Interculturalismo y hermenéutica: de la tradición como pasado a la actualidad de la tradición

the purpose of this paper is to elaborate a critique of the uses of the concept "tradition" in the interculturalism, specifically the both following ones: first, the distinction between tradition as past, and modernization as present and, second, the idea that there are people whose identity is defined by its tradition and others whose identity does not depend on it. this critique is elaborated from the concept of tradition that belongs to hans-georg gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics that rehabilitates tradition in a different way to that followed by romanticism. the philosophical hermeneutics expands the scope of tradition to every human community and proposes a multidimensional concept of tradition. from this proposal, the idea of tradition that emphasizes the past as principal feature is criticized. as a result, this text exposes reasons to leave behind the distinction between traditional people and non-traditional or modernized people.