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UPSI Digital Repository (UDRep)
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| Abstract : Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris |
| To date, the term “Sinophone philosophy” seems not so common. To say “Sinophone” instead of “Chinese”, indicates some unique prospect that would not be shared with Chinese philosophy. Much like other Sinophone studies, Sinophone philosophy considers the abundant differences between speech sounds emerging within the Sinophone sphere or on its periphery. It stands on a shared writing system –– Chinese characters, or kanji –– to embrace each individual voice that represents one’s physical existence. It aims not only at a transcultural comparison of regional philosophies, but it also engages with the ethics of transcultural encounters, in so far as it emerged from and remains embedded in a trans-cultural and trans-lingual context. In practical terms, Sinophone philosophy could be a part of the movement to engage with world philosophy, which has been advocated by some philosophers in Japan. They argue that in order to liberate philosophy from a Eurocentric view rooted in the ancient Greek tradition, contemporary philosophy should transform itself to provide an equal footing for different philosophical traditions in the world. By developing a world philosophy, they seek to transform our way of seeing the world. In this paper, I will argue that Sinophone philosophy can support the world philosophy movement, such that it could broaden its scope to reclaim individual philosophical endeavor in Jaspers’ sense of the term philosophizing. In particular, the paper considers a text written by Kukai, the ninth-century Japanese philosopher and Buddhist monk, to indicate a possible methodology of Sinophone philosophy.
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| References |
Benjamin, Walter, “The Task of the Translator”, Illuminations: Essays and Reflections, ed. Hannah Arendt (New York: Schocken Books, 1968) Shie, Shu-mei, Tsai, Chien-Hsin, Bernards, Brian, ed., Sinophone Studies: A Critical Reader (New York: Columbia University Press, 2013)
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