Intercultural Philosophy

The influence of Buddhist philosophy on Charles Sanders Peirce’s triadic semiotic pragmaticism is well-known, but only in very general terms. Not many a work has tried to develop the consequences of a Peircean interpretation of Buddhism and, reciprocally, a Buddhist development of Peirce’s philosophy. And yet, Buddhism can teach us a lot about the limitations of our existing conceptual categories as well as the need to achieve a transformation of awareness by strengthening phenomenological sensibilities. In this paper, intercultural philosophy will be embraced as an endeavour of cultivating semiotic roots for taking Abhidharma Buddhist routes of analysing consciousness and perception. The attempted cross-fertilisation between Buddhism, semiotics, and phenomenology (including dharma analysis and Peirce’s own version of a systemic phaneroscopy) is hoped to contribute to epistemological biodiversity and dialogue by “impregnating” Charles Sanders Peirce’s spiritually profound philosophy of signs with Indian Buddhist philosophical conceptions. Buddhist Abhidharma theory, which deconstructs commonsense objects into dharmas as minimal constituents of experience or states of consciousness, has an elaborate processual view to offer for exploring phenomenological similarities between Buddhist conceptions and Peirce’s phaneroscopy. Against this background, synergies between semiotic roots and Buddhist routes are going to be worked out on the hypothesis that Buddhism, with its focus on processes of cognition rather than on substantial entities, corresponds in a deep sense to Peirce’s notion of a universe conceived as existing almost entirely of signs and relations. In fact, the so-called “higher doctrine” of Abhi-dharma, whose intricate “scholastic” analyses of philosophical and psychological issues boil down to a veritable theory of consciousness, echoes the Peircean notion of a universe “perfused with signs” (CP 5.448) in a whole range of its interpretations.

Cosa vuol dire “Negazione”? Elemento centrale dell’esperienza umana di ogni tempo, sia per il ruolo grammaticale in ogni linguaggio che per le conseguenze a livello etico, morale e sociale, tentare di identificare il modo con cui essa agisce al di là del senso comune vuol dire comprenderne le implicazioni, dal punto di vista di come essa agisce e di cosa può suggerire al pensiero contemporaneo. Ma indagarla da un punto di vista unicamente filosofico, occidentale, rischia di impoverire ulteriormente la sua carica trasformativa: è per questo che il percorso che questo volume compie si struttura in senso interculturale ed interdisciplinare.
I contributi qui raccolti sono infatti frutto di un dialogo tra diverse competenze e differenti approcci: filosofia e filologia si intrecciano per cercare di illuminare il simbolo della negazione da diverse angolature, da oriente ad occidente, lasciando che essa risplenda nella sua interezza. Il presente volume quindi si offre come una riflessione sull’argomento della negazione per chiunque voglia approfondirne il tema – riflessione frutto anche di un dialogo fecondo tra gli autori e le rispettive discipline.


Con i contributi di: Aldo Tollini, Giangiorgio Pasqualotto, Federica Sgnaolin, Massimiliano Cabella, Luigi Vero Tarca, Antonio Rigopoulos, Emanuela Magno, Gianni Pellegrini, Laura Candiotto, Marcello Ghilardi, Leonardo Marcato.

American philosophy (liberation, literal plurality, continental and national identity, anti-positivistic emotionalism and intuitionalism, mestizo-philosophy, indigenous wisdom, unity of universal and regional principles, social-practical, ethical and intercultural orientation). These topics are paradigmatically outlined by means of the portraits of pioneering poets, philosophers, and traditions of Latin America. The most convincing approach of the present seeks for an intercultural formatting and performance of philosophical issues, which includes a sensibility for the hybrid character of many Latin American realities and the attempt to identify universal insights in local traditions. Latin American intercultural philosophy avoids relativism and relies on discovering and developing communal ethical standards which link cultures.

Both Socrates and Mozi are said in Plato’s dialogues and in the Mozi respectively to have claimed that they are living a sort of life following superhuman “intention”: Socrates according to the Delphic oracle, and Mozi the intention of heaven. Some modern philosophers show discomfort with their “superstitious” attitudes, taking the claims literally as a kind of groundless devotion, while others conjecture “sensible” purposes to understand the mystic elements as providing moral lessons. This paper, by responding to these modern revisions of their doctrines, aims at highlighting the necessity of their (re-)introductions of superhuman perspectives to their inquiries. Through examining the similarities in Plato’s and Mohists’ demonstrations, the suggestion made will be that despite countless incommensurable features, heaven’s intention for Mohists offers a fundamental philosophical basis which enables them to develop arguments by means of sharp dichotomies, what is right or wrong, in the same way that Socrates in the Apology and in the Hippias Minor does for the development of Plato’s constructive endeavour beyond his Socratic a/euporetic legacy. Not only are their practices dependent on the presupposition of the existence of a perspective beyond humans, but also the reality of that perspective is established though their own investigative practices.

