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rather be inclined to accept a situation than to attempt to solve a problem."
If people think in exclusive or even absolute terms, misunder
standings and political conflicts like those in Bosnia, North Ireland or
Chechenia will be the result. All the tremendous progress gained within
the last decades will become nullified if there is no respect for others and
their cultures, religions, philosophies and commercial patterns. Buescher
and von Hauff state in the paragraph Universal Economic Concepts —
Deficiences of Economic Theory in taking account of Basic Political and
Cultural Circumstances: "Real integration can of course not take
from the local perspective of the Western world, and is an interhuman
challenge to empathy, openness and ability to integrate, rather than
'merely' an intellectual demand for the development of new concepts.
Just as contextual theology or medicine is possible, a contextual theory
and policy of economics must also be developed.”
In this paragraph they clearly interlink all the fields of life. If the
openness, for instance, exists in the hearts and brains of a great majority
of people it is easy to establish a flourishing trade or to have mutual
exchange of scientific knowledge. Buescher and von Hauff say: "The
idea of a pure, universal economy is fictive. What is needed is a recasting
of economic thinking to include the historical and cultural dimensions.
The central challenge of development policy is to be found in perceiving
the relevant knowledge of essential cultural differences, something
perhaps to be achieved only by long everyday experience with great
sensitivity to cultural differences. The second step would be to categorise
and apply this knowledge in economic policy, bearing in mind existing
structures and universalistic programmes on the national and
supranational levels."
These statements could very well be developed further to create a
better and more peaceful world in which all peoples can prosper.
Thanks
We appreciate that Dr Albrecht Frenz and Prof Dr Scaria Zacharia edited
about twenty books and brochures dealing with Dr. Hermann Gundert's
life and his manifold work on the one side and with the various activities
in Gundert's death centenary on the other. The publishing houses in
Germany, Sueddeutsche Verlagsgesellschaft Ulm, and in India, D C
Books, Kottayam, Kerala, and Centre for Kerala Studies, St. Berchmans'
College, Changanassery, Kerala, have done a lot in producing and
distributing these books. Coming generations may use the texts and old
Malayalam sources in order to preserve the memory of Gundert and to
