On the Universal

""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 "Franois 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

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

Foreword Itinerary I. On the Universal II. On the Uniform III. On the Common IV. From the advent of the State to the cosmo-political extension of the common V. The other level: the universal as a logical category of philosophy VI. First encounter of the universal and the common: Roman citizenship extended to the Empire VII. Paul and the matter of going beyond all communitarianism in Christian universalism VIII. Does the question of the universal arise in other cultures? IX. Are there universal notions? A cultural universal having ideal status X. On Human rights - the notion of universalising XI. If it is neither synthesis nor denominator nor foundation, from where does the common arise? XII. On Cultures: divergences of language - the resources of thought XIII. To construct the dialogue between cultures to counter the surrounding uniformisation; human self-reflection