Interculture; Concept, Use and Ethics between Equality and Difference

Abstract

In this article, the concept of ‘interculture’ is investigated from different angles. We start out with the theme of migration and move on to a discussion of literature as a tool to increase cross-cultural understanding. In the first part of this article, the theoretical perspectives of Salman Rushdie and Richard Rorty are central. Since similarity and difference constitute an underlying issue in both cases this leads to a discussion about equality and difference at the end of the paper, in which ethics represent a key perspective. In this last section, we explore an important point addressed in Charles Taylor’s discussion of culture and ethics that can also be seen as a critique of the intercultural project and the way it balances similarity and difference, equality and difference.