terms of comparative philosophy, supporting IIE as the most relevant and significant development of the field of Information Ethics (IE). The focus of the review is threefold. First, it will review the core presumption of the field of IIE, that being the demand for an inter- mission in the pursuit of a founding philosophy for IE in order to first address the philosophical biases of IE by western philosophy. Second, a history of the various philosophical streams of IIE will be outlined, including its literature and pioneering contributors. Lastly, a new synthesis of comparative philosophies in IIE will be offered, looking towards a future evolution of the field. Examining the interchange between contemporary information ethicists regarding the discipline of IIE, the review first outlines the previously established presumptions of the field of IIE that posit the need for an IE as grounded in western sensibilities. The author then addresses the implications of the foregoing presumption from several non-western viewpoints, arguing that IIE does in fact find roots in non-western philosophies as established in the concluding synthesis of western and eastern philosophical traditions.