Abstract

This paper sets out to establish that dialogue defines truth in a world of divergent cultures and worldviews. It argues that culture has enormous influence on truth for which truth through monologue has inherent strong potentials that limit intellectual union and discusses how philosophy in its western tradition has served topromote this trend with its hegemony on different world cultures; the effect of which is the quest for difference by other world cultures through cultural philosophies that attempt to infuse reason and logic on their cultural achievement. The result then is an unending ambition for difference which promotes conflict of values in our world. The paper contends that truths realized in such a world is inherently deficient. It recommends dialogue as the basis for truth. Truth in a multi-cultural world would then not be the correspondence to, coherence with and pragmatic to reality but the ability to defy difference to promote the equality of difference. Bylooking at the several ways a thing could not have been for which it is an item, idea or value can then be considered to be true.