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Abstract

I argue that comparative philosophy cannot have one method or even one methodology. I take my cue from two ideas. The first is tied to the famous story of G. E. Moore pointing to the wall of books behind him and saying philosophy was “what these are about.” Moore referred to an entire history of thinking with its own categories, demands, and interests, but more importantly to the impossibility to narrow down philosophy to a particular method or to one way of doing philosophy. My second cue has to do with the definitions of philosophical ‘method’ and ‘methodology.’ Using the different definitions of ‘method’ and ‘methodology’, I claim firstly that comparative philosophy cannot by its very nature have one method, because with ever finer comparisons and ever less generalisations, comparative philosophy is increasingly becoming more site-specific so that it will become impossible to assign any single meaningful identity to it. I claim that assigning such a single identity is something that comparative philosophy should avoid. Secondly, I claim that we do not need a specific methodology for comparative philosophy. I conclude by saying that these requirements should stay as minimal as possible, and that this is the only way comparative philosophy can stay true to its intended openness to diverse ways of thought.

Bio

Steven Burik is Associate Professor in Philosophy at Singapore Management University. He is also the Associate Dean for Student Matters and Alumni Affairs in the School of Social Sciences, and currently holds a Lee Kong Chian Research Fellowship. He holds a PhD in comparative philosophy from the National University of Singapore. His research interests are mainly in comparative philosophy, continental philosophy (Heidegger, Derrida), Chinese philosophy (Daoism), and Critical Thinking. He is the author of The End of Comparative Philosophy and the Task of Comparative Thinking (SUNY Press), and editor of Comparative Philosophy and Method: Contemporary Practices and Future Possibilities, (co-edited with Ralph Weber and Robert Smid, Bloomsbury), which brings together leading scholars thinking about the methodology in comparative philosophy, and has co-authored a textbook in Critical Thinking. Aside from these he has published numerous articles in various journals and books, including Philosophy East and West, Dao: a Journal of Comparative Philosophy, and Comparative and Continental Philosophy.