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Chinese and Western Philosophical and Ethical Perspectives: Différance Rather Than Incommensurability or Sameness

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2024

Geir Sigurðsson
Geir Sigurðsson*
Affiliation:
University of Iceland, Iceland
*
Geir Sigurðsson, Faculty of Languages and Cultures, University of Iceland, Veröld - House of Vigdís, Brynjólfsgata 1, Reykjavík, IS-107, Iceland. Email: geirs@hi.is
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Abstract

This experimental article claims that relatively recent trends in Western philosophy provide a much more open approach to philosophies originating in nonwestern traditions, including the Chinese, than found in most mainstream Western philosophy. More specifically, I argue that a slightly modified version of Jacques Derrida's concept of différance offers a hermeneutic parallel to native Chinese philosophical approaches to interpretation. These converge in the view that Western and Chinese philosophies cannot be reduced to the other in conceptual terms and that a finalized meaning or interpretation of each is a priori unattainable, thus providing a future opening for – and even integration of – a Chinese-Western dialogue in global philosophy and ethics.

Keywords

Chinese philosophyinterpretationDerridaDifféranceincommensurabilityhermeneutics
Type
Articles
Information
Diogenes , Volume 64 , Issue 1-2: Global Ethics , February 2017 , pp. 58 - 62
Copyright
Copyright © ICPHS 2022

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