During the past decades, the sub-discipline of intercultural philosophy continued to emerge in exchange between different regions of the world (mainly Europe, India, China and Latin America). By discussing some pros and cons of this timely approach, such as the search for intercultural translated notions and functions (“homomorphous equivalents”) beyond all forms of cultural ethnocentrism (a process termed “polylogues” instead of dialogues), this chapter introduces various theoretical and practical aspects, believed to be of relevance for the intra-Ecuadorian debate on interculturality.
Drawing in particular on intercultural centrism theory, elaborated by the Austrian philosopher Franz Martin Wimmer, an analytical framework is provided to discern different positions toward a more honest intercultural polylogue. Using this framework in an exemplary way, in a second step two prominent cases of the Ecuadorian debates are critically assessed with regard to their impact on interculturality: the Organic Communication Act of 2013 and the Intercultural University Amawtay Wasi, shut down by the authorities in the same year.
As a result of the discussion of their cases, it is shown that neither approach manages to avoid certain centristic fallacies and that therefore more attention to international debates on interculturally would provide fruitful tools and advances for the domestic treatment of interculturality.

this is an expanded version of: Eric S. Nelson, "Reflections of a Zen Buddhist Nun by Kim Iryŏp (review)." Philosophy East and West, vol. 66 no. 3, 2016, pp. 1049-1051. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/pew.2016.0070
For the original review, see: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/626982

In order to self-critically investigate the methodological assumptions of semiotics, the present paper sets out to explore the Buddhist epistemological and soteriological ideal of signlessness. Against the background of describing thought forms as paradigmatic modes of knowledge representation within a transdisciplinary and intercultural framework, the challenge in methodological terms is to accommodate (or at least point to) the very opposite of conceptual categories and theoretical modes of perceiving the world. In keeping with the aims of a cybersemiotic philology of Buddhist knowledge forms (Lettner in Vidales and Brier, Intr. to Cybersemiotics, in press), I will argue that Charles Sanders Peirce’s pragmaticist theory of thought-signs offers itself as a valuable approach both for providing a semiotic reading of Buddhism and for exploring deep-structural affinities between Indian Buddhist theories of consciousness and Peircean philosophy. Taking a look at how (phenomenal) “forms of consciousness” are embedded in the karmically regulated flux of dharmas will provide us with the necessary background for understanding the workings of language and conceptual construction from a Buddhist perspective. More specifically, the idea is to bring into view the complex feedback relations between psychological, ontological and soteriological forms of being and knowing. Thus, in a first step I am going to offer a Peircean interpretation of “dependent arising” (Pāli paṭiccasamuppāda; Sanskrit pratītyasamutpāda) with regard to the semiosic genesis of karmically conditioned and psychophysically embodied “forms of consciousness” as modes of living embodiment: that is, “life forms”. In a second step, we are going to consider how the Buddhist path towards liberation achieves a transformation of consciousness precisely by going against the grain of conditioned causality, as the suffering implied by a potentially unlimited cycle of “becoming” (and semiosic activity!) gives way to signless awareness.

What makes Mama Pacha so dear to self-identified Indigenous Christian- Andean communities and so unpalatable to many theologians and Christian churches’ officials? This article explores Mama Pacha as God’s Spirit present in the world. Through a decolonial indigenous feminist epistemology, I approach Mama Pacha interculturally, encountering Her within her cultural and philosophical framework. I creatively engage Andean philosophy or Pachasofía and its logic, interpreting reality as ontologically relational and fluid, challenging Western theological and philosophical categories. In this process, I retrieve an ancient female understanding of God, one that upholds the dignity and intrinsic value of indigenous women and creation.

¿Qué es lo que hace tan querida a la Mama Pacha entre las comunidades Indígenas Cristianas de los Andes y tan desagradable entre los teólogos y representantes de las iglesias cristianas? Este artículo explora a la Mama Pacha como el Espíritu de Dios presente en el mundo. A través de una epistemología indígena descolonizadora y feminista, me acerco a la Mama Pacha interculturalmente, dentro de su entorno cultural y filosófico. Creativamente interpreto la filosofía Andina o Pachasofía y su lógica que describen la realidad como fluida y ontológicamente relacional, desafiando la teología y filosofía occidentales. Finalmente, recupero la concepción ancestral de Dios femenino que sostiene la dignidad y el valor intrínseco de las mujeres indígenas y la creación.

O que o torna tão cara a Mama Pacha entre as comunidades indígenas cristãs nos Andes e tão desagradável entre os teólogos e representantes das igrejas cristãs? Este artigo explora a Mama Pacha como o Espírito de Deus presente no mundo. Através de uma epistemologia indígena e feminista descolonizadora, me aproximo da Mama Pacha interculturalmente dentro de seu ambiente cultural e filosófico. Criativamente interpreto a filosofia Andina ou Pachasofía e a sua lógica que descrevem a realidade como sendo fluída e ontológicamente relacional, desafiando a teologia e a filosofia ocidentais. Finalmente, recupero a concepção ancestral de Deus feminino que sustenta a dignidade e o valor  intrínseco das mulheres indígenas e da criação.

