After outlining arguments for the general epistemological presumption in favour of taking into consideration alternative perspectives from other cultures, the article details several examples in which such an examination yields epistemic benefits and challenges. First, our example of alternative conceptions of art demonstrates that a western conception of art as disinterested contemplation cannot be accepted as a general characterization in that it does not adequately characterize the practice of many traditional societies. Second, the case of aboriginal justice reveals assumptions embedded (...) in the North American criminal justice system regarding justice as fairness, and suggests an alternative based on restorative justice. The third example is from Traditional Chinese medicine. While alternative herbal remedies can be tested according to shared standards of health improvement, practices such as acupuncture are more epistemologically challenging in that they cannot readily be explained by current scientific theories. The final example deals with the failed attempts to replace the traditional Balinese agricultural methods with modern farming practices, and shows how the traditional methods yielded practical insights which were ignored by western experts because of their spiritual origins. Finally, the article attempts to extract some general considerations from the above examination. (shrink)

In China, there have been numerous reports that doctors or other health care workers have been attacked by patients or members of patient’s families. From 2000 to 2003, there were 502 reports of violence against health care workers in the city of Beijing, in which 90 health care workers were wounded or disabled. From January 1991 to July 2001, in Hubei Province, 568 attacks on health care facilities and workers were reported, and some health care workers were even killed. In (...) Jiangsu Province, from 2000 to 2002, violent events against health care facilities and workers increased by 35% every year, with an average of 177 such events occurring each year. Those acts of violence have been attributed, in part, to the inadequacy of the legal system for handling medical disputes that was in effect prior to 2002. (shrink)

There is a prevailing conviction that if traditional medicine (TRM) or complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) are integrated into healthcare systems, modern scientific medicine (MSM) should retain its principal status. This paper contends that this position is misguided in medical contexts where TRM is established and remains vibrant. By reflecting on the Chinese policy on three entrenched forms of TRM (Tibetan, Mongolian and Uighur medicines) in western regions of China, the paper challenges the ideology of science that lies behind the (...) demand that all traditional forms of medicine be evaluated and reformed according to MSM standards. Tibetan medicine is used as a case study to indicate the falsity of a major premise of the scientific ideology. The conclusion is that the proper integrative system for TRM and MSM is a dual standard based system in which both TRM and MSM are free to operate according to their own medical standards. (shrink)

This essay draws on classical Confucian intellectual resources to argue that the person who emerges from a head transplant would be neither the person who provided the head, nor the person who provided the body, but a new, different person. We construct two types of argument to support this conclusion: one is based on the classical Confucian metaphysics of human life as qi activity; the other is grounded in the Confucian view of personal identity as being inseparable from one’s familial (...) relations. These Confucian ideas provide a reasonable alternative to the currently dominant view that one’s personal identity “follows” one’s head. Together, these arguments imply that head transplantation is ethically inappropriate. (shrink)

This paper explores the issue of the epistemological significance of taking into consideration alternative perspectives, particularly those from other cultures. We have a moral duty to respect the beliefs and practices of other cultures, but do we have an epistemological duty to take these beliefs and practices into consideration in our own deliberations? Are views that are held without exposure to alternatives from other cultures less credible than those that have undergone such exposure?