This collection of essays turnings around aesthetic and ethical questions, and intertwining them, is intended to foster and elaborate the notion of intercultural philosophy. Without idealizing any single way of thinking or tradition, without idolizing any lazy relativism, the author wants to show how interculturality is neither a comprehensive, ultimate system of thoughts, nor a disconnected plurality of opinions. Surmounting monism without fading into dualism, he moves on leads to deal with the philosophical character of symbols, analogies, and comparisons, through (...) which we can grasp the links and relations between identity and difference. (shrink)

Entre phénoménologie et neurologie. Merleau-Ponty, Goldstein, SacksLa phénoménologie de Merleau-Ponty a traité des matériaux et des éléments de réflexion importants de diverses études sur des pathologies psychiques et physiques. La confrontation et l’entrelacement entre la pensée du philosophe français et certaines recherches de neuropsychologie, comme Kurt Goldstein ou Oliver Sacks, font émerger la possibilité de nouvelles approches de la dimension de la maladie, entre narration, spéculation et recherche scientifique. Un dialogue fécond entre disciplines et champs de recherche différents met en (...) lumière comment toute modalité perceptive, même quand elle se présente comme déficitaire ou déviante, constitue de fait une vraie recréation ou re-constitution du monde et non pas seulement un enregistrement. Ce processus de création continue est lié à une des questions de fond soulevée par l’expérience de la maladie: celle des modes et des conditions de la singularité, de l’identité d’un soi, à la recherche de reconnaissance et d’acceptation de la part d’un regard ou d’un geste que nous savons contribuer de manière inédite à la relation entre sujets humains.Between Phenomenology and Neurology. Merleau-Ponty, Goldstein, SacksMerleau-Ponty’s phenomenology deals with materials and elements of important reflections in diverse studies on psychological and physical pathologies. The confrontation and the connections between French philosophical thought and certain research in neuropsychology, such as that of Kurt Goldstein or Oliver Sacks, allow the possibility of new approaches to the dimension of sickness to emerge, approaches between narration, speculation, and scientific research. A fertile dialogue between disciplines and fields of different research brings to light how every perceptual modality, even when it presents itself as deficient or deviant, constitutes in fact a true re-creation or reconstitution of the world and not only a recording. This process of continuous creation is linked to one of the basic questions raised by the experience of sickness: the question of the modes and conditions of singularity, of the identity of a self in pursuit of recognition or acceptance from another’s gaze or gesture, a gaze or gesture that, in the relation between human subjects, we have the ability to contribute ever in a unique manner. (shrink)

Entre phénoménologie et neurologie. Merleau-Ponty, Goldstein, SacksLa phénoménologie de Merleau-Ponty a traité des matériaux et des éléments de réflexion importants de diverses études sur des pathologies psychiques et physiques. La confrontation et l’entrelacement entre la pensée du philosophe français et certaines recherches de neuropsychologie, comme Kurt Goldstein ou Oliver Sacks, font émerger la possibilité de nouvelles approches de la dimension de la maladie, entre narration, spéculation et recherche scientifique. Un dialogue fécond entre disciplines et champs de recherche différents met en (...) lumière comment toute modalité perceptive, même quand elle se présente comme déficitaire ou déviante, constitue de fait une vraie recréation ou re-constitution du monde et non pas seulement un enregistrement. Ce processus de création continue est lié à une des questions de fond soulevée par l’expérience de la maladie: celle des modes et des conditions de la singularité, de l’identité d’un soi, à la recherche de reconnaissance et d’acceptation de la part d’un regard ou d’un geste que nous savons contribuer de manière inédite à la relation entre sujets humains.Between Phenomenology and Neurology. Merleau-Ponty, Goldstein, SacksMerleau-Ponty’s phenomenology deals with materials and elements of important reflections in diverse studies on psychological and physical pathologies. The confrontation and the connections between French philosophical thought and certain research in neuropsychology, such as that of Kurt Goldstein or Oliver Sacks, allow the possibility of new approaches to the dimension of sickness to emerge, approaches between narration, speculation, and scientific research. A fertile dialogue between disciplines and fields of different research brings to light how every perceptual modality, even when it presents itself as deficient or deviant, constitutes in fact a true re-creation or reconstitution of the world and not only a recording. This process of continuous creation is linked to one of the basic questions raised by the experience of sickness: the question of the modes and conditions of singularity, of the identity of a self in pursuit of recognition or acceptance from another’s gaze or gesture, a gaze or gesture that, in the relation between human subjects, we have the ability to contribute ever in a unique manner. (shrink)

