China as the Absolute Other and Mirror of the West in the François Jullien’s Theory

Abstract

This article aims to define and name the contribution of the French sinologist and theorist François Jullien to the field of comparative studies, looking at the intersections of Chinese and Western civilisations. It reveals how this theorist, drawing on the legacy of Chinese thought and developing new concepts and individual methodology, challenges traditional comparative studies, opening up opportunities to look at the heritage of Western civilisation’s thinking from the outside, discovering what was not thought of in it. Such a rigorous deconstruction of the traditional Western norms of thinking opens the way to new possibilities for research on different civilisations.