Abstract

Bożena Zawisza

Two Songs of Friendship. Judeo-Christian Philosophy of Friendship and the Worldview of the Nuu-chah-nulth Nation in the 21st century. Transcultural Reflections

The author conducts a contrastive analysis of Judeo-Christian philosophy, represented by two European thinkers Jacques Derrida and Tadeusz Sławek, with the worldview of Nuu-chah-nulth, a Canadian First Nation inhabiting the Western coast of Vancouver. The concept of friendship excluding such concepts as symmetry, equality, or mutuality in favour of opposition and decentralization of a viewpoint, is juxtaposed with the dominating principles of Tsawalk – the Nuu-chah-nulth worldview – which promote such values as the common origin and essence of all living beings, despite the apparent differences of race or skin colour. The analysis of the philosophical stances of Derrida and Sławek, highlighting the importance of independence in each relation, promoting the variety, and even open opposition between friends, leads to the understanding of friendship as a process, in which not only one gets to know one’s own culture but also acknowledges other cultures’ value. Both Derrida and Sławek question traditional Judeo-Christian philosophical propositions, preparing ground for the revision of the existing division between the dominating and dominated. Both of them perceive in the development of friendship the possibility for the establishment of better world order. The Nuu-chah-nulth worldview, based on the assumption that heshook-ish tsawalk – everything is one, is purely the philosophy of friendship which accepts everyone without any exception. It rejects any artificially created divisions, resulting from the lack of knowledge, stereotypes and fear. All the same, Nuu-chah-nulth’s mode of behaviour is conditioned by the existing network of relationships between all living beings.