This article deals with the Chinese ink painting tradition, as a paradigm in which art and life are coupled and intertwined. In fact, in Chinese classical aesthetics, art and life do not produce a dramatic tension, but are inscribed in a common process of naturalness or spontaneity. The painter has to learn how the breath, or vital energy, that flows in every single image-phenomenon, can be enlivened by the brush strokes. Moreover, the paper builds a dialogue between the European and (...) the Chinese main patterns. Showing alternately the continuity or the discontinuity between art and life, both traditions of thought display the possibility to learn a sort of “art of living”, through – and not despite – the dynamic de-coincidence that appears in the folds of human experience. (shrink)

A specific interest and attention to translation and to the relation between signs, natural languages, and thought spread out not only from the so called “linguistic turn” in the 20th century, but also from the cross-cultural dimension that gained prominency in the last decades. Interlinguistic translation can thus be considered and analyzed as a particular and fruitful field of study for philosophy, because in that experience we have to face the intimate relationship that intertwine form and content, the contingency of (...) expression and the ideal aspiration to a shared, universal truth. The case of Chinese language and thought provide further material to explore, in order to raise more questions about the links among grammar, morphology, system of writing, and the meanings that those structures intrinsecally brings and convey. Re-considering Hegel’s ideas about alphabetical and non-alphabetical writing, and through a peculiar case study of a poem by Wang Wei, we can learn to appreciate in a new way the alterity of Chinese characters and language. Finally, the act of translation can be seen as a model of ethical understanding, in order take into account the Other, without enclosing it into the frames that have been shaped with our own categories. (shrink)

The article deals with Chinese ink painting and some aesthetic notions, in particular those of xiang 象 and shanshui 山水 (literally: “mountains-waters”, i.e. landscape...

Taking into account my personal path as a philosopher and as a painter, I try to sketch the perspective on aesthetics that was opened to me by a cross-cultural encounter. The European tradition, on one side, and the Sino-Japanese tradition, on the other side, are the two mirroring currents along which I moved in order to trace a sort of “deconstruction” and a “restructuring” of artistic and philosophical vision. In my painting, I aim for a confluence of different streams of (...) thought by thinking about European informal art and landscape ink-painting of China and Japan. This confluence continues to produce a fertile dialogue, enlivening the deep resources that constitute the core of a subjectivity in process. Aesthetics converts itself into ethics: an ethical move, beyond the opposition of visible and invisible as dull substances, beyond the opposition of immanence and transcendence, is one of the inner goals of this pathway between art and philosophy. (shrink)

For anyone working in aesthetics interested in understanding the richness of the Chinese aesthetic tradition this handbook is the place to start. Comprised of general introductory overviews, critical reflections and contextual analysis, it covers everything from the origins of aesthetics in China to the role of aesthetics in philosophy today. Beginning in early China (1st millennium BCE), it traces the Chinese aesthetic tradition, exploring the import of the term aesthetics into Chinese thought via Japan around the end of the 19th (...) century. It looks back to early practices of art and craftsmanship, showing how the history of Chinese thought provides a multitude of artifacts and texts that give rise to a wide range of aesthetic creations and notions. Introducing various perspectives on traditional arts in China, including painting, ceramics, calligraphy, poetry, music and theatre, it explores those aesthetic traditions not included in "canonic" art forms, such as martial arts, rock gardening, and ritual performance. Written by Chinese, European, and American theoreticians and practitioners, this authoritative research resource enhances contemporary aesthetics by revealing the possibilities of a Chinese philosophy of art. (shrink)

Surrogacy is an encouraging management for many childless couples and can hypothetically resolve many unbearable pain that they are confronted. Initially surrogacy treatment was frowned upon, however, surrogacy is more popularly accepted now a day. Though, surrogacy has not yet recognized by 199 country in the globe. Different country has different regulations on surrogacy. However, “there are some indication of the degree of divergence between official discourse and actual practice of surrogacy throughout world”. There are positive changes in attitude toward (...) surrogacy has been seen in some countries. This special issue of Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics has been organized on surrogacy to see the current thinking of surrogacy around the world and how people come out from the social, religious and political framework. (shrink)