Martine Berenpas

In this paper I will use the insight from the proto-daoist text the Zhuāngzǐ’ as a springboard to criticize the current methodological state of global philosophy and to articulate a new method. In the first part of this paper I will show how philosophical practices, and particularly global philosophy, heavily rely on comparing philosophical concepts. Global philosophers however pay little attention to the hermeneutics of comparison and the way philosophers are emotionally invested in their position. Each study that tries to relate two philosophical concepts from disparate cultural philosophical traditions is already motivated by a prior intuition that these concepts under investigation are similar or resemble; a pre-comparative assertion of commonality that determines the comparative process. Current methods in global philosophy such as the family resemblance method, are all based on determining what philosophical concepts have in common and neglect the constructive aspects of the comparative process. I argue that in the age of identity politics and decolonization, global philosophy should refrain from preferring similarity over difference and is in need of a method for engaging in global philosophy that has a universal appeal, but which values and affirms different perspectives. I will discuss the Zhuāngzǐ’s method of “finding the pivot of dào” (dàoshū, 道樞) as a promising method to do global philosophy. By discussing some of the key passages of the Zhuāngzǐ, I will show that global philosophy consists of a variety of different, often irreconcilable, perspectives. The Zhuāngzǐ makes us aware of the reciprocal mediation of different perspectives and how positions are the result of distinguishing what is “so” (what is relevant, what is comparable) and what is “not so.” The Zhuāngzǐ urges us to approach different perspectives from a detached, impartial attitude which enables us to engage with another perspective from a meta-epistemological position of clarity (míng, 明). Finding the pivot of dào liberates us from being emotionally implicated in our assertions and enables us to see global philosophy differently.

In onze huidige samenleving vormen verlangens de drijfveer van de economie. Wanneer mensen naar iets verlangen, zal de vraag naar producten en diensten toenemen. Het consumeren van producten en diensten vormt de vraagkant van de economie. Een ...

In this article I show the relevance of Emmanuel Levinas’ notion of primordial teaching for understanding why online teach- ing cannot adequately mimic face-to-face teaching. I will argue that the current Covid-19 pandemic shows us that being in the immediacy of the embodied presence of one’s students is intimately intertwined with being responsive to the needs of students, which highlights that teaching is not only the trans- mission of intellectual knowledge and skills but first and fore- most an ethical attunement to the suffering of the Other. Lev- inas argues that teaching is in its essence a relation between unique individuals; a uniqueness that originates in the indi- vidual’s unconditional responsibility to each and every other human being. This unconditional responsibility is for Levinas the non-mediated embodied sensitivity to the needs of the Other; an openness that precedes freedom and the conscious choice of a person. In this article I claim this embodied sensitiv- ity ...

Onze psychische gezondheid is wankel nu de corona-beperkingen ons het onmogelijk maakt om te leven zoals wij dat graag zouden willen. Hoe moeten we omgaan met tegenslag en een beperkte mate van vrijheid. Een boek die je gratis kan lezen (de tekst staat online!) maar je ontzettend kan helpen is de Zhuang Zi. Kom in actie door niet in actie te komen, of tewel leer jezelf mee te deinen met de wereld in plaats van tegen haar te vechten