Phenomenology and Intercultural Understanding: Toward a New Cultural Flesh (Contributions to Phenomenology, 87)

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. Front Matter....Pages i-xi Introduction: Cultural Flesh and Intercultural Understanding: A Phenomenological Approach....Pages 1-19 Para-deconstruction: Preliminary Considerations for a Phenomenology of Interculturality....Pages 21-34 To What Extent Can Phenomenology Do Justice to Chinese Philosophy? A Phenomenological Reading of Laozi....Pages 35-52 Husserl, Buddhism and the Crisis of European Sciences....Pages 53-66 Jan Patočka: Critical Consciousness and Non-Eurocentric Philosopher of the Phenomenological Movement....Pages 67-83 Europe Beyond Europe: Patočka’s Concept of Care for the Soul and Mencius. An Intercultural Consideration....Pages 85-102 Disenchanted World-View and Intercultural Understanding: From Husserl Through Kant to Chinese Culture....Pages 103-124 Self-Transformation and the Ethical Telos: Orientative Philosophy in Lao Sze-Kwang, Foucault and Husserl....Pages 125-151 Lévi-Strauss and Merleau-Ponty: From Nature-Culture Distinction to Savage Spirit and Their Intercultural Implications....Pages 153-171 The Flesh: From Ontological Employment to Intercultural Employment....Pages 173-191 Conclusion: Toward a New Cultural Flesh....Pages 193-229 Back Matter....Pages 231-256