Journal of European Baptist Studies, Volume 9, Number 2, January 2009

f this, Putnam also criticises Michel Foucault); propositions cannot be compared because relativism assumes no cultural commensurability which would make it possible. 14 Cultural relativism views particular cultures as closed monads; by accepting symbolic untranslatability it sanctions social separationism. Consequently, under some conditions it is potentially dangerous because it builds up a tension between the particular monads that cannot be reduced. Ethnocentrism viewed in this way is opposed by both Putnam and Rorty, as well as Cobb. Unlike Putnam, Rorty is looking for opportunities to build 14 H. Putnam, Realism and Reason. Philosophical Papers, vol. 3 (Cambridge- New York: Cambridge University Press, 1983), p. 195. 26 Journal of European Baptist Studies bridges between the isolated islands-monads, trusting that there is a way out of the extremes of individualism and collectivism. He believes there must be some third way between absolutism and cultural imperialism on the one hand and relativism on the other hand. In the opinion of both Cobb and Putnam, it is based on the capacity of human reason to operate in several systems of notions and on the existence of some transcendent framework of reference, enabling successful exchange of ideas and experiences between cultures. This is provided by rationality immersed in the experience of life. Rationality, which goes beyond accepting the function of a mere observer, is both entitled and compelled to declare a certain state of affairs. Life itself establishes canons of truth and falsehood, being the most important human commodity and creating an area of exchange between individuals, thus enabling the sustained existence and development of a society. As a result of this approach, Cobb rejects the extremes of both religious pluralism (cultural relativism) and exclusivism (the fiction of the so-called ‘divine point of view’). Rationality conceived of in this way is not the capacity to discover truths or achieve common consensus (which Hans Kiing seems to suggest in his pursuit of global ethics) but the ability to act in order to maximise the likelihood of causing the desired results within the community (which includes their relational and contextual character). Cobb’s pedagogy of ecumenism, then, is based on a community of experience which de facto enables further reconstruction of the socio-cultural matter. In this sense, neither scientific nor theological rationality exists beyond the context of concrete experience; truth about God (transcendence) in separation from life is an illusion. 15 A human being, along with the culture he or she creates, is neither separated from nature nor placed above it as God’s representative who subdues the earth. Rather, he or she is settled in nature and connected with 13 Obviously, the processual thought discussed here is not only related to neopragmatic philosophy; it is also referred to by e.g. Gilles Deleuz