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Comparative Philosophy
Number of Followers: 13  Open Access journalISSN (Print) 2151-6014 Published by San José State University  [5 journals]
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- Book Review on Mindfulness-based Emotion Focused Counselling (by Padmasiri
de Silva)
Authors: Kathleen HIGGINS
PubDate: Tue, 17 Jan 2023 12:43:32 PST
- Book Review on Sculpting the Self: Islam, Selfhood and Human Flourishing
(by Muhammad Faruque)
Authors: Mohammad AZADPUR
PubDate: Tue, 17 Jan 2023 12:43:29 PST
- Illuminating Chinese Aesthetics with Kant’s Account of Genius'
Possibility and Difficulty
Authors: Kefu ZHU
Abstract: Many scholars interpret Chinese Aesthetics with the Kantian theory of genius because they seem to form a parallel: similar innate and spontaneous mental talents that exceed normal cognition and imagination generates beautiful arts with similar extraordinary qualities. I argue that projecting Kant’s genius to illuminate the creative power analogically, i.e., the carefree-wandering mind, is infeasible. The theory of genius assumes a critical project that stipulates a valuable way to exercise the power of judgment. Genius is only a postulated idea for successfully making aesthetic judgments on artworks. In contrast, the carefree-wandering mind assumes a Daoist metaphysical-ethical theory centering on the idea of transformative self and the way to success. The carefree-wandering mind featuring Wu-Wei (無為) is the efficient cause that produces artworks with Qi-Yun (氣韵), namely, the expressive quality. Therefore, conceiving parallels between Kant and Chinese aesthetics is difficult. I conclude by proposing a potential similarity between Kant’s theory of genius and Chinese aesthetics: both draw our attention to the respective relations of each to nature.
PubDate: Tue, 17 Jan 2023 12:43:27 PST
- Zero, Śūnya and Pūrṇa: A Comparative Analysis
Authors: Animisha TEWARI
Abstract: Due to apparent duality in this world, one has to face a lot of difficulties while searching for the Truth. Our ego is the root cause for perception of duality and this in turn leads to suffering. This suffering can only be extinguished by attainment of the Truth, i.e, non-duality. However, in order to enable the finite intellect to comprehend the incomprehensible non-duality, this undifferentiated whole is sometimes denoted by nothingness (śūnya) or fullness (pūrṇa). Non-duality is usually understood by the numeral ‘1’ which stands for unity or oneness. The main aim of this paper is to show that non-duality is best represented by the numeral ‘0’, Mādhyamika śūnya (advaya) and Upaniṣadic pūrṇa (advaita). This paper also attempts to touch upon the hitherto untouched and profound implications of zero in view of its being a simultaneous indicator of nothingness as well as wholeness. It also humbly tries to tackle the perpetual mathematical problem of ‘zero divided by zero’ and in this regard tries to establish how the solution is consistent with the concept of non-duality. In a nutshell, this paper’s endeavour is to approach the Ultimate Reality via threefold path: through the neutral means of mathematical zero “0” as a concept, negative means of Mādhyamika śūnya, and the positive means of Advaita Vedānta’s pūrṇa.
PubDate: Tue, 17 Jan 2023 12:43:24 PST
- How al-Farabi’s Interpretative Method can Engage with Aristotle’s
Method in Cognition and Practical Philosophy
Authors: Meysam SHIRVANI
Abstract: Following Aristotle, al-Farabi divides philosophy into theoretical and practical each of which requires some specific methodology both in interpretation and cognition. Based on this division, there may arguably be four methodologies for four parts: 1) cognition of theoretical philosophy 2) interpretation of practical philosophy 3) cognition of practical philosophy 4) interpretation of practical philosophy. This paper focuses on the last one: the methodology of interpreting practical philosophy. Al-Farabi has an undeniably significant contribution to practical philosophy as a commentator on Greek philosophy and as a founder. In this paper, I investigate how al-Farabi (870-950 AD) read classical practical philosophy to see how to read al-Farabi himself. Although a practical philosopher (e.g., Aristotle), in direct cognition, has his own sources, instruments, and methods of cognition (i.e., deduction, experience, and induction), however, the reader of him (e.g., al-Farabi) requires some adequate interpretative methods and elements, distinct from direct cognitive methodology, to read and interpret the acquired and expressed practical philosophy. Al-Farabi can provide us with a set of relevant methodological elements of an interpretative methodology for reading classical practical philosophy. This paper discusses and classifies the correlated methods and elements of this interpretative methodology into three interacting sections: 1) out-text elements 2) in-text elements 3) intertextual elements.
