Phenomenological approach to intercultural philosophy: Lau Kwok-Ying’s concept of “cultural flesh”

Abstract

The paper presents an analysis of the phenomenological approach to intercultural philosophy elaborated by the contemporary Hong Kong thinker Lau Kwok-Ying. Based on the works of M. Merleau-Ponty, Lau succeeded in creating a non-trivial and productive methodology of intercultural philosophizing involving a number of key elements: epoché (a creative rethinking of traditions through their deconstruction) as a way of traveling in cultural interworlds, the concept of disenchanting the world – a necessary prerequisite for intercultural dialogue, the idea of a “secondary universal” of a system of changing contextually determined universals and the construct of “cultural flesh”, acquired through interaction with various manifestations of another culture. It is shown that Lau’s approach implies an alternative ontology for intercultural philosophy and emphasizes the emotive component of understanding culture. The author of the article argues, firstly, that a more inclusive and expansive concept of the flesh is needed, for which it is useful to turn to its conceptualization in Chinese and Russian philosophy (for example, a comparison of the concept of flesh with the Chinese concept of pneuma (qi) in its Taoist and Neo-Confucian interpretations seems very promising). Secondly, Lau ignores the sociopolitical aspects of polylogue in the postcolonial world, therefore his concept of cultural flesh can potentially lead to appropriation and epistemic injustice. Furthermore, Lau fails to address the fact that, although culture is a heterogeneous construct, it often only reflects the voice of the mainstream intellectual movement, silencing other perspectives. Thirdly, the ontology of the flesh problematizes cultural violence but fails to address the question of how intercultural philosophy should approach it.