Steven Burik 
The End of Comparative Philosophy and the Task of Comparative Thinking [PDF ebook] 
Heidegger, Derrida, and Daoism

How do differences in language influence comparative philosophy? Although the Orientalism famously described by Edward Said is rare today, Steven Burik maintains that comparative philosophy often subtly privileges one tradition over another since certain conceptual schemes are so embedded in Western languages that it is difficult not to revert to them. Arguing for a new approach that acknowledges how theory and practice cannot be separated in comparative philosophical endeavors, Burik provides nonmetaphysical, deconstructionist readings of Heidegger and Derrida and uses these to give a new reading of classical Daoism. The ideas of language advanced therein can aid the project of comparative philosophy specifically, and philosophies generally, in trying to overcome ways of thinking that have dominated Western philosophy for twenty-five hundred years and still frustrate intercultural encounters.

Tabella dei contenuti

Acknowledgments

Introduction



1. Heidegger and the Other Commencement 



Heidegger’s Greek Connection

anaximander

parmenides

heraclitus



Heidegger and the Poets

poetry and thinking

poetry and language

hölderlin, the foreign, and translation



Heidegger and the “East”

early heidegger and comparative philosophy

later heidegger and comparative philosophy

Concluding Heidegger



2. Derrida: Otherness, Context, and Openness



Deconstructing the Ideas Behind Metaphysics

misreading derrida

beyond heidegger?



Language, Text, and Translation in Derrida



Derrida in Comparative Philosophy

identity and openness

derrida’s hints at different cultures

“the other is already there, irreducibly.”



Concluding Derrida



3. Rereading Daoism; The Other Way



Metaphysical Readings of Daoist Philosophy

The Metaphysical Tradition and Comparison



The Possibility of Difference

interpretations of classical chinese language



Inconstancy of Dao 道: No Transcendence Necessary

inside & outside: the gateway (men 門)



Concluding Daoism



4. Thinking, Philosophy, and Language: Comparing Heidegger, Derrida, and Classical Daoism



Metaphysics, Difference, and Comparisons

difference and comparison

metaphysics and comparison



Thinking and Philosophy



Heidegger and Daoism

derrida and daoism



Language in Comparison

“Beyond” The Inversion of Opposites

Ethical and Political Implications

Concluding the Comparison

Conclusion



Notes

Bibliography

Index

Circa l’autore

Steven Burik teaches philosophy at Singapore Management University and also at the Center for American Education, Broward College, Singapore.