Fundamentals of Comparative and Intercultural Philosophy

Fundamentals of Comparative and Intercultural Philosophy PDF Author: Lin Ma
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438460171
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 434

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Book Description
Discusses the conditions of possibility for intercultural and comparative philosophy, and for crosscultural communication at large. This innovative book explores the preconditions necessary for intercultural and comparative philosophy. Philosophical practices that involve at least two different traditions with no common heritage and whose languages have very different grammatical structure, such as Indo-Germanic languages and classical Chinese, are a particular focus. Lin Ma and Jaap van Brakel look at the necessary and not-so-necessary conditions of possibility of interpretation, comparison, and other forms of interaction and how we can speak of similarities and differences in this context. The authors posit that it is necessary to dissolve the question of universalism versus relativism by replacing the ideal language paradigm with a paradigm of family resemblances and that it is not necessary to share a common language to engage in comparison. Numerous case studies are presented, including many comparisons of Western and Chinese concepts. Lin Ma is Associate Professor of the School of Philosophy at the Renmin University of China and the author of Heidegger on East-West Dialogue: Anticipating the Event. Jaap van Brakel is Professor Emeritus in the Higher Institute of Philosophy at the University of Leuven and the author of Philosophy of Chemistry: Between the Manifest and the Scientific Image.

Fundamentals of Comparative and Intercultural Philosophy

Fundamentals of Comparative and Intercultural Philosophy PDF Author: Lin Ma
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438460171
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 434

Get Book

Book Description
Discusses the conditions of possibility for intercultural and comparative philosophy, and for crosscultural communication at large. This innovative book explores the preconditions necessary for intercultural and comparative philosophy. Philosophical practices that involve at least two different traditions with no common heritage and whose languages have very different grammatical structure, such as Indo-Germanic languages and classical Chinese, are a particular focus. Lin Ma and Jaap van Brakel look at the necessary and not-so-necessary conditions of possibility of interpretation, comparison, and other forms of interaction and how we can speak of similarities and differences in this context. The authors posit that it is necessary to dissolve the question of universalism versus relativism by replacing the ideal language paradigm with a paradigm of family resemblances and that it is not necessary to share a common language to engage in comparison. Numerous case studies are presented, including many comparisons of Western and Chinese concepts. Lin Ma is Associate Professor of the School of Philosophy at the Renmin University of China and the author of Heidegger on East-West Dialogue: Anticipating the Event. Jaap van Brakel is Professor Emeritus in the Higher Institute of Philosophy at the University of Leuven and the author of Philosophy of Chemistry: Between the Manifest and the Scientific Image.

Beyond the Troubled Water of Shifei

Beyond the Troubled Water of Shifei PDF Author: Lin Ma
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438474849
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 310

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Book Description
In recent decades, a growing concern in studies in Chinese intellectual history is that Chinese classics have been forced into systems of classification prevalent in Western philosophy and thus imperceptibly transformed into examples that echo Western philosophy. Lin Ma and Jaap van Brakel offer a methodology to counter this approach, and illustrate their method by carrying out a transcultural inquiry into the complexities involved in understanding shi and fei and their cognate phrases in the Warring States texts, the Zhuangzi in particular. The authors discuss important features of Zhuangzi's stance with regard to language-meaning, knowledge-doubt, questioning, equalizing, and his well-known deconstruction of the discourse in ancient China on shifei. Ma and van Brakel suggest that shi and fei apply to both descriptive and prescriptive languages and do not presuppose any fact/value dichotomy, and thus cannot be translated as either true/false or right/wrong. Instead, shi and fei can be grasped in terms of a pre-philosophical notion of fitting. Ma and van Brakel also highlight Zhuangzi's idea of "walking-two-roads" as the most significant component of his stance. In addition, they argue that all of Zhuangzi's positive recommendations are presented in a language whose meaning is not fixed and that every stance he is committed to remains subject to fundamental questioning as a way of life.

