Interpreting Chinese Philosophy: A New Methodology

Understanding Chinese philosophy requires knowledge of the referential framework prevailing in Chinese intellectual traditions. But Chinese philosophical texts are frequently approached through the lens of Western paradigms. Analysing the most common misconceptions surrounding Western Sinology, Jana Rosker alerts us to unseen dangers and introduces us to a new more effective way of reading Chinese philosophy.

Acknowledging that different cultures produce different reference points, Rosker explains what happens when we use rational analysis, a major feature of the European intellectual tradition, to read Chinese philosophy. We rely on impossible comparisons, arrive at prejudiced assumptions and fail to arrive at the truth, the consequence of applying a different methodology to the process of perceiving, understanding and interpreting reality.

Instead of transferring concepts and categories from Western sinology onto socio-cultural Chinese contexts, Rosker constructs a new methodology of reading, understanding and interpreting Chinese philosophy. She opens our eyes to the basic problems of Western paradigms, encourages intercultural approaches and allows us to master a more autochthonous understanding of Chinese philosophy.