The article deals with G.W.F. Hegel's uses (and abuses) of the category of "despotism" as well as his representations of non-European peoples. Special emphasis is laid on Hegel's view of Africa and Africans, as developed in the context of his philosophy of history. It is argued that Hegel's representation of non-European societies in general and African cultures in particular is decisively linked to certain aspects of his philosophy of history. Within this broader frame it fulfills certain functions in shaping an original, but problematic, worldview which was to have an enormous impact on European thinking in the course of the nineteenth century: At its base we find the misleading belief in the existence of "people without history", which lent itself to the legitimization of European expansion and colonialism.

El discurso de la reciprocidad en dos crónicas coloniales indígenas: Elementos para una ética del diálogo intercultural par Nicolas Beauclair Département de littératures et langues modernes Faculté des arts et des sciences Mémoire présenté à la Faculté des études supérieures en vue de l'obtention du grade de M.A. en études hispaniques mai 2006 © Nicolas Beauclair, 2006 Université de Montréal Faculté des études supérieures Ce mémoire intitulé : El discurso de la reciprocidad en dos crónicas coloniales indígenas: Elementos para una ética del diálogo intercultural présenté par: Nicolas Beauclair a été évalué par un jury composé des personnes suivantes : Javier Rubiera président rapporteur Juan Carlos Godenzzi directeur de recherche Catherine Poupeney Hart membre du jury

This article discusses the teaching of intercultural and transcultural awareness together with language learning in foreign language contexts. Ensuing a brief argument of what language, culture and its forms mean, we illustrate the relationship between intercultural and transcultural competence and the development of communication skills in the foreign language frame for teaching EFL students. The author draws attention to the importance of developing students' intercultural research utilizing the transcultural communication competence notion. We show how intercultural culture orientations and transcultural communication competence affect the students' framework and their career dimensions. The author illuminates the activities and approach that develop communication skills. The article concludes underscoring the critical challenges teachers encounter and potential solutions.

Temos uma novidade no Brasil sobre Filosofia Antiga e Estudos Chineses. Após mais de 20 anos de publicação da tradução brasileira de O pensamento chinês de Marcel Granet (1997) e mais de 10 anos do lançamento em português de História do pensamento chinês de Anne Cheng (2008), em 2018 a editora Vozes atualizou o campo editorial brasileiro com mais uma tradução de um manual sobre a filosofia chinesa antiga. Trata-se do livro Introdução à Filosofia Chinesa Clássica, publicado originalmente em inglês no ano de 2011 por Bryan W. Van Norden, um reconhecido filósofo e sinólogo do mundo anglófono. Começamos essa resenha com uma abordagem que foi também bastante utilizada por Van Norden, a comparativa, para evidenciar suas novidades e contribuições, depois descrevemos a estrutura e capítulos da obra.

Die Bhagavadgītā avancierte über die letzten 200 Jahre zum wichtigsten Text des hinduistischen Kanons. Dabei wurde der philosophische Inhalt immer wieder politisiert, instrumentalisiert und teils gegensätzlich ausgelegt. Die vorliegende Arbeit erforscht ausführlich die Rezeptionsgeschichte des Textes und widmet sich abschließend der Frage, wie man mit solch einem Text im interkulturellen Zusammenhang umgehen soll.

Link to the workshop:

https://fu-berlin.webex.com/meet/hans.feger

In recent years, Western debates on methodology in the field of Chinese (and other East Asian) philosophies have centred around two dominant approaches: the comparative and the transcultural. Engaging with Chinese and Asian philosophies necessarily touches upon the problem of cultural identities and differences. In the contemporary “Western” discourse on China, we can easily observe the persistent relevance of cultural comparison. The widespread opposition between “China” and “the West” heavily relies on a comparative framework that allows to determine “Western values” and distinguish between different political “systems”. “Comparison” thus serves as the discursive foundation for competing normative orders and/or ideological positions. In broader terms, comparative philosophy tends to develop relatively stable or fixed frameworks of identity and difference.

However, recent controversies about comparative philosophy have shown that the notion of “comparison” as such is highly problematic. The same frameworks that connect different philosophical discourses also tend to obstruct their intercultural communication. The process of comparing different philosophies necessarily involves numerous methodological problems that have not yet been comprehensively reflected upon and are therefore far from being solved. Despite growing criticism, comparative philosophy still seems to be a very important and useful tool for gaining new insights into numerous fundamental philosophical questions. New forms of comparison that might emerge from ongoing debates and investigations hopefully will lead to innovative approaches that are “post-comparative” in the sense of being aware of the problem that the tendency to fix identities and differences easily leads to the enforcement of “frameworks” that rather block the very possibility of intercultural communication instead of enabling it.

The development of contemporary philosophy is intimately intertwined with developments that move beyond a philosophical discourse of modernity that is Western/Eurocentric. Transcultural philosophy offers a multi-perspective and inclusive rather than an exclusive and isolated approach. Transcultural approaches, therefore, aim at overcoming a static, immobile, and fixed understanding of “culture”, and rather emphasize perspectives of “cultural transformation” that are open and dynamic. The prefix “trans-“ in the term “transcultural” suggests not only the transgression of one’s boundaries and positions but also the (self-)transformation that is not only crucial for the very possibility of translation and mutual learning but also the creation of new modes of global philosophy. However, transcultural philosophy, dismissing the very distinction between identity and difference, can also prove problematic. Transculturality often creates the illusion that the problem of “identity” can be overcome in a hybrid world without fixed identities and borders.

