Philosophical Tradition Research Articles

From Globalisation to Planetarisation: The Principle of Interdependence as a Vector for a New Law of the Earth: The Lex Anthropocenae

The principle of interdependence is the core of the idea of a Common Home, a notion introduced into the public debate by the encyclical Laudato si’, and one which is essential to overcome the anthropocentric narrowness of the ethical–legal normativity on which the Rule of Law is based. The theological contribution to the formulation of the principle of interdependence is embedded in a rich legal–philosophical tradition, which has in C. Schmitt a leading exponent. Thanks to the juridical spatial turn outlined by this author, we may recognize that law regulates not only inter-human relations but also inter-system relations between society and the Earth’s ecosystem. To implement a corresponding structural change, however, we need move beyond Schmittian reductionism, which univocally associates the idea of law with the physical dimension of the occupation of space and its rational inscription as property and sovereignty, a form of predatory appropriation and domination which has brought us to the threshold of the current global ecological and political disorder. Only by juridically implementing interdependence as a new regulator of the relationship between Earth and society and of the relations between peoples can we politically govern and solve the ongoing (ecological, health, social, and international) world crisis.

Gender Aspirations in Chinese Marriage Market: A Study of Differences in Gender and the History of the Standards of Marriage

Throughout the history of China, the conception of marriage in Chinese traditional philosophy, such as Confucianism, has remained longstanding and influential even in modern Chinese society. The standards and the social and familial obligations for both sexes that result from such matrimonial beliefs, however, have developed in conflict with modern lifestyles and mindsets, especially for females. This article, through an in depth analysis of the expectations of marriage of both genders, their views on marriage and their expectations of the other spouse, and a variety of current events and movements, aims to further understand the status quo and future outlook in the Chinese marriage market from social, cultural, and economic perspectives. In the current Chinese marriage market, there remain two stereotypical sets of standards for a perfect spouse for both males and females, which are both reinforced through prevalent dating attitudes and disapproved of by modern feminism, the new lifestyle pursuits of the younger generation, and the deprioritization of marriage by females.

Beyond polarization towards dynamic balance: harmony as the core of mental health.

Worldviews are culturally derived assumptions that influence individual and collective behaviors, values, and representations of reality. The study of mental functions is not exempt from this influence, as reflected in scientific theories, methodological approaches, and empirical studies. Despite acknowledging the interplay of mental processes with developmental, environmental, and cultural dimensions, psychological research is still primarily based on quantitative methods, and on the conceptualization of mental phenomena as unfolding along polarized continua. A lively epistemological debate surrounds this approach, especially underscoring the risk of blurring the distinction between constructs derived from statistical models and real-life processes and experiences. Based on this debate and on recent empirical evidence derived from the positive psychology literature, this paper is aimed at proposing an integrated view of mental health, as a holistically patterned, contextually imbedded, and dynamic phenomenon changing over time and across life events, with harmony, harmonization and dynamic balance as core qualities. The heuristic potential of investigating the qualitative configuration patterns of mental health dimensions across individuals and groups, beyond their position along a quantitative continuum, is outlined. The development of more integrated approaches and methodologies to investigate mental health as a harmonization process, taking into account personal, contextual and developmental features, would be aligned with evidence derived from the integration of traditional nomothetic and ideographic approaches, and other life sciences. However, the development of a transdisciplinary line of research requires further inputs from different epistemological views, as well as higher attention to the potential contribution of different philosophical traditions.

Decolonizing the “state of nature” in political thought

The study of coloniality as a “social imaginary” (Charles Taylor) from the perspective of decoloniality invites European scholars, to “think again”, to interrogate their own traditions, including their modern political philosophical tradition. In this article, I will discuss a powerful modern political imaginary, namely the democratic narrative of the “social contract”. Such narratives or “imaginations of our origin” (Ursprungsphantasien: Philip Manow) give us answers to the enigma of our social and political existence: what does it mean to live in this political community? What does it give us, ask from us? In the modern narrative of the “social contract”, we are told that, to be a good citizen, we have/had to leave the “state of nature” (status naturalis), a state often described as a state of disorder, conflict, and war, and accept the status of citizenship (status civilis) and a powerful state as guarantee of peace and the rule of law. In this article, I will firstly give some examples of the use of this narrative in very diverse contexts: 1) in the context of the European religious civil wars in the 16th and 17th centuries (birth of the modern liberal political philosophy), 2) in the context of the transition of European nation-states to the European Union after WWII, 3) in the context of the transition of Apartheid South Africa to a non-racial democracy. Secondly, I will concentrate on one of the first philosophers who introduced the state of nature/civil state narrative, Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679), to discover that his political imagination is deeply influenced by the colonial experience in the “New World”, especially the meeting with the indigenous Indians in America. In several aspects, they are in Hobbes’ imagination the incarnation of the life in the “state of nature”. This raises the question, how the idea of a democratic social contract can be reformulated, without Eurocentric and racist premises, and without simply reversing the Hobbesian narrative: since the “colonizer” is the root of our conflict and controversies, to expel him will restore a durable peace.

