Mario Wenning

This paper draws on critical rhythmanalysis to address temporal pathologies manifested by the increase of acceleration and the decline of progress narratives. It traces the historical and philosophical evolution of rhythm from ancient Greece to Marx's materialist analysis, then scrutinizes how modern algorithms reduce experience and contribute to the temporal alienation of flattened time. To counter the exhaustion of temporality rooted in the Western tradition an integration of insights from Chinese philosophy of rhythmic patterns, particularly Daoism and Yin-Yang thinking, is being proposed. Concepts such as natural freedom, ziran 自然, serve as an alternative to autonomy and provide a transcultural corrective to the unnatural and alienating rhythms of digital capitalism. Ultimately, the paper advocates for an intercultural rhythmanalysis that fosters temporal emancipation, enabling spiritual flourishing and the development of vital rhythms.

This piece defends an integrative medicine approach to Medical AI, grounded in a Daoist perspective. Specifically, it draws on the Daoist classic Zhuangzi to argue that algorithms in medical AI should not be restricted to offering diagnoses and treatments from a Western medical perspective alone. Instead, medical AI should be prepared to provide patients with various forms of alternative medicine (such as Chinese medicine). This can significantly benefit public health and address the healthcare needs of a broader population.

This piece defends an integrative medicine approach to Medical AI, grounded in a Daoist perspective. Specifically, it draws on the Daoist classic _Zhuangzi_ to argue that algorithms in medical AI should not be restricted to offering diagnoses and treatments from a Western medical perspective alone. Instead, medical AI should be prepared to provide patients with various forms of alternative medicine (such as Chinese medicine). This can significantly benefit public health and address the healthcare needs of a broader population.

This article reconstructs the influence of Jesuit missionary writings focusing on China on the emergence of a distinctive conception of toleration. The article highlights the often neglected contributions of Pierre Bayle. After a brief reconstruction of key elements of the Sino‐European encounter, such as the Kangxi Emperor's edict of toleration, the paper describes how Bayle's interpretation of the China Mission contributed to a critique of religious persecution in France and enabled him to develop a defense of a rationalist approach to toleration. The article demonstrates that Bayle's knowledge of China and his methodology of intercultural changes in perspective contributed to the development of an original conception of reciprocal toleration.

This article explores the significance of engaging in intercultural reversals of perspectives by reconstructing Voltaire's reflections on the relationship between China and Europe. It highlights the ensuing ethics of universal religious tolerance in this civilizational comparison. Voltaire employed China as a heuristic model primarily to criticize the intolerance and fanaticism of French Catholics. He also used the methodology of intercultural reversals of perspectives to articulate his arguments for universal religious toleration. This paper's focus on the philosophical reception of China reveals the emergence of what we call “intercultural self‐critique” and an important conception of religious toleration during the European Enlightenment.

The chapter begins with the idea that fostering emotions that acknowledge one's role, whether direct or indirect, in causing harm to the environment can encourage eco-friendly behavior. In Western environmental discussions, guilt is often emphasized, whereas Eastern perspectives lean towards shame when addressing responsibility for environmental damage. While guilt discourse is prevalent, ecoshame remains unexplored in the context of environmental ethics. Hence, the chapter draws on Chinese texts to offer an exploration into the potential of this affect to promote responsible environmental actions. This exploration enables a reevaluation of what it means to live on a planet that experiences ecocide.

The primary objective of this anthology is to make intergenerational justice an issue for intercultural philosophy, and, conversely, to allow the latter to enrich the former. In times of large-scale environmental destabilization, fair- ness between generations is an urgent issue of justice across time, but it is also a global issue of justice across geographical and nation-state borders. This means that the future generations envisioned by the currently living also cross these borders. Thus, different philosophical cultures and traditions of thought should converse to re ect on what is fair to future people. In the remainder of this introduction, we will detail these claims and give an overview of the volume’s chapters.