PubDate: Tue, 17 Jan 2023 12:43:22 PST
- The Best Confucian Hybrid Meritocracy-Democracy for Liberal Democracies
Authors: John J. PARK
Abstract: Several contemporary Confucian philosophers have posited differing hybrid views fusing meritocracy to democracy. There is a good deal of interest in a meritocracy in contemporary Confucian thought, and such a view perhaps should receive more serious consideration in liberal democratic thought since it may make for a stronger form of government when appended to democracy. In this paper, four contemporary hybrid theorists who combine elements of a meritocracy with a democracy are critically analyzed concerning an ability for their views to be instantiated in liberal democracies for the legislative branch only. Finally, I provide a modified hybrid view for the legislature that I believe is the best fit for current liberal democracies.
PubDate: Tue, 17 Jan 2023 12:43:19 PST
- Ubuntu’s Ontological Account in African Philosophy and its
Cross-Tradition Engagement on the Issue of Being versus Becoming
Authors: Anthony Chimankpam OJIMBA
Abstract: This paper x-rays Ramose’s ubuntu ontological account in African philosophy and its cross-tradition engagement on the issue of being versus becoming (such as the Yin-Yang, Heraclitean, Nietzschean, Whiteheadean and the Buddhists’ accounts) with a view to showing how convergence and divergence of thoughts in the African, European, and Asian philosophy contexts can advance cross-cultural philosophizing or cross-tradition approach to doing philosophy. Ramose’s ubuntu ontology designates a reconstruction of reality within the framework of motion, as captured in his concept of be-ing-becoming, while the Heraclitean, Nietzschean, Whiteheadean and the Buddhists’ ontological accounts also conceive reality within the confines of endless motion, except the Yin-Yang metaphysical vision that interprets reality within the perspective of complementarity. Attempts are made, in the paper, to highlight the Ramosean ubuntu ontology and how it can constructively engage with other traditions’ ontological accounts, as mentioned above, in a fruitful encounter of the African thought tradition, which Ramose belongs to, and the European and Asian traditions of thought, which the other mentioned ontological accounts belong to.
PubDate: Tue, 17 Jan 2023 12:43:16 PST
- Caducitas and Śūnyatā: A Neoplatonist Reading of
Nāgārjuna
Authors: Fabien MULLER
Abstract: In this paper I am addressing the question whether Nāgārjuna’s doctrine should be understood as a theory that describes reality itself (ontology) or as a theory of our relation to reality (epistemological, logical, psychological, etc.). To answer this question, I propose to compare Nāgārjuna’s concept of emptiness to that of ‘caducity’, a key element in the ontology of Renaissance Neoplatonist philosopher Francisco Patrizi. By showing that these concepts are similar, I argue that Nāgārjuna’s standpoint can be considered as that of ontology.
PubDate: Tue, 17 Jan 2023 12:43:14 PST
- Ineffability, Emptiness and the Aesthetics of Logic
Authors: Andreas KAPSNER
Abstract: In this essay, I explore the nature of the logical analysis of Buddhist thought that Graham Priest has offered in his book The Fifth Corner of Four (5of4). The paper traces the development of a logical value in- troduced in 5of4, which Priest has called e. The paper points out that certain criticisms I have made earlier still stand, but focuses on a recon- ceptualization of 5of4 in which these arguments carry less weight. This new perspective on the book, inspired by a response to my arguments by Priest himself, sees the logical analysis of Buddhism as aiming more for an allegorical, suggestive and aesthethic endeavour, rather a purely analytical one. I illustrate this view by focusing on the Ox herding pictures, as interpreted by Priest and Ueda Shizuteru, and I compare it to ideas in the discussion around Critical Buddhism.
PubDate: Tue, 17 Jan 2023 12:43:11 PST
- Dreaming Philosophers: The Daoist and the Metaphysician
Authors: Kelly S. INGLIS
Abstract: Is this just a dream' Daoist philosopher Zhuang Zi and metaphysician Descartes both considered this question but came to very different conclusions. In his Dream Hypothesis, Descartes imagined that all of his beliefs about the external world could be mistaken, which led him to the realization that the only thing that he could be certain of was his own existence: “I think therefore I am.” But what am “I”' “I am a thinking thing”, he said and concluded that the existence of one’s mental self is clear, certain and indubitable, while the existence of a physical world was open to doubt. Zhuang Zi, in a similar vein, dreamt that he was a butterfly, and, on awakening, could not be sure that he was not a butterfly dreaming that he was a man. Rather than drawing a distinction between dreams and reality, or between certainty and dubitability, however, he concluded that our identities, like everything else in the world, are fluid and subject transformation and transmutation. The very different treatments of the dream scenario by these two thinkers stem from fundamentally different assumptions embedded in the two philosophical traditions. Analyzing them side by side, we realize how the resources of each intellectual tradition cast light on the unquestioned assumptions underlying the philosophy of the other. This cross cultural engagement highlights the ways in which these two varieties of skepticism fall short of complete, universal skepticism and potentially points the way towards a synthesis of the resources of Western rationalism and philosophical Daoism that may lead to novel formulations of radically skeptical world views.
