William Sweet - Migrating Texts and Traditions

Migrating Texts & Traditions

Migrating Texts & Traditions

Edited by William Sweet

Ottawa University of Ottawa Press 2012

University of Ottawa Press

542 King Edward Avenue

Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5

www.press.uottawa.ca

The University of Ottawa Press acknowledges with gratitude the support extended to its publishing list by Heritage Canada through the Canada Book Fund, by the Canada Council for the Arts, by the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences through the Awards to Scholarly Publications Program, by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, and by the University of Ottawa.

We also gratefully acknowledge the Fr. Gatto Chair of Christian Studies at St. Francis Xavier University whose financial support has contributed to the publication of this book.

eBook development: WildElement.ca

University of Ottawa Press 2012

On Being Enabled to Say What Is Truly Real Peter J. McCormick

LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION

Migrating texts & traditions [electronic resource] / edited by William Sweet.

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Electronic monograph issued in various formats.

Issued also in print format.

ISBN 978-0-7766-2031-2 (PDF).--ISBN 978-0-7766-2032-9 (HTML

1. Philosophy and civilization. 2. PhilosophyCross-cultural studies.

3. Intercultural communicationHistory. I. Sweet, William, 1955-

II. Title: Migrating texts and traditions.

B59.M54 2012----100----C2012-906133-6

William Sweet

1. Introduction

It is undeniable that philosophical texts and traditions from one culture are, and have been, found in very different cultures and intellectual milieus. Consider the presence of Buddhist philosophy in China, Korea and Japanand more recently in North America and Europe. From its birthplace in India, Buddhism spread and developed throughout Asia (as Tibetan but also as East Asian, including Pure Land and Chan/Zen, in Japan and China, and as Seon in Korea), and also in North Americafor example, Shambhala. Many philosophies originating in the West seem similarly to have travelled east and south; they have been introduced, and it would seem have been integrated and appropriated, into non-Western intellectual cultures and traditions. As examples here we can think of the introduction of schools of British philosophy (e.g., empiricism, utilitarianism, but also idealism) into Southern Africa and India in the 19 th and 20 th centuries, and of hermeneutics and postmodern thought into contemporary East Asia. (One notes the use and the translation of texts by Hans-Georg Gadamer, Jacques Derrida, Gilles Deleuze, Michel Foucault and many others into various Asian languages, particularly Chinese.) We find, as well, philosophies and philosophical texts from one part of the West being introduced into another part of the West. Here, we might think of works of American political philosophy, such as that of John Rawls, being introduced into France and translated into Frenchor, conversely, texts of French philosophy, such as those of Derrida, being found in the Anglo-American world, and translated into English.

The preceding examples are only a few of the instances of the spread of philosophical texts and traditions. But some would add that often what we have is not simply their presence in new environments, but a migration.

By migration here we mean that the text or tradition has come to, has taken root in and developed, and perhaps sometimes has even flourished in an environment that is far from its origin, and yet there is also a continuity and consistencyand (with texts) a univocitywith that origin. And the preceding examples seem to illustrate a thesis that many take for granted when they read and teach not just the modern and contemporary, but even the classical or mediaeval philosophers today: that philosophical texts and traditions are not restricted to their cultures of origin, and that mostif not allphilosophical texts can, in principle, migrate.

Some may be curious how, in a world marked by so many different cultures, histories and world views, such a migration occurs. And so they may want to explore what is presupposed or supposed about cultural traditions, or human nature, or the possibility and nature of knowledge and truth across cultures. Others, however, go farther; for them, this thesis is far from unproblematic and uncontroversial. They do not deny that there has been some kind of encounter of the texts, ideas, and traditions of one culture by others, but they challenge how far or how deep it goes, and they suggest that the migration and appropriation are more apparent than real.