This conference will discuss different approaches to East Asian, particularly Chinese philosophy and address the question of their respective limitations, as well as possible ways of rethinking their relation.

(Organization: Fabian Heubel, Jana S. Rošker, Hans Feger)

The ideal sense of a word and the real meaning of it: the divergence point of the Ancient Greek and Indian Philosophies. 

The article discusses a possible reason for the mutual  disinterestness of the Greek and Indian philosophical traditions. The philosophers ignored each other, and it is a problem, since for six centuries (3 BC - 3 AD) Indian and Greek cultures closely interacted on the territory of the Greco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek kingdoms. To find the answer, it is proposed to take into account that both philosophical intuitions appeared and developed in cultures with different schemes of rationality. The Greek scheme is based on a pair of logos-praxis. Two skills are specifically combined in the logos as activity: to think and to generate rational speech according to special rules.  The Indian scheme is based on the opposition of intentional acts of consciousness to its objects among which there are both acts with material things and speech acts. This scheme emerged  first in the ritual context. Due to the specifics of their rationality scheme, the Greeks are looking for an ideal object associated with the word, expanding the rules for using their native language and not quite noticing it. In the dialog "Hippias Major," Socrates applies the distinction of syntactical constructions with or without a definite article. Without this distinction, it is impossible to formulate the problem of a possible existence of the beautiful in itself (eidos of the beautiful). The translation of this passage into languages with an article is trivial, as  but in languages devoid of article, as Latin, translators were forced to make additions. As a result, a new ideal object appears for Greek thought. In the Buddhist dialogue Milindapañha in the Pali  language the interlocutors wonder what is the real object of the word «chariot». They come to the conclusion that it does not exist in the world. Later the arguments of the same Buddhist school indicate that the chariot is to be found  not in the natural world, but in encompassing human activity. Thus, the Indian reasoning deprives everyday naive consciousness of the illusion of the reality of the chariot. Thinking about words as connected with thoughts, as  Greeks do, and as connected with things, along with the Indians, are not compatible within one discourse and are mutually almost incomprehensible. The interaction of these philosophical traditions seems unnecessary and iвmprobable.
___
To be published in June 2022

filosofica del pensiero del Buddha è stata rivendicata da Giangiorgio Pasqualotto: "[…] gli insegnamenti del Buddha sono stati e rimangono tra le forme più potenti e coerenti di 'esercizio della ragione': non solo per i risultati prodotti dal lavoro analitico sulla realtà interna ed esterna, ma anche per la loro costante attenzione Antonio Vigilante, Le dimore leggere. Saggio sull'etica buddhista 13 frontiere.

The following work analyzes the term "ethnocentrism" from the perspective of its use in communication. Relevant for this work are both the viewpoint of the speaker, who uses the term, as well as the viewpoint of audience, and the connotations aroused by the term's use. This work doesn't primarily aim to analyze the phenomenon of ethnocentrism as such: a particular human attitude or cultural trait that we can observe in action, criticize for its consequences, treat as an illness or justify as a part or a limitation of universal human nature. I'd like to analyze various approaches instead: to present the idea of ethnocentrism in its historical context, its place in the terminology of social sciences and also its usefulness, the conciseness of its meaning and its critical power within particular discourses. The phenomenon itself isn't irrelevant for this work, but its definition is open for interpretation.

In the present book I examine the parallels between Russian and Japanese philosophies and religions by revealing a common concept of space in Russian and Japanese aesthetics and political theories. I show points of convergence between the two traditions regarding the treatment of space within the realm of identity (both individual and communal), and in formulations of the relationship between regionalism, localism and globalism.

Why were Chinese and Indian ways of thinking excluded from European philosophy in early modern times? This is a study of what happened to the European understanding of China and India between the late 16th century and the first half of the 18th century.

Investigating the description of these two Asian civilizations during a century and a half of histories of philosophy, this book accounts for the change of historiographical paradigms, from Neoplatonic philosophia perennis and Spinozistic atheism to German Eclecticism. Uncovering the reasons for inserting or excluding Chinese and Indian ways of thinking within the field of Philosophy in early modern times, it reveals the origin of the Eurocentric understanding of Philosophy as a Greek-European prerogative.

By highlighting how this narrowing and exclusion of non-Western ways of thought was a result of conviction of superiority and religious prejudice, this book provides a new way of thinking about the place of Asian traditions among World philosophies.

