I will argue for three points. The first is on the need to make Chinese philosophy a world philosophy. The second point is that, in order to promote Chinese philosophy as a world philosophy we should ...not historicize philosophy. Philosophy and history are two different disciplines. As important as historical context is, overemphasizing it or even taking philosophy merely as a matter of intellectual history makes it difficult for non-specialists to study Chinese philosophy, and is therefore counter-productive to advancing it as a world philosophy. A good balance is thus needed in order to develop Chinese philosophy in response to contemporary needs and not to exclude a large number of non-specialists from studying and drawing on it. My third point is that comparative philosophy is the most effective way to study, examine and develop Chinese philosophy as a world philosophy. Comparative philosophy provides a much needed bridge across different cultures for philosophy to connect on the world stage.
Confucianism cannot be posited as merely a philosophical tradition, but can nevertheless be said to possess key elements of a philosophy of ethics, which have time and again been able to transcend ...both the tradition’s historical as well cultural bounds. While Huang Chun-chieh points out that it is more appropriate to speak of Confucianisms, plural, core Confucian values and notions possess the ability to move from context to context while retaining certain characteristics and changing others. The proper approach to the study of Confucianisms should therefore be interdisciplinary and in line with the new method of East Asian Confucianisms, where philosophy should also have an important part to play. Understood within the bounds of the project of Confucian philosophy (a project that can be seen as dynamic and ongoing in the global environment of the 21st century), a broader and more diverse range of expressions of Confucian thought—particularly through the methods of both East Asian Confucianisms and of comparative philosophy as an effort of a more equal and inclusive philosophical dialogue—could help throw new light on important aspects of Confucian philosophical thought. While the methods of East Asian Confucinisms and of comparative philosophy are different in their aims and scope, they also share common sensibilities.
Sublating Sinic Relationism Jana S. Rošker
Asian studies (Quezon City, Philippines),
09/2022, Volume:
10, Issue:
3
Journal Article
Open access
This paper aims to bring into the global ethics debate concrete alternative models of specific relational ethics developed in the context of Sinic traditions that have not yet been widely introduced ...into Western scholarship or integrated into the framework of global discourses on ethics and morality. Although much research has been done on certain elements and aspects of such ethical models, there have been no concrete attempts to incorporate them into a global axiological framework that could have helped humanity develop strategies for solving the current global crises we face. The paper first provides a critical overview of the conceptual history, specific characteristics, and social relevance of relationism. It then addresses the question of how relational ethical models could be integrated into the value system of contemporary global ethics without reproducing the still dominant normativity of Western epistemology and its corresponding axiology. After highlighting some problems related to the methodology and structure of traditional models of comparative philosophy and ethics, the author suggests that this integration of relationism into the general framework of global ethics could be done by applying a new method, which can be tentatively called the method of transcultural philosophical sublation. Starting from different frames of reference that define the basic tenets of modern Western and traditional Chinese axiology, the author demonstrates the application of this method on the example of different conceptions of the human self.
The present study, primarily of a theoretical nature, endeavors to accomplish two distinct objectives. First and foremost, it endeavors to engage in a thoughtful examination of the metaphysical ...significance that Anaximander’s philosophy embodies within the context of the nascent Western philosophical tradition. Furthermore, it aims to investigate how it was contemporaneous Buddhist thought, coeval with Anaximander’s era, that more explicitly elucidated the concept of the “void” as an inherent aspect of authentic existence. This elucidation was articulated through aphoristic discourse rather than being reliant on formal logical reasoning or structured arguments.
This collection of essays highlights that, despite its history of conflict, Bosnia and Herzegovina has a real enthusiasm for comparative philosophy. It illustrates the role of this type of philosophy ...in Bosnian culture and links it with developments in other parts of the world and other cultures.Part One consists of essays that have appeared, in slightly revised versions, in a number of journals and books that focus on relevant resources introducing this field in our region and especially Bosnia and Herzegovina, while Part Two consists of interviews with prominent scholars outside of this country.The book examines the challenges confronting the teaching of comparative philosophy within the university-level philosophy curriculum in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the surrounding countries in the Balkans, a part of the world where multicultural societies are the norm. Facing the twenty-first century, these confluences and cross-currents are increasingly gaining importance, especially in this region, with a comparativism of ethnocentrism and multiculturalism becoming a way of challenging stereotypes.
The fundamental divisions in ethics Hammerton, Matthew
Inquiry (Oslo),
07/01/2022, Volume:
ahead-of-print, Issue:
ahead-of-print
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
What are the fundamental divisions in ethics? Which divisions capture the most important and basic options in moral theorizing? In this article, I reject the 'Textbook View' which takes the ...tripartite division between consequentialism, deontology, and virtue ethics to be fundamental. Instead, I suggest that moral theories are fundamentally divided into three independent divisions, which I call the neutral/relative division, the normative priority division, and the maximizing division. I argue that this account of the fundamental divisions of ethics better captures the main concerns that normative ethicists have when assessing moral theories. It also helps us make progress in comparative ethics and makes visible theoretical possibilities obscured by the Textbook View.
