Abstract

The author describes a peripatetic course aiming at undermining ethnocentric biases that are at the root of certain failures of miscommunication. The course involves a description of two semiotic models (the Saussarian and Peircean) and their application to cases of communication involving radical cultural difference, specifically the interpretive efforts of both conquering Spaniards and conquered Native Americans. Since the Peircean semiotic model requires a contextual-understanding of the Other in order for successful communication, the author contends that it is necessary for philosophy courses to be both historically oriented and provide greater global awareness. To this end, the author gives an account of a philosophy course involving ten American liberal arts students who retrace the route of Spanish conquistadors form Veracruz to Mexico City and that of Dominican missionaries from Oaxaca to Chiapas.