THE PRESENT SITUATION OF CHINA CALLIGRAPHY AS A CULTURAL PHENOMENONTHE PRESENT SITUATION OF CHINA CALLIGRAPHY AS A CULTURAL PHENOMENON

Calligraphy art occupies an important position in the history of China. It is not only a “national treasure”, but also a “gentleman’s art”. It is a concentrated expression of personal aesthetic concept, academic accomplishment, personality temper - ament and ideological realm. China’s calligraphy art is an important part of China’s traditional culture, which embodies the essence of traditional culture and ancient philosophy. The ideas, traditional virtues and humanistic spirit of China’s traditional culture are the essence of China’s traditional culture, and also constitute the cultural foundation of China’s modernization. Calligraphy is a writing culture based on Chinese characters, and its artistic expression and aesthetic standards are derived from China’s traditional philosophy and culture. The complicated process of China’s cultural modernization affects modern calligraphy and its social cognition, and the development of calligraphy art is closely related to the internal situation. Taking China’s calligraphy and China’s culture as the research object, and China’s history as the research basis, this paper deeply analyzes the present situation of modern calligraphy and China’s calligraphy culture, and adopts interdisciplinary research methods, including history, art history, cultural history, aesthetics and philosophy, and makes detailed thinking on various topics, such as the history of China in the 20th century, the characteristics of modern calligraphy, and the role of China’s calligraphy in culture and education. The conclusion is: It summarizes the present situation and cultural achievements of China’s calligraphy as a cultural phenomenon, which has played an important role in maintaining Chinese national identity and conveying national cultural mentality. According to this statement, a person’s personality and quality can be reflected in calligraphy, which can even emphasize a person’s social status, and a person who writes well in calligraphy can win the respect of strangers. There - fore, calligraphy art bears the effective inheritance of Chinese national identity and cultural spirit, and the popularization and inheritance of calligraphy art con - tributes to the prosperity and development of Chinese art and culture.

Beyond green chemistry: Radical environmental transformation through Sanfte Chemie (1985-1995).

Sanfte Chemie was a concept formulated in the 1980s in Germany by a group of environmentally conscious scholars. It emerged within a unique environment, marked by its radical critique of dominant forms of rationality, and against the rich background of German philosophical technocritical traditions. Its purpose was to profoundly reshape the practice of chemistry and the organization of the chemical industry along the lines of sustainability. In contrast to later concepts like green or sustainable chemistry, Sanfte Chemie went beyond setting new research directions; it critically reevaluated the entire epistemological foundation upon which the science of chemistry was built. Under the auspices of the German Green Party, the concept flourished in the 1980s before falling out of grace in the following decade. While largely deemed overly radical in its time and then subsequently forgotten, Sanfte Chemie not only anticipated some of the most promising trends in sustainability science today but also offered unique insights that may shed new light on the challenges of the ongoing environmental crisis.

Does Philosophy Have More Than One Method? On Intercultural Comparison, Hegel, and Universality

ABSTRACT This essay takes issue with two possible stances in comparative and intercultural philosophy. First, there is the idea of ascertaining a method or conditions of possibility before engaging in intercultural comparison. This amounts to contemplating a form prior to any content. Second, there is the idea that a plurality of given philosophical traditions exist that do not have to be held together by a notion of what philosophy is. This is equivalent to asserting a diversity of content without giving it a form. In both cases, the disunity of form and content subverts comprehension of universality. After problematizing both stances, I will seek to retrieve a notion of universality, drawing from Hegel’s insights into the peculiar character of philosophy. For Hegel, philosophy has the character of life, which does not allow for the isolation of form or content. Philosophy thus conceived does not apply any methods but is its own method.

