Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No. 3, 2023

Redrawing the Map of World Philosophy Based on Spatial Experience: A Perspective from the Phenomenology of Space

(Abstract)

Wang Jun

From the perspective of the phenomenology of space, our understanding of space is linked to bodily experience in which embodiment is the fundamental attribute of existence and space becomes a structural element of the construction of meaning, with space itself being constructed and extended at the same time through intersubjectivity or Mitsein in the course of this process. The phenomenology of space, which is portrayed through embodiment, through Befindlichkeit, through meaning construction, and through Mitsein, poses new requirements for the writing of the history of philosophy in the age of globalization; this means breaking the West-centric perspective and discussing a pluralistic philosophy based on differences in spatial experience. By redrawing the map of world philosophy with an intercultural perspective, pluralistic philosophical traditions can establish new self-understandings and self-positionings, in order to respect the diversity of human civilization, to unite the common values of all mankind, and to build a human community with a shared future.