The end of Comparative Philosophy and the task of Comparative Thinking

Abstract

This dissertation provides a comparison of Heidegger, Derrida and Daoism, with the main focus on language and translation. It is argued that language plays an important role in comparative philosophy and that the metaphysical language of Western philosophy distorts the possibilities of a different reading of Daoism than the usual approach which sees in dao an ineffable, metaphysical ground. Through the critiques of Heidegger and Derrida on the dominant Western metaphysical tradition, a different view on thinking and language is gained, which is then put to task on Daoism. Through recent divergent readings of Daoism the possibility of a non-metaphysical reading of Daoism is espoused, and it is further argued that comparative philosophy should move beyond the oppositional structures inherent in the Western tradition, yet that this a??beyonda?? need not entail positing some form of metaphysical principle.