On the evening of November 30, a ceremony for inviting Professor Luca M. Scarantino （Chairman of the International Federation of Philosophical Societies）as visiting professor of Southeast University was held at Jiulonghu Campus, following by an academic given by Professor Scarantino. Professor Luca M. Scarantino (Chairman of the International Federation of Philosophical Groups), Professor Supakwadee Amatayakul (IULM University, Italy), Professor Fan Heping (Distinguished Professor of Changjiang Scholars of the Ministry of Education), Professor Wang Jue (Dean of School of Humanities of Southeast University), Associate Professor Zhang Jingjing (Department of Sociology), Lecturer Wang Yongzhong (Department of Philosophy), and all the students of Bingwen Experimental Class in 2018 participated in this activity.
In the ceremony, Professor Fan Heping awarded Professor Luca M. Scarantino a visiting professor appointment on behalf of Southeast University. Professor Luca M. Scarantino expressed his great honor to be awarded the honorary title of Visiting Professor of Southeast University. He hoped to take this opportunity to further promote communication and exchange between the philosophy team of Southeast University (even the Chinese philosophical group) and the world philosophical group. At the same time, he also expressed his heartfelt thanks to the Chinese philosophical tradition and the contribution of Chinese philosophers in promoting the development of philosophy.
After the recruitment ceremony, Professor Luca M. Scarantino gave an academic report on the theme “Thinking Culture as A Polyphony”. In the report, Professor Luca M. Scarantino cited the “Polyphony Theory” of Bakhtin (a former Soviet literary theorist) and applied it to the study of cross-cultural communication. He emphasized that every culture is a member of the polyphony and it is the existence of diversity that can bring the polyphony of world culture into harmony. When we subconsciously compare different cultures and think that one culture is more rational or advanced than another, we need to be extremely cautious about this view because it is easy to turn into a denial of a culture or even develop a cultural hegemony, leading to the loss of cultural diversity. Cross-cultural communication needs not the same values and preferences but a common attitude, that is, to understand the desires of other cultures and the ability to correctly recognize different cultures, which is acquired through education. He further opposed the confusion between culture and morality, believing that morality is a way of behavior while culture is a way of thinking, and different ways of behavior do not necessarily lead to different ways of thinking. Finally, he interpreted different cultural connotations of two moral principles by taking the two major moral principles of China and the West, namely, the “Golden Rule” and the “Ten Commandments of Moses”, as examples. In the questioning section, Professor Luca M. Scarantino and the teachers and students present discussed the issues of D&G humiliation to China, gene editing infants, peer pressure and so on from the perspective of cross-cultural research.
Professor Luca M. Scarantino is currently President of the FISP (2018-2023), Professor of IULM University, Italy, and Editor-in-Chief of Diogenes International Journal. His current research interests are mainly the definition of cross-cultural moral patterns, focusing on the basic characteristics of interpersonal relationships, such as persuasion, violence, trust, resentment, generosity and love. In 2018, the World Congress of Philosophy first came to China. As former Secretary-General of the FISP, Professor Luca M. Scarantino served as Chairman of the Executive Committee of the 24th World Congress of Philosophy in 2018, successfully promoting and organizing the convening of the World Congress of Philosophy. At the same time, Professor Luca M. Scarantino was elected as the new President of the International Federation of Philosophical Groups.
(Editor & photographer: Yuan Zheng)