Intellectual decolonisation and the danger of epistemic closure: the need for a critical decolonial theory

ABSTRACT This paper draws from the paradigm of Critical Theory (CT) and Decolonial Theory to engage in an introductory discussion on the need for a new methodological paradigm, namely a Critical Decolonial Theory. This is put forward in order to both argue for the imperative of introducing multiple narratives to the philosophical practice of contemporary social critique in South Africa, as well as to provide a cautionary note relating to how the decolonisation narrative itself could become a determinative ideology if it engages in what Lewis Gordon terms “epistemic closure.” While operating from within the framework and ideals of traditional CT and Amy Allen’s subsequent contribution to decolonising CT, we draw specifically from black practitioners of this critical philosophical tradition, namely Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Frantz Fanon, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Paulin Hountondji, and Achille Mbembe, in order to localise and ground our discussion of the need to problematise (i.e., consider both vindicatory and subversive aspects of) the decolonisation project.

Pleasure’s Swerve: Philology among Lucretius, Derrida, and Deleuze

Abstract In the 1983 article “My Chances/Mes chances: A Rendezvous with Some Epicurean Stereophonies,” Jacques Derrida gives philological questions massive philosophical significance by reading the long âgon between idealist and materialist philosophy through a philological crux in the text of Lucretius’s De rerum natura (On the Nature of Things). Tracing philological debates that have surrounded Lucretius from the Renaissance onward, this article argues that Lucretius’s poetic theory of interlinked atomic and textual swerves and the philological history that has mediated them were important touchstones for both Derrida and the other major twentieth-century philosopher of difference, Gilles Deleuze. Additionally, the article argues that for both Derrida and Deleuze, the clinamen offers a theory not only of how atoms or alphabetical letters swerve or even split, but also of how a philosophical tradition such as materialism refuses to run in a straight, unitary line. This is a question of how to understand reception history: either as an unbroken tradition of faithful imitation and replication (a family genealogy, grouped under the name of the father, “Lucretius” for example), or else as something less patriarchal, less heteronormative, less faithful. Read this way, the swerve offers a rethinking of the methods of reception history itself.

Leveraging Confucian and Daoist Wisdom for Biodiversity Education: A Pathway to Sustainable Decision Making

The vitality of biodiversity, an essential pillar of a thriving biosphere, is currently at risk. This paper investigates the potential of ancient philosophies, specifically Confucianism and Daoism, as pathways to mitigate this issue. We delve into the intricate connections between these philosophies and the natural world, and how they can inform our understanding of biodiversity threats in the context of cultural and technological evolution. Recognizing the inevitable progression of technology and its influence on human evolution and the biosphere, we turn to traditional philosophies to establish guiding principles for sustainable decision-making. We advocate for the principle:" Decisions must not result in the artificial reduction of biodiversity within the framework of evolutionary time." This principle is substantiated by reciprocal arguments that lay the foundation for the essential analyses to protect biodiversity. By adhering to this principle, we can ensure a sustainable biosphere conducive to ongoing human evolution. This study underscores the importance of integrating ancient wisdom with modern decision-making processes to address the pressing issue of biodiversity loss.

A philosophical look at running friendships

ABSTRACT Friendship constitutes an integral part of human flourishing. Aristotle (1996) famously wrote, ‘For no one would choose to live without friends, but possessing all other good things’ (p. 205). Members of our respective practice communities (MacIntyre, 1984) understand and appreciate our passion for running or basketball, tennis or cycling. The friends we develop through sport, and herein I focus on running, have the potential to help us cultivate human flourishing in the Aristotelian sense. Highlighting this point, Austin (2007) writes that ‘The friendships of runners often illustrate Aristotle’s understanding of this highest form of friendship, as well as friendship in its lower forms. And as we shall see, running is well suited for fostering the type of friendship that Aristotle thinks is necessary for being happy’ (p. 12). In his book, Philosophy Americana, Anderson (2006) provides an overview of the themes which pervade the academic discipline known as American philosophy. Individuals typically cited within this domain include Charles Sanders Peirce, William James, Josiah Royce, and John Dewey, among others. Examining the nature of running friendships provides a way to explicate American philosophical themes; and the themes provide a means to more fully understand and appreciate the nature of running friendships. My purpose here is to examine running friendships through the lens of the American philosophical tradition. The themes I have in mind here are: patience; commitment and immersion; risk and precipitousnes; and experience. I begin with an overview of friendship, including friendship as a form of human flourishing as well as the formation of friendship. I then transition to an examination of American philosophical themes related to running and friendship.