This paper stems from the challenge of translating Pirandello’s plays into Swahili and is aimed to open up a polylogue between Italian and Swahili literature. Therefore, in searching for connections ...between Luigi Pirandello’s and Penina Muhando’s plays, this paper will explore multiple masks engaged in a reciprocal dialogue among the following six selected plays: Enrico IV (‘Henry IV,’ Pirandello 1921); Così è, Se vi pare (‘It is so, if you think so!’ Pirandello 1917); Il Berretto a Sonagli (‘Cap and bells,’ Pirandello 1916); Pambo (‘Decoration,’ Muhando 1975); Nguzo mama (‘The Mother Pillar,’ Muhando 1982); and Lina ubani (‘An Antidote to Rot,’ Muhando 1984). In conclusion, this study will illustrate how different forms of sociohistorical alienation, which encircle the twentieth century, are stylistically represented in these plays through the characters who wear the masks of madness, or ‘sage-madness.’ To allow an in-depth analysis of the plays this study will be divided into two parts. Part one will examine Enrico IV (‘Henry IV,’ Pirandello 1921) and Pambo (‘Decoration,’ Muhando 1975). Part Two will examine Così è, Se vi pare (‘It is so, if you think so!’ Pirandello 1917); Nguzo mama (‘The Mother Pillar,’ Muhando 1982); Il Berretto a Sonagli (‘Cap and bells,’ Pirandello 1916); and Lina ubani (‘An Antidote to Rot,’ Muhando 1984).
An appreciation of the emphasis on flexibility in the Analects is one of the most consistent motifs in the various interpretations of this text. When applied specifically to normative readings, ...embracing adaptability, having malleable standards, and taking particulars into account are both promising and challenging ways to think about whether something might be moral or ethical. This paper attempts to deconstruct this familiar discussion along novel lines that can reveal new ways to reflect on the importance of flexibility in the Analects, while, at the same time, it reconstrues ways in which comparative projects might be oriented. The main argument is this: the Analects does not recognize a categorical distinction between a moral and non-moral realm. Whereas, in much modern academic thought, there is a distinction between what counts as contingencies and what is up to the individual, which, in turn, loosely corresponds to the non-moral and moral realms, the Analects does not make such clear distinctions. Everything, including core moral issues such as the individual’s own choice, moral guidelines, and the contextualization of (moral) models, is all ultimately grounded in contingencies. Nevertheless, the Analects provides ways of reflecting on choices and actions that aim to steer people in specific directions. We may understand this as a type of morality, but one that is significantly distinct from those wherein the difference between the moral (non-contingent) and non-moral (contingent) is foundational.
The paper scrutinizes a classic passage from Heidegger, in which he argues that Weltanschauung is predominantly a Modern concept and that there was nothing similar in Antiquity. Using a comparative ...method, I try to demonstrate that it is possible to reconstruct a kind of genealogy of the concept of worldview and to show clues as to its phenomena in Hellenic culture and philosophy and in Early Modern thought. Being not just a linguistic phenomenon, worldview could be analyzed as a metaconcept, articulated in non-Modern contexts and recognized as a “worldview” in terms of Modern philosophy. Considering the ancient Greek notion of αἵρεσις, I show its principle aspects in the sense of “philosophical school”. I hold that it is possible to parallel it with the term Weltanschauung, coined in the German philosophical tradition and possessing its own epistemological features. To prove my argument, I refer to the ideas of Ancient Greek and Hellenic thinkers as well as the most eminent supporters and critics of the concept of Weltanschauung in Modern (primarily German) philosophies. In Conclusions I summarize the main traits I consider commensurate with those of αἵρεσις, which are: 1. Emergence in “turning points” of pivotal historical periods; 2. Articulation of the idea of wholeness and coherence of the Universe (the World); 3. One’s free-will choice to support a concrete doctrine or point of view to the Universe in connection with its comprehension and one’s moral principles.
This paper will attend to the emergence of the concept of assemblage in human geography and looks towards some vigilant steps we might take in using Deleuze and Guattari's version of it The paper is ...in three parts: first, it briefly looks backwards, charting this emergence to the uptake of the work of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari as a counterpoint and extension of the earlier engagement with the concept of the network, primarily in actor-network theory (ANT); second, it makes this argument for being vigilant with assemblages through focusing attention on the tetravalent characteristics of the concept of the Deleuze-Guattarian assemblage, emphasising the way this points to alternative arrays of matter and thought This segues into the third section, which situates the debates in our contemporary understandings of our technological and biochemical condition. The point being that we need precisely the kind of assemblage thinking proposed by Deleuze and Guattari to seize the agenda on the emergent micro-and eco-logical implications these arrays of matter and thought produce; the agenda proposed is exampled through understanding the assemblage concept through the work of Catherine Malabou on that of plasticity and habit, clear extensions in the 21st century of Deleuze and Guattari's earlier ideas.
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