The problem of the nature of mind has lingered for a long time. Generated by the question of whether the mind is an independently existing entity or merely an aspect of bodily events and processes, the problem of the nature of mind has divided Western philosophers into two opposing camps, namely dualism and physicalism. Contemporary discourse of the nature of minds, within the Western philosophical tradition, continues to privilege physicalism over dualism, because it avoids the theoretical impasse engendered by the (...) dualist inability to account for how two radically different entities manage to interact with each other. Although physicalism avoids the dualist pitfalls, it, however, encounters the problem of plausibly accounting for the possibility of conscious experience without commitment to the dualist ontology of a realm different from the body. In this article, we provide an African (Yoruba) perspective to the question of the nature of mind as an alternative to the Western perspective represented by dualist and physicalist theories. We develop a variant of dualism called “contextual dualism,” which accepts the dualist basic tenet of the duality of body and mind but diverges from it by permitting that some physical organs of the body also function in the capacity of the mind. Using ethnological analysis and the Yoruba linguistic hermeneutics as theoretical frameworks, the paper argues that the difference between when a physical organ functions as body and when it functions as mind is revealed in Yoruba language through their contexts of use. The paper concludes that contextual dualism drives a reconciliatory wedge between mainstream dualism and physicalism. (shrink)

Building on a distinction between two kinds of skepticism recently worked out by the American philosopher James Conant, we can differentiate the question of how to overcome the gap between two cultural horizons in intercultural dialogue from the question of how there could even be such dialogue, irrespective of its method, success or failure. While the first question concerns practical conditionality, that is, something we as philosophers have to achieve, the second question concerns transcendental conditionality. After making this distinction clear, (...) the paper presents three cases of recent scholarship on intercultural dialogue, each of which can be read as a response to those two forms of conditionality of intercultural understanding. Those cases are Jean-Yves Heurtebise’s notion of a “transcultural” philosophy, Eric S. Nelson’s work on “intercultural philosophy,” and Kwok-Ying Lau’s concept of a “cultural flesh.” However, while speaking to both forms of conditionality, they tend not to distinguish sufficiently their responses to the two problematics. (shrink)

Ekphrasis, a part of the ancient Greek and Roman rhetorical practices, is, in its most basic sense, the verbal expression of a visual object. Since the description of Achilles’ shield in Homer’s Iliad, ekphrasis has been a literary practice used for the portrayal of visual artworks through fiction and poetry, as well as in prose written in history, art criticism and travelogues. Ekphrasis is a convenient literary tool for analysing the author’s treatment of the object depicted. Ekphrastic studies enable the (...) identification of the author’s relationship with objectivity and subjectivity, and the building blocks of the said subjectivity, through literary elements. What kind of fictional language does ekphrasis, which is essentially the act of making the mute object speak, point to, in Evliya Çelebi’s representation? This article will aim to examine the subjective factors, personal taste and cultural positioning that emerge in Evliyâ Çelebi’s writing practice, mainly in his “ekphrastic” narration of the Western paintings that he saw in the Balkans and Vienna, which he describes in great detail in his Seyahatnâme. It is of the author’s opinion that, although Evliyâ Çelebi’s cultural positioning imposed limitations on his aesthetic perception and ekphrastic narration, he had an admiration for the Western art; and his “actual” cultural position manifests itself in an “in-betweenness” in the East-West spiral, which also reflects his unique literary mode. (shrink)

Focusing on the “bian” (changes) of Chinese landscape painting in the Tang Dynasty, this essay seeks to expound a breakthrough in the study of painting in the dynasty. Such a study was once difficult to carry out in the form of pictorial and stylistic analyses due to the lack of physical works. By showing that the prevailing landscape paintings of two representative painters Wu Daozi and Li Sixun were at the time most likely to be dominated by the sutra paintings (...) and pictures of the immortal land, the essay attempts to demonstrate that the meaning of “changes” in landscape painting lies more in the change of style in representing landscape and the attitude of critics towards landscape paintings than in the change of subject matter. Meanwhile, it is worth noting that historical narratives also played a key role in constituting the concept of “landscape painting.” The focus on and analysis of the historical constitution itself provide people with another possible and feasible research approach in addition to the one based on the analysis of works and images. (shrink)

In this paper, Mou Zongsan’s (牟宗三, 1909–1995 CE) Kantian interpretation of Confucianism will be surveyed with a focus on Mou’s ideas of moral metaphysics and autonomy. After a brief account of the development of Confucianism up to the Song dynasty (960–1279 CE) and Ming dynasty (1368–1644 CE) (§1) and some initial attempts to articulate Confucian ideas in terms of Western philosophy (§2), Mou’s Kantian interpretation of Confucianism will be presented in §3 and criticized in §4. It is argued that Mou (...) uses the Kantian dichotomy of autonomy and heteronomy to describe the traditional rivalry between two primary schools of Neo-Confucianism. While Mou neglects Kant’s claim that the autonomy of the will gives the principle by means of which it is to determine the content of the moral law, he appeals to Kant’s idea that human beings as free agents are members of the intelligible world to propose a Confucian moral metaphysics. In §5, Mou’s Confucianism’s metaphysical and religious characteristics are further criticized. (shrink)