Table of contents:
List of Abbreviations
General Introduction
Preliminary Note to Some Terms
1. India and Chinese Philosophy in the Late-16th Century Europe
2. The Rise of the Myth of an Asiatic Atheism
3. The Exclusion of Asian Philosophical Thought in Europe
Conclusion
Bibliography
Primary Sources
Secondary sources
Index

Indexed in Chinese Christian Text Database as no.14207 http://heron-net.be/pa_cct/index.php/Detail/objects/14751

Heidegger's early philosophical project was identified with a nihilistic philosophy of nothingness after the 1927 publication of Being and Time-with its depiction of the radical existential anxiety of being-towards-death-and his 1929 lecture "What is Metaphysics?"-with its analysis of the loss of all orientation and comportment in the face of an impersonal self-nihilating nothingness. Heidegger's philosophy of nothingness would be contrasted in both Germany and Japan in the 1930s and 1940s with "Oriental nothingness" by authors such as Kitayama Junyū, a neglected Japanese philosopher active in Germany and an early interpreter of Heidegger and Nishida. In this contribution, I trace how Heidegger's reflections on nothingness and emptiness (which are distinct yet intertwined expressions) become interculturally entangled with East Asian discourses in the early reception of his thought, particularly in Kitayama and the introduction of Nishida's philosophy into Germany, and their significance in Heidegger's "A Dialogue on Language".

Presenting a contextual portrayal of the interpretation of Chinese and Buddhist philosophy in early twentieth-century German philosophy, Chinese and Buddhist Philosophy in Early Twentieth-Century German Thought examines the implications of these interpretations for contemporary issues in comparative and intercultural philosophy. Through a series of case studies from the late 19th-century and early 20th-century, Eric Nelson focuses on the reception and uses of Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism in German philosophy, covering figures as diverse as Buber, Heidegger, Misch, Rosenzweig, and Zhang Junmai. He argues that the growing intertextuality between traditions cannot be appropriately interpreted through notions of exclusive identities, closed horizons, or unitary traditions and  challenges the idea of the exclusively Occidental nature of philosophy. Providing an account of the contexts, motivations, and hermeneutical strategies of early twentieth-century German thinkers’ interpretation of Asian philosophy, Nelson also throws new light on the question of the relation between Heidegger and Asian philosophy. Reflecting the growing interest in the possibility of intercultural and global philosophy, Chinese and Buddhist Philosophy in Early Twentieth-Century German Thought opens up the possibility of a more inclusive intercultural conception of philosophy.

Reviews:
“Eric Nelson's book has the great merit of drawing our attention to the experiences of some great forerunners in intercultural philosophy in Weimar Germany from the end of World War I to the rise of National Socialism in 1933. Nelson's book is not merely a work on some historical episodes of intercultural philosophy but also a work showing the how of intercultural philosophy in itself … [A] very rich and detailed reconstruction of the intercultural openings undertaken by German philosophers.” –  Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

“Nelson shows great erudition in bringing together a wide variety of thinkers from both East and West, including importantly some lesser known, but very relevant thinkers from both the Western tradition and Eastern philosophy.” –  Global Intellectual History

“This book offers lots of valuable information and entries for further research. It is well-written and has all the tools for easy reference and an impressive bibliography.” –  Phenomenological Reviews

“A remarkably well-researched, thoughtful, and timely book. Its content lives up to its informative and wonderfully provocative title ... One of Nishitani's central claims is that nihilism can be overcome only by way of stepping back all the way through it ... we can thank Nelson for reintroducing us to this insight and for demonstrating how to heed it.” –  Research in Phenomenology

“The breadth of Nelson's knowledge and the deftness with which he winds his way through so many figures and their respective conceptual vocabularies is mesmerizing ... a book unlike any other [which] raises the bar for anyone who teaches or writes comparative philosophy.” –  Philosophy East and West

“This book is a revelation, tracing how ideas have traveled more than we have generally recognized. The dialogues between east and west have often been interpreted primarily as a one way exchange about how the East has learned from the West. It is time to appreciate the ways in which multiple journeys have occurred and how Eastern thought has, as a matter of fact, informed and been taken up in Western thought, particularly in German philosophy as illustrated in this work. This book is one of a kind and exemplifies all that we need to engage, to learn, and to become philosophers in the twenty-first century.” –  Robin R Wang, 2016-17 Berggruen Fellow, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Science, Stanford University, USA and author of Yinyang The Way of Heaven and Earth in Chinese Thought and Culture

“In this groundbreaking study, Eric S. Nelson examines the impact of Chinese and Buddhist Philosophy on 20th Century German Thought. Through illuminating chapters on Buber, Heidegger, Misch, and others, Nelson sheds a unique light on the development of German Philosophy in the 20th Century, as well as on contemporary Comparative philosophy. This is an original and important work which reveals the influence of Asian Philosophy on Contemporary Continental thought, and which opens new perspectives for intercultural and comparative philosophy.” –  Francois Raffoul, Professor of Philosophy and French Studies, Louisiana State University, USA

“This is a landmark study in comparative thought. By tracing Chinese and Japanese influences on modern German philosophy, Eric S. Nelson examines a pressing question of our troubled times: is there a common ground for universal wisdom? Is there a path forward? Perhaps the most satisfying outcome of this book is that the careful consideration of Asian sources sheds light on the ideas in Heidegger's later work. By explaining how these influences clarify key contentions in German philosophy, Nelson breaks new ground.” –  Martin Schönfeld, Editor, Journal of Global Ethics and Professor of Philosophy, University of South Florida, USA

“Nelson has written an important ... riveting book.” –  Philosophy

More Information:
https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/chinese-and-buddhist-philosophy-in-early-twentieth-century-german-thought-9781350002562/

