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List of contents
Prologue: Chinese Philosophy, Fact or Fiction?
1. Referential Framework
2. Basic Paradigms
3.Chinese Logic as a Basis of Chinese Theory
4. Methods and Approaches
Epilogue: Relation as a Core of Comprehension
Bibliography
Index
About the author
Jana S. Rošker is Professor of Chinese Philosophy, co-founder and longstanding Head of the Department of Asian Studies at the Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
Summary
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 when 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.
Additional text
In this thorough reflection on Chinese and comparative philosophy, Jana Rošker combines her lifelong expertise with an impressive overview of contemporary Chinese scholarship. This book adds fascinating insights to ongoing debates on the increasing relevance of Chinese thought in the world’s unending philosophical conversation.
