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Frontiers of Philosophy in China

ISSN 1673-3436

ISSN 1673-355X(Online)

CN 11-5743/B

Postal Subscription Code 80-983

Front. Philos. China    2018, Vol. 13 Issue (4) : 554-573    https://doi.org/10.3868/s030-007-018-0043-4
SPECIAL THEME
Kant’s, Hegel’s and Cousin’s Perceptions of China and Non-European Cultures: Racialism, Historicism and Universalism, and the Methodology of Comparative Philosophy
Jean-Yves Heurtebise()
Department of French Language and Culture, Fu Jen Catholic University, New Taipei City 24205, Taiwan, China
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Abstract

The aim of this paper is to discuss some assumptions of comparative philosophy by providing a critical analysis of Hegel’s perception of China and other non-European cultures in relation to Kant’s anthropological works. The main assumption of comparative philosophy is that the temporal-cognitive distance between Plato and Diderot is irrelevant compared to the geographic-cultural distance between Plato and Confucius or Diderot and Dai Zhen. This paper will demonstrate that this culturalist assumption is also a legacy of Hegel’s history of philosophy, whose anthropological basis and historicist framework needs to be deconstructed. Finally, this paper will make reference to Victor Cousin, the French philosopher who introduced German philosophy in France, to show how this thinker’s adaptation of Hegel’s history of philosophy allows us to propose a more inclusive conception of the value of non-European cultures’ intellectual productions and to elaborate, on this basis, a radically non-culturalist framework for comparative philosophy.

Keywords Hegel      Kant      Victor Cousin      China      anthropology      Volksgeist (national spirit)      culturalism      methodology     
Issue Date: 03 January 2019
 Cite this article:   
Jean-Yves Heurtebise. Kant’s, Hegel’s and Cousin’s Perceptions of China and Non-European Cultures: Racialism, Historicism and Universalism, and the Methodology of Comparative Philosophy[J]. Front. Philos. China, 2018, 13(4): 554-573.
 URL:  
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fpc/EN/10.3868/s030-007-018-0043-4
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fpc/EN/Y2018/V13/I4/554
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