Hegel remarked in his discussion of the nothing in the Science of Logic that: "It is well known that in oriental systems, and essentially in Buddhism, nothing, or the void, is the absolute principle." Schopenhauer commented in a discussion of the joy of death in The World as Will and Representation: "The existence which we know he willingly gives up: what he gets instead of it is in our eyes nothing, because our existence is, with reference to that, nothing. The Buddhist faith calls it Nirvana, i.e., extinction." It is striking how nineteenth-century German philosophical discourses (from Hegel and Schopenhauer to Mainländer, von Hartmann, and Nietzsche) concerning negativity, nihility, and nothingness explicitly refer to Buddhism, which was initially conceived by Christian missionaries as a "cult of nothingness" and became entangled with European debates concerning pessimism (the Pessimismusstreit) and nihilism. In this article, I reconsider how the interpretation of negativity and nothingness in Schopenhauer and nineteenth-century German thought informed the reception of Buddhism as a philosophical and religious discourse, and trace the ways in which Buddhist emptiness was reinterpreted in the context of the Western problematic of being and nothingness.

paperback: August 2022
cover, table of contents, and introduction.
See Routledge website for further details:
https://www.routledge.com/Daoism-and-Environmental-Philosophy-Nourishing-Life/Nelson/p/book/9780367025144

Reviews
"Daoism and Environmental Philosophy is a timely and stimulating work as we continue to grapple with environmental crises on a global scale, in need of fresh perspectives and new solutions. With a sophisticated textual analysis of both better-known Daoist classics and lesser-known later Daoist texts in the English-speaking world, Nelson counters the perceived opinion that Daoist practice is mystical, irrational, passive, and escapist with robust arguments. He further demonstrates why and how our current environmental crises can benefit from a Daoist-inspired therapeutic ecology, which is cosmological, bio-spiritual, and bio-political all at once. The seemingly contradictory thrusts of anarchical-libertarian individualism, egalitarian democracy, and a weaker version of authoritarianism suggested in Daoist texts in varying degrees may inform a more creative solution to contemporary environment policy and practice."— Ann A. Pang-White, The University of Scranton, Professor of Philosophy and Director of Asian Studies, author of Confucian Four Books for Women and Bloomsbury Research Handbook on Chinese Philosophy and Gender

"An accomplished　scholar in European Continental philosophy, Chinese　philosophy, and inter-cultural philosophical dialogue, Nelson now presents the pioneering and thought-provoking Daoism and Environmental Philosophy　to a wide range of readers facing contemporary environmental crises. The book exhibits the author’s mastery of historical sources including the　Daodejing, the　Zhuangzi　and other Daoist texts, his coming to terms with Daoist linguistic-communicative strategies, and his exploration on various cosmological, ethical, political, personal and religious aspects of the Daoist philosophy of nature characterizing a unique way of environmental thinking. Moreover, Nelson’s inquiry into the environmental implications of Daoist bio-spiritual attunement and cultivation, his reevaluation of Daoist anarchic individualism, egalitarianism and the art of ruling in terms of a reconsideration of ecological politics, and his argument for the Daoist contribution to a critical therapeutic ecology, all unveil the originality of the book, and will leave its impact on our future discussion."— Youru Wang, Professor, Department of Philosophy and World Religions, Rowan University, author of　Linguistic Strategies in Daoist Zhuangzi and Chan Buddhism: The Other Way of Speaking, and editor of　Deconstruction and the Ethical in Asian Thought​

"This is by far the best book I have seen in the field of Daoist environmental philosophy. Through nuanced examinations and interpretations of a variety of classic texts, Nelson presents to readers Daoist concepts, exemplars, models, and transformative strategies in relation to the environment. Insightful, erudite, and articulate, Daoism and Environmental Philosophy makes a substantive contribution on a wide range of topics from the cosmological, ethical, political, and personal, to the religious. I recommend this book to everyone who is interested in learning Daoist philosophy in response to the environmental crisis." – Chenyang Li, Professor of Philosophy, Nanyang Technological University, author of The Tao Encounters the West and The Confucian Philosophy of Harmony

Come una perla il libro di Antonio Vigilante si aggiunge alla preziosa collana dei più accreditati studi gandhiani. Vigilante ha praticato la gadamerica Wirkungsgeschichte. Un'opera genera effetti, conseguenze che l'autore non vede e non può vedere ma che determinano quelle condizioni ermeneutiche per rileggere l'opera. Vigilante rilegge l'opera gandhiana sotto la luce della storia degli effetti non solo stico-politici ma anche dei più meditati e recenti studi, soprattutto italiani, su Gandhi. Raffinato e acuto studioso della non-violenza, l'Autore ci fa entrare criticamente nel complesso mondo filosofico, etico-sociale e religioso di Gandhi. Ne risulta un'opera puntuale nella tematizzazione del pensiero di Gandhi e al tempo stesso attenta a cogliere le sue aporie e contraddizioni. Lo studio di Vigilante è davvero un serio e originale contributo non solo agli studi gandhiani, ma anche al dibattito in corso sulla teologia ecumenica. Ha scritto Hans Küng: Non c'è sopravvivenza senza un ethos mondiale. Non c'è pace mondiale senza pace religiosa come non c'è pace religiosa senza dialogo religioso». Grazie a questo lavoro, è possibile apprezzare e riconsiderare il contributo di Gandhi sia al dialogo tra le grandi religioni, confutando impostazioni egemoniche e conflittuali, sia alla costruzione di un'etica universale, divenuta indispensabile per la stessa sopravvivenza umana.

