This is a reappraisal of the dialectic between the universal and the particular. The essay presents a reflection on the Kantian idea of points of view that structure our thought and action (that of participant and observer), and develops a discourse that is indebted to rationalism and universalism. In addition, with the aim of presenting a concept of inter-cultural dialogue that aims to do justice to diversity and difference, the author meditates on some attempts of “reflexive” anthropologists to construct an elaborate cultural self-consciousness in their reports on “others”. McCarthy ends by stressing the need to adopt an appropriately planetary perspective.