On the Universal - by François Jullien (Paperback)

About the Book

François Jullien, the leading philosopher and specialist in Chinese thought, has always aimed at building on inter-cultural relations between China and the West. In this new book he focuses on the following questions: Do universal values exist? Is dialogue between cultures possible?

Book Synopsis

François Jullien, the leading philosopher and specialist in Chinese thought, has always aimed at building on inter-cultural relations between China and the West. In this new book he focuses on the following questions: Do universal values exist? Is dialogue between cultures possible?

To answer these questions, he retraces the history of the concept of the universal from its invention as an aspect of Roman citizenship, through its neutralization in the Christian idea of salvation, to its present day manifestations. This raises the question of whether the search for the universal is a uniquely Western preoccupation: do other cultures, like China, even have a notion of the universal, and if so, how does it differ from ours? Having considered the meaning of the concept in the East and West, Jullien argues that, if communication between cultures is to be meaningful, facile assumptions of universal values and complacent relativism need to be examined. It follows, therefore, that dialogue between cultures should not begin with issues of identity and difference, but rather by considering divergence and profusion. By no longer simply assuming universality, we allow for greater self-reflection.

This wide-ranging and engaging study will be of particular interest to students and scholars of philosophy and of Chinese culture and society. It will also appeal to a wider readership interested in contemporary thought and the challenges of communication between East and West.

Review Quotes

""A valuable contribution to the field. The controversies he identifies are only going to become more deep-set in our increasingly multi-polar world, and given the current geo-political climate we need more than ever to agree on the role that universal Human Rights may play in an increasingly globalised world."
LSE Review of Books


"François Jullien poses the question of dialogue between cultures in a way altogether different from the loose talk that tends to surround this topic, re-examining, in an insightful and rigorous fashion, the problem of the universal - an ambition hardly surprising in an author who is both a philosopher and a sinologist. If there is a problem, explains Jullien, it is because the universal - that emblematic category of Western civilization, the source of its vitality for centuries - continues to be challenged and to find itself in opposition to the rights linked to the irreducible singularity of cultures ... Here we find a rich and agile thought, harvesting new ideas from philosophical tradition, drawing on a detailed knowledge of cultures and clearly interrogating the founding ideological moments of European civilization."
Etudes: Revue de culture contemporaine

About the Author

François Jullien is professor at the Universit Paris-Diderot and a member of the Institut universitaire de France.