Prof. Francesco Bellino 
Ordinario di Filosofia morale
Università di Bari

In meinem Beitrag versuche ich die Interkulturalität als einen Aspekt der Weltphilosophie in phänomenologischer Hinsicht zu thematisieren. Der Akzent wird somit von der Interkulturalität als einer  Herangehensweise  an  die  Philosophie  zur  interkulturellen  Situation  als  einem  Moment  der  Philosophie  selbst  verschoben.  Die  interkulturelle  Situation  ergibt  sich  auf  diese  Weise  als  eine  Grenzsituation und öffnet einen „Zwischenbereich“,  der ins Zentrum der philosophischen Betrachtung gestellt  werden  muss.  Mein  Anliegen  in  diesem  Aufsatz  besteht  darin:  1)  den  Fokus  auf  das  durch  die  Philosophie bisher wenig erforschte Erfahrungsfeld der Interkulturalität zu legen und ihre Modalität der Sinnbildung herauszustellen; 2) eine Kritik an verfehlten Ansätzen zu entwickeln, die das sinnstiftende Potenzial    dieser    Erfahrung    nicht    wahrnehmen;    3)    einen    phänomenologischen    Beitrag    zur    interkulturellen Identität zu leisten.

book discussion: pre-publication version, see published issue for final version.

Leah Kalmanson's Cross-Cultural Existentialism offers an original and provocative interpretation of existentialist themes and threads running through classical and modern East Asian Buddhist (fojiao 佛教) and Ruist (Rujia 儒家) philosophical sources. The book takes its point of departure in existential questions concerning meaningfulness and meaning-formative practices, as articulated in European existentialism and postexistentialism, and traces how these questions are and can be addressed in their own terms in dharmic and Song dynasty Ruist discourses of karma (ye 業), vital force (qi 氣), and ritual propriety (li 禮).

This book, the first of its kind, offers a comprehensive introduction to the philosophy and practice of Zen Buddhism. It is written by an academic philosopher who is also an authorized Zen teacher. For more than a dozen years he practiced Zen in Japan while studying in universities with contemporary heirs of the Kyoto School, and for the last twenty years he has taught and published on Asian and comparative philosophy while leading a Zen meditation group.
    The book lucidly explicates the philosophical implications of Zen teachings and kōans, and critically compares Zen with other Asian as well as Western religions and philosophies. It carefully explains the original context and sense of traditional Zen teachings and practices, and compellingly applies them to our twenty-first century lives.
    In addition to explaining the practice of Zen meditation, its twenty-four chapters treat perennial philosophical topics such as the self, nature, art, morality, language, peace, and death, as well as basic Buddhist teachings such as the four noble truths, the middle way, the no-self and true self doctrines, karma, mind and no-mind, rebirth, Nirvana, and the various meanings of the term “Buddha.”
    The chapters frequently engage Zen in interreligious dialogue with Christianity and with other religions and schools of Buddhism. The Zen inspired modern philosophies of the Kyoto School are introduced in one chapter and frequently referenced throughout the book. The concluding chapter reviews the entire path of Zen practice and enlightenment with an in-depth commentary on the beloved Zen classic, The Ten Oxherding Pictures.
    The book can be read in its entirety as a coherently organized introduction to the philosophy and practice of Zen, or chapters can be read independently according to the reader’s specific interests. While based on decades of scholarly study as well as practice and teaching, it is written in an accessible and engaging style. It is designed to be read by college students and lifelong learners as well as scholars and practitioners of the world’s great philosophical and spiritual traditions.

In paradigmatic Confucian (Ruist) discourses, emotion (qing) has been depicted as co-arising with human nature (xing) and an irreducible constitutive source of human practices and their interpretation. The affects are concurrently naturally arising and alterable through how individuals react and respond to them and how they are or are not cultivated. That is, emotions are relationally mediated realities given in and transformed through how they are felt, understood, interpreted, and acted upon. Confucian discourses have elucidated the ethical character of the emotions and sought to understand and cultivate emotional life as a hermeneutical and ethical task in establishing expectable patterns of human flourishing that orient virtues, roles, and relations. In this chapter, I explore the extent to which classical Ruist and Neo-Confucian discourses offer hermeneutical models for interpreting the complex interconnections between moral psychology and their mediations in the ethical life world. By examining a range of Confucian sources, the author argues that Confucian “moral psychologies” clarify affective dimensions of human existence within the interpersonal nexus of ethical life and indicate ways of cultivating affective awareness for relationally understanding and interpreting others, one’s world, and oneself.

