For a philosophy of comparisons: the problems of comparative studies in relation with Daoism (original) (raw)

Rethinking Comparative Philosophical Methodology: In Response to Weber's Criticism

Philosophy East and West, 2018

Since the debates on the methodology of comparative philosophy inaugurated by Philosophy East and West in the 1950s, the cultural approach to comparative philosophy has become the default method. Ralph Weber's recent meta-methodological reflection sheds light on the methodological predicament of comparative philosophy. He argues that the "contemporary dominance of cultures in comparative philosophy", or the "rely[ing] on cultures as philosophically relevant pre-comparative tertium", has been an "unwarranted assumption" and causing problems. He calls for a "(self-)critical engagement with comparative philosophy" with the help of his "analytical tool" of comparison. I examine Weber's analytical tool and argue that its general applicability and potential unbridled use can lead to a conflict between its own legitimacy and the legitimacy of comparative philosophy as a sui generis sub-discipline of philosophy as it is, namely, an established sub-discipline that largely functions as "intercultural" or "trans-cultural philosophy". Comparative philosophy is not justified by an exclusive philosophical method of comparison. Looking for a standard comparison from a reductionist perspective and challenging the validity of the cultural approach from a Whig historical point of view are problematic. By analogy to scientific research, I defend the cultural approach, and argue that comparative philosophy, as de facto "inter-cultural philosophy", should be viewed as philosophical data analysis from different spatiotemporal origins, in order to achieve better explanatory power for philosophical study. It also has a historical legitimacy by functioning as a trans-cultural communication or conversation in the age of globalization. Philosophy in China, as a discipline shipped from the West, has a peculiar methodological predicament. It has always embedded an innate West-East comparative dimension, even in so-called "Chinese philosophy". A particular sub-discipline as comparative philosophy, as "intercultural" or "trans-cultural philosophy" per se, is redundant, while philosophical study in China, insofar as it deals with data analysis from different intercultural sources, is fundamentally defined by, and truly embodies, the methodology of comparative philosophy. I call for engaging in the comparative study of philosophy as a philosophical experiment that aims to identify the common issues and provides diverse solutions, via a possible thorough analysis of the philosophical data from various spatiotemporal origins. Comparative philosophy, as a joint project for inter-cultural communication and dialogue rests on the collective effort of participants from all over the world.

Heidegger's Legacy for Comparative Philosophy and the Laozi

international Journal of China Studies, 2020

The ancient text known as the Laozi Daodejing is a treasure of Chinese culture and civilization, and it also represents one of the world classics of religion and philosophy. However, it is also a notoriously difficult work to interpret, and modern scholars have exerted tremendous energy in attempting to make an overall sense of just what the text is all about: is it religious or philosophical? Is it a synthetically coherent work with a unified perspective, or an anthology of disparate ideas compiled from multiple sources? Is its main character, the anonymous sage, a master of bodily techniques living in mountain reclusion, or an enlightened ruler who manipulates the Dao from his royal throne to order an empire? The famous German philosopher, Martin Heidegger (1889-1976), himself dabbled in the thought of the Laozi, and in doing so he opened a novel phenomenological reading of the text that rejected the metaphysics traditionally read into it, but his approach had little impact until the discovery of several excavated versions of the ancient manuscript that appear to confirm his phenomenological interpretation. Since then, a growing number of contemporary scholars are accepting, absorbing, and furthering this phenomenological reading of the Laozi, allowing them to make great progress in exploring its religious and philosophical foundations that have deeply influenced Chinese culture and society for more than two thousand years. This paper examines this legacy bequeathed by Heidegger to Laozi studies as well as comparative philosophy more generally.

'The view from above': a theory of comparative philosophy

Religious Studies, 2019

What if doing philosophy across cultures is always implicitly a matter of metaphilosophy-of articulating more clearly the nature of philosophy itself? What if it forces us to 'stand back' hermeneutically and map out a 'view from above' of the underlying fabric of ideas-in their constitutive concepts, their relations to other ways of thinking, and their potential to be configured in alternative fascinating and fruitful ways? This article incorporates existing approaches to comparative philosophy within a single scheme of complementary philosophical activities, and a single overarching metaphilosophical project. These approaches are 1. 'archival' (exploring parallel but separate philosophical traditions), 2. 'equivalentist' (comparing traditions in terms of analogies and contrasts), and 3. 'problem-solving' (using multiple traditions to provide philosophical solutions). I situate these within 4. the overarching hermeneutic project of 'mapping' concepts and their possibilities. Drawing on Jay Garfield, Arindam Chakrabarti, and John Shand, as well as Hans-Georg Gadamer and Jorge Luis Borges, I show how philosophising across cultures gives us a 'view from above' of conceptual structure itself.

Translating Theory in the Perspective of Daoism

Sociology Study, 2018

This paper aims to explore the translating theory with the terms in the Dao De Jing such as Dao, De, Being, Non-being, Yin, Yang, Integrated, Harmony, Form, Spirit, Qi, Emptiness, Tranquility, Inspiration, Sitting Down, and Forgetting. The translating process is to deconstruct Dao in the SL (source language) and the TL (target language). Numerous translation approaches or techniques all can hug their counterparts in the Daoism, revealing the underlying position of the first Chinese philosophy, whose ontology is Dao, following the way of nature, the self-way. The great Dao is of abstract metaphysical theory, and the I-being is the self experience and conscientiousness of translators, both of which invite open-mindedness, selflessness, balance, and ongoing initiative. Being and non-being are antitheses. Being comes from non-being, whose revelation is being, De. SL is of being, the translating of which is non-being. Non-action proclaims that one’s conduct shall be natural, spontaneous, and balanced. The translating process reflects the harmonies of Yin and Yang in the two versions. Qi, a force or a momentum in the two texts, the flowing thoughts, undergoes with infinitesimal of purposed involvement but effortless job. Your translating product attributes to your nature, and your self-cultivation of the two languages.

Need and the Inevitiability of Comparing

2011

1. Understanding and Comparing as Basic to the Human Condition 1.1. Hermeneutics, a Definition 2. Brief History of Interpretation 2.1. Reconstruction of Meaning: How Do We Read? 2.2. Construction of Meaning: How Do We Communicate? 2.3. Deconstruction of Encrusted Meaning: How do we shape understanding? 2.4. The Hermeneutical Circle 3. Brief History of Comparative Literature 3.1. Recognizing Otherness (the Stranger) 3.2. World Literature and the Trade in Cultural Goods 4. Reading the World – Connecting Cultures 4.1. Fore-understanding and pre-judgment 4.2. Horizons of Understanding 5. Globalism: From Disjuncture to Conjuncture Glossary Bibliography Biographical Sketch