Nothingness has become a prominent research topic in recent intercultural philosophy. An Eastern concern for nothingness is frequently juxtaposed to a Western philosophy of being. Rather than adopting a contrastive approach, this chapter proposes a critical conception of nothingness in a twofold sense. First, nothingness is related to human experience and action. Secondly, a transcultural conception of nothingness highlights the incongruity between distinctive domains of human experience between and within cultures. Departing from Roland Barthes’ aesthetic approach to nothingness in terms of “the neutral,” the chapter argues for a practice of inter-cultural philosophy that reveals the in-between spaces, the interstices, and voids in modern societies.

Confucian Marxism: A Reflection on Religion and Global Justice by Chen Weigang is part of the series “Ideas, History, and Modern China.” As the title suggests, Chen establishes a constructive encounter between Confucianism and Marxism, two schools of thought that are too rarely seated at the same table. By way of laying out a sociologically and philosophically informed framework, Chen develops a challenging and densely argued interpretation of what he aptly refers to as “peripheral liberal deformation”. Western capitalism has expanded globally without bringing about the normative ethos that has accompanied it in the advanced capitalist center in the West. If Weber, the author’s overarching...

This book explores the contributions of East Asian traditions, particularly Buddhism and (Euro)Daoism, to environmental philosophy. It critically examines the conceptions of human responsibility toward nature and across time presented within these traditions as well as in European philosophy. The volume rethinks human relationships to the natural world by focusing on three main themes: Daoist and Eurodaoist perspectives on nature, human responsibility toward nature, and Buddhist perspectives on life and nature. By way of discussing East Asian traditions and European thinkers, this collection reveals that the impact of humanity on the environment is shaped not only by distinctive modes of economic production, but also by cultural beliefs and practices. Representing a unique constellation of environmental and intercultural philosophy, the contributions present systematic approaches to the global need for cultivating environmental responsibility across cultures and generations to address the political, ethical, and aesthetic challenges arising from humanity’s transformative impact on the natural world.

El artículo se centra en el imaginario europeo sobre China durante la Edad Moderna temprana y su contribución al pensamiento ilustrado. Parto recordando la precaria condición del misionero jesuita en cuanto “medio complejo” de intercambio intercultural. Luego abordo la misión jesuita desde la perspectiva de la filosofía de los medios de comunicación e investigo la forma específica de subjetividad que fomentó. Finalmente, analizo las disputas intestinas de la Iglesia Católica y el protagonismo del misionero Domingo Navarrete, quien contribuyó al desarrollo de un discurso misionero ilustrado y crítico, el cual culminó en una política de tolerancia y en el surgimiento del secularismo europeo.

Fabian Heubel is intellectually situated in both Frankfurt and Taipei. He also embarks on regular excursions to Paris and Beijing. Due to this rare combination of influences, he has managed to square a philosophical circle that comprises Critical Theory in the Frankfurt-School tradition, contemporary French philosophy as well as classical and modern Chinese philosophy in the PRC and Taiwan. Heubel's approach reflects the experience of being existentially immersed in Chinese language as well as academic life at his academic home, the Academia Sinica in Taipei, for significant periods of his life, without thereby losing touch with Western academic discourse. One of the chapters of his two most recent books discussed...

El presente artículo examina los discursos histórico-geográficos sobre América transmitidos en China por misioneros jesuitas entre los siglos XVI y XVIII. Este busca demostrar el modo en que misioneros y sus colaboradores chinos crearon, cuidadosa y estratégicamente, sus informaciones sobre el continente con el fin de apoyar su agenda política y misional. El texto comienza con una descripción general de las estrategias de la misión en China y su relación con la producción geográfica sino-jesuita, para luego ejemplificar a través de un análisis de los contenidos sobre la geografía, etnografía y el “descubrimiento” del continente, la conexión de estas informaciones con los planes de la misión. El artículo concluye que las representaciones sobre la geografía, gentes e historia de América reflejan tres intereses interrelacionados: atraer la atención de los literatos chinos; resaltar el alto desarrollo de la civilización europea; y comunicar mensajes religiosos.