This paper is an attempt to read some of the key concepts of Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling in a cosmical and intercultural context. First, Schelling's relation to the Vedas is discussed. Here we introduce a triadic model, based on the Upanishadic ritual structure (microcosm-mesocosm-macrocosm) and cosmology. The structural logic of this model enables us to relate ancient Indian thought to the basic cosmological and ontological concepts (Unground, Ground, God) of Schelling. On this basis, we approach the problem of good and evil in Schelling from his reading of the Bhagavadgita and discuss some recent interpretations of this difficult question (Amartya Sen and Angelika Malinar), including a critical note on Martin Heidegger's dealings with the problem of evil. Finally, we introduce the term conspiracy/co-breathing from Schelling's Freedom essay. Here, this constellation is presented in a comparative reading with the Nasadiya Sukta hymn from the Vedas. The paper ends with the testimony for a dialectical process (of co-breathing and emerging love) at the very core of Schelling's philosophy.

I develop a new approach to “resentment” and its role in moral life in early Confucian and modern Western thought, in particular Strawson, Scheler, and Nietzsche. In contrast to modern European discourses of recognition and resentment discussed in the first sections of this chapter, undoing resentment in oneself and in others is a primary element of becoming an ethically exemplary person in early Confucian ethics. Contemporary Western ethical theory routinely relies on the assumption that symmetry and equality are the primary means of undoing the psychological and social fixation involved in resentment, but the asymmetrical recognition of the priority of the other person is necessary for undoing and letting go of resentment in early Confucian ethics. The author(s) of the Analects recognized both the pervasiveness of resentment under certain social conditions and the ethical demand to counter it both within oneself and in relation to others through self-cultivation and ritual propriety. Confucian ethics consequently encompasses a nuanced and realistic moral psychology of resentment and the ethical self-cultivation necessary for dismantling it in promoting a condition of humane benevolence (ren). Benevolence is oriented toward others even as it is achieved in the care of the self and self-cultivation.

Theist religions argue for the pre-existence of self/Atman/ruh based on mentalistic idealism and/or interactive substance dualism frameworks; whereas Buddhism denies this; instead, this atheist religion (i) proposes Karmic theory (impression of karmas/

The Yijing has been persistently approached in the west through conflicting interpretive strategies. While Leibniz saw in it an expression of and source for genuine philosophy and the new logic and mathematics, Hegel rejected it as a work of abstract picture thinking that was simultaneously too formal and empirical. Neither Leibniz nor Hegel understood the Yijing’s earlier history as the Zhouyi or its complex transformations in Chinese traditions from the early Confucian interpretation emphasizing its ethical character to the metaphysical systematizations of late Neo-Confucianism. Yet their discussions indicate two distinct ways of addressing how to interpret others and other cultures in relation to epistemic issues. The question of interpretation, and hermeneutics as its art, involves issues of how to interpret others through signs and artifacts and how to interpret the natural world. This raises the question of philosophy itself, whether it is exclusively European as Hegel and his critic Derrida concur or whether it has a more universal import as suggested by Leibniz’s approach to the Yijing and Chinese thought.

Interview with Richard Marshall  (July 2018) about my recent book: Chinese and Buddhist Philosophy in Early Twentieth-Century German Thought (London: Bloomsbury, 2017)
 
https://316am.site123.me/articles/how-not-to-be-a-frog-in-a-well-chinese-german-buddhist-philosophy?c=end-times-archive

pre-publication draft of book review
Jean-Yves Heurtebise's new book, the title could be translated into English as "Orientalism, Occidentalism, and Universalism: History and Method of Cross-Representations between European and Chinese Worlds," offers an engaging archaeology of the intersections between Chinese and European discourses and forms of life as well as a sophisticated theoretical analysis of the problematic of Orientalism and Occidentalism and entanglements between universality and particularity. Heurtebise's work perceptively traces the receptions of Chinese thought and culture in European modernity, primarily in philosophical yet also in social-political and literary circles, while also elucidating its complex inter-and transcultural interactions with Chinese Occidentalist discourses and Orientalizing self-interpretations.

In this article, Kierkegaard’s depiction of the teleological suspension of the ethical is contrasted with Levinas’s articulation of the emergence of the ethical in the Akedah narrative drawing on Jewish, Christian, and Chinese philosophical and religious perspectives. The narrative of Abraham’s binding of Isaac illustrates both the distance and nearness between Kierkegaard and Levinas. Both realize that the encounter with God is a traumatic one that cannot be defined, categorized, or sublimated through ordinary ethical reflection or the everyday social-moral life of a community. For Kierkegaard, the self is forced back upon itself, exposed to the otherness of its singular unfathomable source; in Levinas a traumatic exposure and delivery over to the Other occurs. It leads to an inescapable ethical responsibility more fundamental than either religious faith or theoretical cognitive knowledge. The rupture and aporia of Abraham’s sacrifice appears to destroy the categories of the ethical. Yet it might suggest something other than the nihilistic or voluntaristic destruction of ethics. It might indicate instead a different modality of the ethical; that is, an aporetic and paradoxical ethics that resonates in part with classical Chinese Daoist sources such as the Daodejing and the Zhuangzi.