Former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami introduced the idea of Dialogue Among Civilizations as a response to Samuel P. Huntington's theory of a Clash of Civilizations. The term was initially used by Austrian philosopher Hans Köchler who in 1972, in a letter to UNESCO, had suggested the idea of an international conference on the "dialogue between different civilizations" (dialogue entre les différentes civilisations)[1][2] and had organized, in 1974, a first international conference on the role of intercultural dialogue ("The Cultural Self-comprehension of Nations") with the support and under the auspices of Senegalese President Léopold Sédar Senghor.[3][4]
- ^ Letter, dated 26 September 1972, to Ms. Marie-Pierre Herzog, Director of the Division of Philosophy, UNESCO, Paris. http://www.i-p-o.org/Koechler-letter-UNESCO-26Sep1972.jpg
- ^ Subsequently, on 19 October 1972, Hans Köchler delivered a programmatic lecture at the University of Innsbruck, Austria, on "Cultural Self-comprehension and Co-existence: Preconditions for a Fundamental Dialogue". The text was first published in German: "Kulturelles Selbstverständnis und Koexistenz: Voraussetzungen für einen fundamentalen Dialog," in: "Kulturelles Selbstverständnis und Koexistenz: Voraussetzungen für einen fundamentalen Dialog," in: Philosophie und Politik. (Veröffentlichungen der Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Wissenschaft und Politik an der Universität Innsbruck, Vol. IV.) Innsbruck: AWP, 1973, pp. 75-78.
- ^ International Conference "The Cultural Self-comprehension of Nations", organized by the International Progress Organization, Innsbruck, Austria, 27–29 July 1974. For details, see the conference proceedings: Hans Köchler (ed.), Cultural Self-comprehension of Nations. (Studies in International [Cultural] Relations, Vol. 1.) Tübingen/Basel: Erdmann, 1978. ISBN 3-7711-0311-8
- ^ For a detailed chronology see
"Global Debate: Dialogue of Civilizations".