Merleau-Ponty and Buddhism explores a new mode of philosophizing through a comparative study of Maurice Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology and philosophies of major Buddhist thinkers including Nagarjuna, Chinul, Dogen, Shinran, and Nishida Kitaro. The book offers an intercultural philosophy in which opposites intermingle in a chiasmic relationship, and which brings new understanding regarding the self and the self's relation with others in a globalized and multicultural world.

Globalisation has pervaded all aspects of our lives in many parts of the world. The phenomenon is obviously not only economic and technological; globalisation has affected human and cultural relationships, identity formations, and our ability and willingness to be attentive to our fellow human beings and the places of our worlds. Globalisation has generated particular forms of cultural practices and the ways we perceive and interpret them. But beyond the simple realisation of such mutations, the question is whether cultural experience, (...) be it existential, religious, political or aesthetic, can still be the guarantor of authentic human relationships, genuine intercultural encounters, or dialogical renewing, offering thus a fruitful mode of redemptive resistance against the forces that may soon plunge us into the existential catacombs of globalisation. (shrink)

The overall concern of this issue is not really to question whether there is such a thing as “African philosophy.” Any question concerning “African philosophy,” i.e. a specifically pan-African discipline with its own methods and forms, is partly different from that of “African thought” in general, for the latter includes not only processes of consciousness that reflect on the natural and human fields, but also practices whose very nature is to create or express specific cultural textures. The choice of “African (...) Thought” – rather than “African Philosophy” – in this series of essays is a way of leaving the door open to thought-practices that would be considered as foreign or simply borderline to what is usually considered as philosophy by the Western establishment, that is, by those who have come to believe and persuade the rest of the world that the love of wisdom is the love of logos. (shrink)

¿Qué relación guardan forma y significado en la experiencia artística? Frente a la tendencia objetivadora de fenomenólogos como Geiger y Dufrenne, este trabajo niega que quepa separar ambas cosas. Los conceptos de "figural", "morfismo" y "exmorfismo" desempeñarán una función capital en el curso de la argumentación.

Ever since Plato's condemnation of the poets who did not deserve a place in his ideal city poetry has, in areas of the Western world, drawn suspicion as for its ability to convey the "truth." Philosophy, then, was thought to be a better candidate assuming that the truth in question could only be "discursive" as opposed to "poetic." In the West, the tension between poetry and philosophy reached a quasi-chiasmatic peak with modernism, a period during which the poem asserted in (...) the most radical way its own mode of thinking. Alain Badiou in his Que pense le poème? qualifies the singularity of poetic thought in terms of "musical silence." Yet, in spite of the depth and beauty of the image, the poem falls short of being considered as philosophical thought proper. By moving away from a conception of philosophy centred on logos as method, the poem may conceivably reveal a profoundly philosophical nature. Such is the case with the poetic prose of French contemporary writer Christian Bobin. Starting from Badiou's conception of "musical silence" in poetry this essay reflects on the extent to which emptitude at work in Bobin amounts to a uniquely philosophical mode of thinking. (shrink)

Volume 50, Issue 3, July 2019, Page 279-282.

This essay explores the nihilistic nature of the idea of postmodern aesthetics in the Western world by highlighting its historical and cultural specificity in contrast with non-Western postmodernities, in particular in East Asia, and this in spite of their formal similarities. We then have to question the nature, possibility and implication of Western postmodern aesthetics overcoming itself within the context of globalisation.

This essay attempts to address ethical issues concerning interpretation and art practices. It explores an alternative to both modern institutional authority and postmodern nihilism by referring to the concept of 'creative fidelity' developed by the French 'existentialist' philosopher Gabriel Marcel. As it is well known, contemporary radical reactions against the excesses of modernity in the Western world have led to a profound mistrust in the idea of subject/object, and have as a result favoured attitudes which tend to dissolve such a (...) dichotomy. These attitudes, by expressing the contingency, indeterminacy, or groundlessness of meaning, have triggered the disappearance of the Self, authorship, authenticity and in-sight. How is it therefore possible to interpret, make, or even teach art in a meaningful manner without imposing frameworks, closures, boundaries, or perspectives? This, it is argued, can be achieved by understanding the vital complementary relationship between innovation and faith, creativity and fidelity, renewal and consideration, offering thus a possible alternative to today's crisis of meaning in art. /// Este ensaio visa o tratamento de questões éticas relativas à interpretação e às práticas artísticas, explorando uma alternativa tanto à autoridade institucional moderna como ao niilismo pós-moderno a partir de uma reflexão sobre o conceito de "fidelidade criativa" desenvolvida pelo filósofo existencialista francês Gabriel Mareei É sabido que as reacções radicais contemporâneas contra os excessos da modernidade no mundo ocidental conduziram a uma profunda desconfiança da ideia de sujeito/objecto, resultando no favorecimento de atitudes que tendem a dissolver essa dicotomia. Estas atitudes, mediante a expressão da contingência, indeterminismo ou ausência de fundamento para o sentido, levaram a um desaparecimento do Si-mesmo, do princípio do autor, da autenticidade e da intelecção interior. Como é que será possível interpretar, fazer, ou até ensinar arte com sentido sem ao mesmo tempo impor esquemas, limites ou perspectivas? Isto, assim vai o argumento, pode ser alcançado mediante a compreensão do relacionamento vital complementar entre inovação e fé, criatividade e fidelidade, renovação e consideração, oferecendo dessa forma uma possível alternativa para a contemporânea crise de sentido na arte. (shrink)