End of Comparative Philosophy and the Task of Comparative Thinking, The: Heidegger, Derrida, and Daoism (SUNY series in Chinese Philosophy and Culture)

A work of and about comparative philosophy that stresses the importance of language in intercultural endeavors.How do differences in language influence comparative philosophy? Although the Orientalism famously described by Edward Said is rare today, Steven Burik maintains that comparative philosophy often subtly privileges one tradition over another since certain conceptual schemes are so embedded in Western languages that it is difficult not to revert to them. Arguing for a new approach that acknowledges how theory and practice cannot be separated in comparative philosophical endeavors, Burik provides nonmetaphysical, deconstructionist readings of Heidegger and Derrida and uses these to give a new reading of classical Daoism. The ideas of language advanced therein can aid the project of comparative philosophy specifically, and philosophies generally, in trying to overcome ways of thinking that have dominated Western philosophy for twenty-five hundred years and still frustrate intercultural encounters.“Steven Burik’s The End of Comparative Philosophy and the Task of Comparative Thinking is a daring and imaginative essay in re-reading Daoism, particularly the Daodejing and the Zhuangzi, based on a philosophy of language deriving from Heidegger and Derrida.” — International Journal for Philosophy of ReligionSteven Burik teaches philosophy at Singapore Management University and also at the Center for American Education, Broward College, Singapore.Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Heidegger and the Other Commencement Heidegger’s Greek Connection anaximander parmenides heraclitus Heidegger and the Poets poetry and thinking poetry and language hölderlin, the foreign, and translation Heidegger and the “East” early heidegger and comparative philosophy later heidegger and comparative philosophy Concluding Heidegger 2. Derrida: Otherness, Context, and Openness Deconstructing the Ideas Behind Metaphysics misreading derrida beyond heidegger? Language, Text, and Translation in Derrida Derrida in Comparative Philosophy identity and openness derrida’s hints at different cultures “the other is already there, irreducibly.” Concluding Derrida 3. Rereading Daoism; The Other Way Metaphysical Readings of Daoist Philosophy The Metaphysical Tradition and Comparison The Possibility of Difference interpretations of classical chinese language Inconstancy of Dao 道: No Transcendence Necessary inside & outside: the gateway (men 門) Concluding Daoism 4. Thinking, Philosophy, and Language: Comparing Heidegger, Derrida, and Classical Daoism Metaphysics, Difference, and Comparisons difference and comparison metaphysics and comparison Thinking and Philosophy Heidegger and Daoism derrida and daoism Language in Comparison “Beyond” The Inversion of Opposites Ethical and Political Implications Concluding the Comparison Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index Read more