Doing Philosophy Comparatively

Doing Philosophy Comparatively PDF Author: Tim Connolly
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1350177571
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 313

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Book Description
What standards should we use to evaluate culturally distinct philosophies? What kind of barrier does language or cultural difference pose in our attempts to understand other traditions? How do we avoid our comparisons being biased? Doing Philosophy Comparatively answers these questions by providing a thorough overview of the methodology involved in extending philosophy across linguistic and cultural boundaries. Now revised and updated to showcase the most recent developments in the field, this second edition engages with philosophies beyond the Anglo-European tradition and features: · Examples of cross-cultural philosophy from a wider range of non-Western traditions · Methodological innovations from works of comparative philosophy published in the last decade · Focused exercises for each chapter demonstrating how to interact meaningfully with primary texts and engage with recent debates in comparative philosophy · Updated discussion questions and readings Introducing the main problems, methods, and approaches of comparative philosophy, this new edition shows you how to make informed cross-cultural judgments through reflection and practice. It remains an essential toolkit for the practice of doing comparative philosophy.

Intercultural Philosophy

Intercultural Philosophy PDF Author: Ram Adhar Mall
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 0847692787
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 168

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Book Description
This title seeks to develop a discouse on different cultures, philosophies and religions. The author approaches the study fo philosophy from a cross-cultural perspective allowing for fundamental similarities and illuminating differences between cultures.

After Appropriation: Explorations in Intercultural Philosophy and Religion

After Appropriation: Explorations in Intercultural Philosophy and Religion PDF Author: Morny Joy
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781552385852
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
While there have been a number of specialized books in the field of comparative philosophy, and many in the field of comparative religion, there are few scholars who can address both disciplines. Furthermore, when these disciplines are virtually mutually exclusive, as in Western academia, a full appreciation of non-Western approaches to either religion or philosophy is not easily attained, and distortions, such as appropriation, often occur. Within the last ten years, there has been a concerted effort on the part of a number of Western scholars to try to address these deficiencies. A unique workshop held at the University of Calgary in 2007 marked the beginning of an interdisciplinary project to bring together scholars from both fields for discussion on a regular basis. After Appropriation consists of thirteen essays stemming from the workshop, each of which addresses an issue or illustrates a problem in the interdisciplinary field of comparative religion and philosophy as it is presently conceived. Many misappropriations and exclusions have arisen from the Western tendency to reduce and manipulate the ideas and values of non-Western religions and philosophies to fit within Western concepts and categories. How might comparative philosophy and religion change if the concepts and categories of non-Western philosophies and religions were taken as primary? The volume explores this question through analytic and phenomenological Western approaches, infused with fresh strategies and modalities derived from or inspired by non-Western traditions. In a world of increasing pluralism and continuing globalization, there is a growing need to elevate discussion on these issues to a more sophisticated level. A truly groundbreaking collection, After Appropriation inaugurates an entirely new integrative discipline of comparative religion and philosophy, and the exceptional calibre and wide spectrum of the book's scholarship will stimulate and propel further interest in this pivotal and fruitful direction.

Comparative Philosophy and Method

Comparative Philosophy and Method PDF Author: Steven Burik
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1350155047
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 281

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Book Description
Addressing arguments that comparative philosophy is itself impossible, or that it is indistinguishable from philosophy more generally, this collection challenges myopic understandings of comparative method and encourages a more informed consideration. Bringing together a wide variety of methodological options, it features scholars spread across the globe representing multiple philosophical traditions. From the beginnings of comparative philosophy in the 19th century to present-day proposals for more global philosophy departments, every chapter serves as a viable methodological alternative for any would-be philosophical comparativist. With contributions from leading comparativists that are both distinctive in their method and explicit about its application, this valuable resource challenges and enriches the awareness and sensitivity of the beginning comparativist and seasoned veteran alike.

