Interpreting Chinese Philosophy: A New Methodology

Description

Understanding Chinese philosophy requires knowledge of the referential framework prevailing in Chinese intellectual traditions. But Chinese philosophical texts are frequently approached through the lens of Western paradigms. Analysing the most common misconceptions surrounding Western Sinology, Jana Rošker alerts us to unseen dangers and introduces us to a new more effective way of reading Chinese philosophy. Acknowledging that different cultures produce different reference points, Rošker explains what happens we use rational analysis, a major feature of the European intellectual tradition, to read Chinese philosophy. We rely on impossible comparisons, arrive at prejudiced assumptions and fail to arrive at the truth, the consequence of applying a different methodology to the process of perceiving, understanding and interpreting reality. Instead of transferring concepts and categories from Western sinology onto socio-cultural Chinese contexts, Rošker constructs a new methodology of reading, understanding and interpreting Chinese philosophy. She opens our eyes to the basic problems of Western paradigms, encourages intercultural approaches and allows us to master a more autochthonous understanding of Chinese philosophy. Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Contents Acknowledgments Prologue: Chinese Philosophy—Fact or Fiction? Chapter 1: Referential Framework 1.1 Problems of Transcultural Research 1.2 A Contrastive Analysis of Two Frameworks 1.3 Specific Features of the Chinese Model Chapter 2: Basic Paradigms 2.1 A Structural Network of Dynamic Relations 2.2 Vital Potential or Vital Creativeness 2.3 Dialectical Thought and Proper Measure Chapter 3: Chinese Logic as a Basis of Classical Chinese Theory 3.1 Semantic Nature of Chinese Logic 3.2 Chinese Analogies Chapter 4: Methods and Approaches 4.1 Analytical and Hermeneutic Procedures 4.2 Problems of Transcultural Comparative Philosophy Epilogue: Relation as the Core of Understanding Notes Glossary Sources and Literature Index