Historyzm w myśli Ogyū Soraia

The article examines the thought of the Japanese Confucian philosopher Ogyū Sorai, asking whether any traces of historicism can be found in his ideas. Ogyū Sorai was a prominent early 17th-century thinker, whose considerable role in the development of Japan’s modern philosophical tradition is widely known, mostly because of how he criticized the dominant node of Neo-Confucianism that supported the Tokugawa political system. Contrary to the most common trends in analyzing Ogyū Sorai, the author focuses neither on the political or strictly philosophical aspect of his thinking, but rather on his views regarding the past and its role in shaping the future. While discussing the Japanese philosopher’s major works, such as Benmei, Bendō, and Sorai-sensei tōmonsho, the author comes to the conclusion that a historicist approach toward the flow of time can be clearly seen in Sorai’s thinking. His philosophy displays no ahistoricism nor cyclical understanding of time. This creates a strong case for further research on how Sorai’s thought facilitated the development of ideas on progress and modernization in the late Edo period of Japanese history.

Переклади і тлумачення філософського курсу Стефана Калиновського: радянська традиція та її пережитки

The article analyzes the translations and interpretations of the philosophical course Stephan Kalynovskyi taught at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in 1729–1731. Drawing on unpublished translations, editorial corrections, letters, etc., the author reconstructs the history of this course’s translation for the first time, which began in the late 1960s. The author analyzes whether the researchers transcribed and translated the handwritten Latin text correctly and to what extent their interpretations of the course’s philosophical ideas are valid. The article demonstrates that researchers neither had the proper knowledge of the scholastic philosophical tradition and, in some cases, its specific type of Latin nor created the necessary critical apparatus. It resulted in many flaws in their works. Ukrainian philosophers grossly misinterpreted Kalynovskyi’s course because they found the Enlightenment, Cartesian, and local Ukrainian ideas in the text, written in Paris in the 1630s. The author also demonstrates that contemporary studies of Kalynovskyi’s course mostly repeat dubious Soviet ideas, while several dishonest scholars even practice plagiarism.

Formation of Feminine Truth in Poststructuralism

This essay traces the origin of feminine thought in poststructuralism, which opens up new vistas of experience that differ from traditional philosophical thinking based on a conceptual grasp of the world. Rather than viewing the feminine as the essence of the woman gender, it is seen here as the experience of a plurality of truths produced in the affectedness of the human body by the world. The representative function of language and methodology in traditional philosophy cannot capture the plurality of truths. Feminine experience is not a prerogative of women philosophers or feminist writers. It is accessible even to male philosophers. Since it is the outcome of the affectedness of the body by phenomena, it is accessible to all human beings, irrespective of their gender identities. The construction of the truth of entities in terms of their universal essence has a significant role in forming masculine and feminine experiences. Masculine experience is produced by the representation of conceptual truth by the self. Feminine is a kind of existence prior to self-formation that is in operation in all humans. The linguistic turn in philosophy created by Nietzsche and Saussure is the main force behind the growth of feminine thinking in poststructuralism. It marks the end of the abstract, concept-based thinking of the masculine sort and the formation of the differential thought of the feminine.

The Paradox of Love: A Historical Exploration of Western Philosophical Perspectives on Love, Exclusion, and Liberatory Potential

The present work tracks some of the most well-known thinkers on love in the Western philosophical tradition, where various theories emerge, conflict, converge, and fade away. Given that many questions about its nature have persisted for centuries, love’s identity appears unsettled. Due to its unresolved identity, love might be best understood as a paradox existing between its resistance to definition and yet commonly recognized and experienced. The other central thread stemming from these philosophers of love is how the history of its theorizing constructed a restrictive notion that commonly excluded women from the experience. Offering a natural rebuttal to the history of exclusion promoted by these prominent thinkers is bell hooks’ notion of an expansive and healing love that possessed the capacity to realize more fulfilling relationships and a compassionate society. This paper concludes with thoughts on love’s liberatory nature, its capacity to create personal meaning, and its identity as a paradox without attempting to define it.

