Every human being is different - different in Physical appearance, different at Psychological reflection, different in spiritual level of understanding, different in understanding their religious faith. Possessing his unique identity he holds some essential commonalities as a human being. The same formula can be applied to culture and traditions too. They look very different but their purpose and functions are for the good of humanity. For example: take all religions and their traditions, they differ in their metaphysical details but as long as the human life is concerned they uphold more or less similar values and virtues. Every human being needs to understand the essential cultural and traditional values of his own and try to understand the other traditions too.

The progress in transportation and communication that has brought all the peoples of the world into one global village has also brought the cultures, traditions & religions of the world into close contact. The first step toward appreciating other cultures & traditions is to understand each on its own terms. Each culture and tradition has its own moral & spiritual depth. Each gives its own distinctive answers to many of the fundamental questions which trouble human existence.

With this very rationale to rethink and re-understand the other cultures and traditions and to uphold a harmonious existence on the earth the Centre for Religious studies, Department of Philosophy, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, India in cooperation with the Council for Research in Values and Philosophy (RVP) organizing an International Seminar on “Being Human in Multicultural Traditions” during 29^th – 31^st March 2016, at Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, India.

Sub Themes:

·         Multicultural Education for a changing world.

·         Humanity and Diversity.

·         Global Ethics and International Development.

·         Multiculturalism and Personal Identity.

·         Beyond cultural Identity: Reflections on Multicultural traditions.

·         Inter-cultural dialogue and social cohesion.

·         Inter-faith dialogue.

Abstract