The past decades have seen an increase in theories envisioning multi-cultural encounters and analyzing the hidden and obvious power dynamics that govern them. This essay suggests an innovative approach to assess and negotiate these theories. It introduces a metapsychology, illustrated by original pictures and poems, to examine multi- cultural engagement, to negotiate the major representatives among the leading theoretical responses to diversity and globalism, to develop a heuristic model that interprets each theory in their own right, and to envision innovative (...) strategies that enable co-existence across boundaries, imagined and historically sedimented. Finally, it proposes a brand new theoretical approach to the study of both cultures and theories. (shrink)

This paper is an attempt to make sense of the notion and ideal of nonviolence in these ultra-violent days. The paper is a dialogue with three “specialists” of violence, who nevertheless aspire to a different, brighter horizon: Ramchandra Gandhi, Saadat Hasan Manto and Mahasweta Devi. R. Gandhi is one of the most intriguing voices of twentieth-century Indian philosophy. Manto and Mahasweta are writers, the former known for his short partition stories in Urdu; the latter for her gut-wrenching literature in Bengali. (...) All three dare to look violence in the eye, implying that nonviolence can only emerge from deep reflection on violence as an inherent human tendency. Violence is part of me as much as of anyone else. R. Gandhi argues that partition, the cradle of violence, is in the eye, and suggests that we can train the human gaze, our gaze, to prioritize the common denominator between you and I, which hides under the obvious differences between us. For Manto, the remedy is to be found in language. He implies that an ethical dimension is concealed within language, waiting to be excavated. Mahasweta gives voice to those unheard. Acknowledging the unacknowledged, she and Manto show us, is an act of nonviolence. (shrink)

Résumé Juste avant sa mort précoce il y a près de vingt ans, Edward Saïd nous a légué en signe de testament l’un de ses derniers ouvrages Humanisme et démocratie dans lequel il a étalé sa vision du monde futur et montré l’impact que doit avoir l’humanisme sur la conception démocratique de la praxis politique. Son projet consiste en effet à réhabiliter l’humanisme pris déjà pour cible par le courant structuraliste antihumaniste au milieu du vingtième siècle et à le réintégrer (...) dans le processus démocratique de l’action politique et sociale. Il s’agit en effet, comme il l’exprime, « d’une méditation approfondie sur les possibilités concrètes de l’humanisme comme pratique durable et non comme propriété, sur ce qu’une activité humaniste implique, plutôt qu’une énumération des qualités souhaitables chez un humaniste ». Tout en se référant aux événements politiques des dernières décennies et à ses expériences propres dans ce domaine, particulièrement son engagement pour la cause palestinienne, Edward Saïd considère que l’humanisme présente une base solide pour bâtir une société et une culture séculaires ouvertes au monde dominé actuellement par l’impérialisme et la mondialisation. Ce qui lui importe au fond le plus, « c’est l’humanisme en tant que praxis utile aux intellectuels qui veulent comprendre ce qu’ils font, à quoi rime leur engagement en tant que chercheurs, et qui veulent également relier ces principes au monde dans lequel ils vivent comme citoyens ». Ce n’est pas en vérité une recette toute prête à résoudre les crises ou les problèmes politiques actuels mais, à la lueur de la synthèse théorique et pratique qu’il opère dans cette œuvre, Saïd nous permet aujourd’hui de relire et comprendre les événements des révolutions arabes et d’en tirer les conséquences critiques, car son projet offre la possibilité de se pencher de manière critique sur le rôle public que doit jouer l’intellectuel dans la consolidation du processus démocratique. Il indique également comment on peut participer à l’élaboration d’une culture humaniste de coexistence et de partage à la place d’une culture d’exclusion, de terreur et de guerre telle qu’on est en train de vivre actuellement dans plusieurs pays du monde. Notre feuille de travail tend à rappeler le trajet qu’a suivi Edward Saïd dans son cursus théorique et pratique depuis la parution de son écrit l’Orientalisme tout en passant par Culture et impérialisme jusqu’à Humanisme et Démocratie, et de mettre en exergue les idées fortes de cette œuvre et leurs répercussions sur les études post-orientalistes et postcoloniales. (shrink)

Defining the features of ubuntu in the context of African philosophy, is basically about the quest for a definitive means of culturally expressing what seems primal, unique, useful, and common to the Africans in relation to the world. Put simply, the quest to clarify the key features of ubuntu is to some extent a search for the African self-concept or identity for effective global interconnectedness of the races. This is to be done in a way that defines and sustains the (...) ontology and essence of the Africans, as a people who know who or what they are, and what they are capable of contributing to the world. A search for the values of ubuntu is the pursuit of a new way of doing things: a quest for a new definition of social justice in which all people, particularly the Africans and their beliefs will be given due recognition and respect in the global order. Legitimizing of ubuntu is in a way the repudiation of the colonial history of the African continent; the aggressive and relentless pursuit of the decolonization of all African spaces-economic, cultural, political, moral, intellectual, and so on. So, in summary, ubuntu is framed philosophically as a platform for liberating the Africans from all manners of peonage, domination, oppression, and exploitation both from within or outside the continent and establishing a basis for interrelations with the world. (shrink)