Protestant Christianity and Devotional Literature

Abstract The present article explores the first-ever publication of vacanas of the twelfth century in colonial Karnataka in which a native Christian convert (catechist) of Basel mission writes a treatise on the religious and philosophical tradition of Liṅgāyats. The intention is to study how a native catechist consciously thought through colonial categories and vernacular idioms in interpreting vacanas and employing them as a touchstone to adjudicate Liṅgāyatism. Totally antithetical to Christian views of Liṅgāyatism, the native Liṅgāyat scholars’ idea of vacana literature and what it represented for them will be examined in the second part. The article straddles two registers: a) construction of Liṅgāyat religious/textual traditions with Christian categories and formulation of an ethical framework by the catechist in a Christian tract Liṅgāyata Mata Vicāra (1874) and b) reception, subversion and re- constitution of such construction by the elite Liṅgāyat scholars in the post-1874 scenario.

Casus generis

The relevance of the subject of the research is determined by the fact that the problem of the genre differentiation of scientific literature in Latin is poorly explored. The research is based on the fragment of a medical text of the XVI century. The purpose of the research is the analysis of its genre originality. This fragment presents a dialogue – a genre borrowed from the philosophical literary tradition, there are no dialogues among medical essays, that is why the form of this text seems quite unusual. According to the main author’s intention, the analyzed dialogue is an informative genre, according to the role of the addressee; it is a didactic and unison dialogue. The main character expresses the author’s position; the remarks of the interlocutors perform meta-textual functions. The speech of all the characters in the text contains numerous lexical and grammatical means of dialogization. Imitation of professional dialogue occurs at all levels, starting with the plot and composition. The presentation of rejected opinions, remarks of solidarity, imitation of requests and motives bring into the text the features of informal professional communication: evaluation, phatic and imperative elements. The presence of digressions describing some medical cases from practice and stylistic devices bring this scientific text closer to works of fiction. It is concluded that the author of the fragment skillfully imitates a professional dialogue, he does not neglect his true (informative) purpose and considers the written form in which it will actually be presented to the addressee. Moreover, the reader observes a unique composition, scientific in content and artistic in the form of embodiment.

Practical Manifesto for a Theatre of Repetition

In the preface to the English translation of Félix Ravaisson’s De l’habitude (2008 [1838], eds and trans. Claire Carlisle and Mark Sinclair, London: Continuum), Catherine Malabou identifies ‘two basic ways of speaking of habit’ in the European philosophical tradition, either as ‘a primary ontological phenomenon’ or as an ‘epitome of inauthenticity’; she suggests that we are ‘habituated’ to the second (vii). Indeed, in our everyday experience, especially in the West, habit has acquired this overall negative connotation of an automatic routine. However, even when considered more positively as an ‘ontological phenomenon’, this acknowledgement of habit’s decisive role in the constitution of identity is no guarantee against the deadening effects of its automatisms. Since these effects can be quite explicit, whatever creative force underlies the phenomenon will remain concealed unless it is somehow brought to the surface of experience. In other words, one has to reconcile the potentially stultifying forces of habit with the perhaps more subtle, but just as resilient, generative ones. To this end, a performance practice that may at once manifest habit’s hidden sense and neutralize its side effects would go some way to complement a theoretical understanding of the phenomenon. Accordingly, in the spirit of a manifesto, this article first lays out a statement of values and then considers a number of workable principles for the theatre, with both instances based on relevant theories of habit and on my practice-as-research on the work of actors, oscillating between spontaneity and repetition.

On the Perceptibility of Motion: An Inquiry from the Indian Philosophical Traditions

This paper discusses an important issue regarding the concept of motion from the perspective of Indian philosophical traditions. We can recognise two camps in Indian philosophical schools regarding the epistemic means (pramana) through which one cognises motion. Some Indian philosophical schools claim that motion is completely imperceptible and one infers motion by perceiving contact and separation of an object with another object or space. Among these schools, we have considered Patanjali and Ramanuja (the author of Tantrarahasya) as the main advocators of this position. The other group claims that motion is perceptible and we infer motion only when the object possessing the motion is not perceptible. Supporters of this position are mainly the Nyaya-Vaisesika school and Narayanabhatta the author of Manameyodaya. While summarising and critically analysing these positions, we support the view that motion is perceptible by showing the following: (1) The position that motion is non-perceptible leads to some ontological issues (2) The position that motion is perceptible is more economical and simpler.

Introduction: A Brief History of Theism and Its Alternatives

This Special Edition includes articles discussing the many alternatives to the various forms of theism found among the majority of religious and some philosophical traditions [...]