Worldviews and Cultures

Worldviews and Cultures PDF Author: Nicole Note
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1402057547
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 209

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Book Description
Globalization brings people and cultures together, producing, in addition to deep and rich encounters, exclusion, racism, xenophobia and asymmetries. The present book takes these issues implicitly as its starting point by thoroughly reflecting on them from a perspective of worldviews, as one of many approaches. More specifically, it focuses on people’s implicit and explicit interpretations and assumptions of the world, of themselves and of others. Often deeply rooted and hard to change, they have an important function, for without them we would continually need to question what we do and what we think. In their absolutist form, these assumptions may become a barrier for open-mindedness, and hence for deep intercultural understanding and exchange. We need to find a balance between both stances. Intercultural philosophy tries to fulfil this role, on the one hand by comparing different cultures on a deep philosophical level, and as a way to better understand each other’s core assumptions, and on the other hand by arguing for an intercultural philosophy grounded in specific cases. The contributions of this book conceive of "another possible world" which does not condemn cultural and religious diversity as a detonator for "Clashes of Civilizations", but rather welcomes it as a source of inspiration for all and of respect for the "different".

Buddhist Literature as Philosophy, Buddhist Philosophy as Literature

Buddhist Literature as Philosophy, Buddhist Philosophy as Literature PDF Author: Rafal K. Stepien
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438480725
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 455

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Book Description
Can literature reveal reality? Is philosophical truth a literary artifice? How does the way we think affect what we can know? Buddhism has been grappling with these questions for centuries, and this book attempts to answer them by exploring the relationship between literature and philosophy across the classical and contemporary Buddhist worlds of India, Tibet, China, Japan, Korea, and North America. Written by leading scholars, the book examines literary texts composed over two millennia, ranging in form from lyric verse, narrative poetry, panegyric, hymn, and koan, to novel, hagiography, (secret) autobiography, autofiction, treatise, and sutra, all in sustained conversation with topics in metaphysics, ethics, aesthetics, and the philosophies of mind, language, literature, and religion. Interdisciplinary and cross-cultural, this book deliberately works across and against the boundaries separating three mainstays of humanistic pursuit—literature, philosophy, and religion—by focusing on the multiple relationships at play between content and form in works drawn from a truly diverse range of philosophical schools, literary genres, religious cultures, and historical eras. Overall, the book calls into question the very ways in which we do philosophy, study literature, and think about religious texts. It shows that Buddhist thought provides sophisticated responses to some of the perennial problems regarding how we find, create, and apply meaning—on the page, in the mind, and throughout our lives.

Kyoto School Philosophy in Comparative Perspective

Kyoto School Philosophy in Comparative Perspective PDF Author: Bernard Stevens
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1666920495
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 183

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Book Description
This book presents the thought of the Kyoto School in comparison with continental philosophers better known in the West and addresses the affiliation of some of its members with the militarism of the 1930s and 1940s.

Can Different Cultures Think the Same Thoughts?

Can Different Cultures Think the Same Thoughts? PDF Author: Kenneth Dorter
Publisher: University of Notre Dame Pess
ISBN: 0268103569
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 343

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Book Description
Kenneth Dorter’s Can Different Cultures Think the Same Thoughts? is a study of fundamental issues in metaphysics and ethics across major philosophical traditions of the world, including the way in which metaphysics can be a foundation for ethics, as well as the importance of metaphysics on its own terms. Dorter examines such questions through a detailed comparison of selected major thinkers and classic works in three global philosophical traditions, those of India, China, and the West. In each chapter Dorter juxtaposes and compares two or more philosophers or classic works from different traditions, from Spinoza and Shankara, to Confucius and Plato, to Marcus Aurelius and the Bhagavad Gita. In doing so he explores different perspectives and reveals limitations and assumptions that might otherwise be obscure. The goal of Dorter’s cross-cultural approach is to consider how far works from different cultures can be understood as holding comparable philosophical views. Although Dorter reveals commonalities across the different traditions, he makes no claim that there is such a thing as a universal philosophy. Clearly there are fundamental disagreements among the philosophers and works studied. Yet in each of the case studies of a particular chapter, we can discover a shared, or at least analogous, way of looking at issues across different cultures. All those interested in metaphysics, ethics, Indian philosophy, Chinese philosophy, and comparative philosophy will find much of interest in this book.