Abstract

It is appropriate to deal with The Philosophy of Living and This Strange Idea of the Beautiful together since they both embody the methodology of François Jullien that is to be found in many of his books. The European Continental tradition in philosophy on a particular topic is outlined and then contrasted unfavorably with Chinese philosophy on the same topic, although it has to be said immediately that by “Chinese philosophy” the author means those parts of it that he selects. Often this approach is perceptive and imaginative, and Jullien always has interesting things to say on what is thought by the philosophers that he considers. Of these two books his approach works far better with the one on beauty; the...