PubDate: Tue, 17 Jan 2023 12:43:09 PST
- Social Justice in India: A Comparative Study of Rawls and Ambedkar
Authors: Abinash DARNAL
Abstract: Justice has always been central to political philosophy over a period of time. No doubt, throughout the ages, countless philosophers have understood justice in different ways. Nevertheless, they have consented that a good society is a just society. Moreover, justice is a distributive concept and is concerned with the distribution of wealth, leisure, liberty, friendship, love, etc. Twentieth century justice came to be discussed usually in relation to social life in general, and the distribution of material rewards in particular and usually came to be known as ‘Social Justice’. Social justice as such came to be accepted as the fair and just relation between the individual and society that could possibly be measured by unambiguous and unspoken conditions for the distribution of opportunities for social privileges and personal activities. Indeed, social justice is most significant in the context of a polarized Indian society which is divided into castes, religions, races, languages, and communities, posing threat to the democratic spirit. Consequently in India, social justice pertains to doing away with such inequalities, and finding ways for a better and just socio-economic order. In this backdrop, my paper endeavors to locate the significance of the resources conceived by both the figures in the development of political philosophy in India.
PubDate: Tue, 17 Jan 2023 12:43:06 PST
- Mexica Monism and Daoist Ethics in the Philosophy of Gloria Anzaldúa
Authors: Saraliza ANZALDÚA
Abstract: Critical scholarship regarding the philosophy of Gloria Anzaldúa has proliferated in recent decades, especially in the fields of feminist theory, phenomenology, and epistemology. However, there is little analysis of the metaphysics which undergird their work and make possible their views on identity, experience, and community politics. First, this article will explore the significance of Anzaldúa’s ‘nos/otras’ and its relation to Mexica (Aztec) monistic metaphysics. Such a concept resists an us/them construction of the world because it situates the other as us: the Spanish word for ‘we’ is ‘nosotros’ and holds the ‘other/otros’ as its root, which Anzaldúa feminizes to ‘otras’. Second, we will compare Daoist and Mexica metaphysics, two monist systems, and unpack the moral implications for spirituality. Doing so, we will see that according to Anzaldúa’s monistic view, we are affected by each other’s spirit and have an obligation to be spiritually active in the world. This claim is found throughout Anzaldúa’s philosophy and is the key to understanding the spiritual implications of her work. Lastly, we will apply such a view to sexual trauma and see that Anzalduan metaphysics lays out a path of recovery. If sexual violence is the severing of trust with others, then Anzaldúa’s understanding of how the world is constructed gives us a way to re-establish trust with ourselves, each other, and our communities.
PubDate: Tue, 17 Jan 2023 12:43:03 PST
- VOL 14 NO 1 CONTENT PAGE
PubDate: Tue, 17 Jan 2023 12:43:00 PST
- VOL 14 NO 1 INFORMATION PAGE
PubDate: Tue, 17 Jan 2023 12:42:58 PST
- VOL 14 NO 1 COVER PAGE
PubDate: Tue, 17 Jan 2023 12:42:55 PST
- In Memoriam: ZHANG Xianglong (1949-2022)
PubDate: Sat, 30 Jul 2022 09:23:20 PDT
- In Memoriam: Abdulah Šarčević (1929-2021)
PubDate: Sat, 30 Jul 2022 09:23:17 PDT
- Book Review on A Grand Materialism in the New Art From China (by Mary
Wiseman)
Authors: Kathleen HIGGINS
PubDate: Sat, 30 Jul 2022 09:23:14 PDT
- Harmony and Complementarity: A Discussion with Bo Mou
Authors: Chenyang LI
PubDate: Sat, 30 Jul 2022 09:23:12 PDT
- An Overall-Complementarity-Seeking Account that Includes and Transcends
Harmonious-Complementarity-Seeking Perspective: A Commentary on Chenyang
Li’s Confucian Harmony-Seeking Account / Postscript
Authors: Bo MOU
PubDate: Sat, 30 Jul 2022 09:23:09 PDT
