Transversal Rationality and Intercultural Texts — 2011 ·

Essays in Phenomenology and Comparative Philosophy

By Hwa Yol Jung

“He is able to move almost effortlessly across two cultures. I know of no other English-speaking philosopher who has achieved the depth of understanding of Eastern (and specifically Asian) modes of thought.”

Calvin O. Shrag — George Ade Distinguished Professor of Philosophy Emeritus, Purdue University, and author of The Self After Postmodernity

“Hwa Yol Jung’s Transversal Rationality and Intercultural Texts is an astonishing collection of essays spanning over forty years of sustained and developed reflection on topics in phenomenological, comparative, and environmental thought by one of the leading voices in these areas. The author’s erudition is nothing short of dazzling. Original, far-reaching, and at times visionary, this work demonstrates philosophical thinking at the highest level. It sets a gold standard to follow for work in the area of comparative cross-cultural philosophy.”

Brian Schroeder — Professor and Chair of Philosophy and Director of Religious Studies at Rochester Institute of

Transversality is the keyword that permeates the spirit of these thirteen essays spanning almost half a century, from 1965 to 2009. The essays are exploratory and experimental in nature and are meant to be a transversal linkage between phenomenology and East Asian philosophy.

Transversality is the concept that dispels all ethnocentrisms, including Eurocentrism. In the globalizing world of multiculturalism, Eurocentric universalism falls far short of being universal but simply parochial at the expense of the non-Western world. Transversality is intercultural, interspecific, interdisciplinary, and intersensorial. Transversal Rationality and Intercultural Texts means to transform the very way of philosophizing itself by infusing or hybridizing multiple traditions in the history of the world.

Like no other scholar, Jung bridges the gap between Asian and Western cultures. By engaging Western philosophers as diverse as Bacon, Descartes, Heidegger, Hegel, Merleau-Ponty, Derrida, Glissant, Barthes, Fenollosa, McLuhan, and Eastern philosophers such as Wang Yang-ming, Nishida Kitaro, Nishitani Keiji, Watsuji Tetsuro, Nhat Hanh, and Suzuki Daisetz Teitaro, this book marks an unparalleled contribution to comparative philosophy and the study of philosophy itself.

Hwa Yol Jung is emeritus professor of political science at Moravian College, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Among his many publications are Rethinking Political Theory and The Crisis of Political Understanding.