Phenomenology and Intercultural Understanding

This book approaches the topic of intercultural understanding in philosophy from a phenomenological perspective. It provides a bridge between Western and Eastern philosophy through in-depth discussion of concepts and doctrines of phenomenology and ancient and contemporary Chinese philosophy. Phenomenological readings of Daoist and Buddhist philosophies are provided: the reader will find a study of theoretical and methodological issues and innovative readings of traditional Chinese and Indian philosophies from the phenomenological perspective. The author uses a descriptive rigor to avoid cultural prejudices and provides a non-Eurocentric conception and practice of philosophy. Through this East-West comparative study, a compelling criticism of a Eurocentric conception of philosophy emerges. New concepts and methods in intercultural philosophy are proposed through these chapters.  Researchers, teachers, post-graduates and students of philosophy will all find this work intriguing, and those with an interest in non-Western philosophy or phenomenology will find it particularly engaging. 

This book approaches the topic of intercultural understanding in philosophy from a phenomenological perspective. It provides a bridge between Western and Eastern philosophy through in-depth discussion of concepts and doctrines of phenomenology and ancient and contemporary Chinese philosophy. Phenomenological readings of Daoist and Buddhist philosophies are provided: the reader will find a study of theoretical and methodological issues and innovative readings of traditional Chinese and Indian philosophies from the phenomenological perspective. The author uses a descriptive rigor to avoid cultural prejudices and provides a non-Eurocentric conception and practice of philosophy. Through this East-West comparative study, a compelling criticism of a Eurocentric conception of philosophy emerges. New concepts and methods in intercultural philosophy are proposed through these chapters.  Researchers, teachers, post-graduates and students of philosophy will all find this work intriguing, and those with an interest in non-Western philosophy or phenomenology will find it particularly engaging. 

Author’s Preface.- Introduction: Cultural Flesh and Intercultural Understanding: A Phenomenological Approach.- Para-deconstruction: Preliminary Considerations for a Phenomenology of Interculturality.- To What Extent Can Phenomenology Do Justice To Chinese Philosophy? Attempt at a Phenomenological Reading of Laoz.- Husserl, Buddhism and the Crisis of European Sciences.- Jan Patočka: Critical Consciousness and Non-Eurocentric Philosopher of the Phenomenological Movement.- Patočka’s Concept of Europe: an Intercultural Consideration.- Disenchanted World-view and Intercultural Understanding: from Husserl through Kant to Chinese Culture.- Self-transformation and the Ethical Telos: Orientative Philosophy in Lao Sze-Kwang, Foucault and Husserl.- Lévi-Strauss and Merleau-Ponty: from Nature-Culture Distinction to Savage Spirit and their Intercultural Implications.- The Flesh: from Ontological Employment to Intercultural Employment.- Bibliography.- Index of Names.- Index of Terms.