Nousland

”Global Justice and Dialogue between Civilizations”
Anne Granberg

Small talk - informal conversation, trust, and cross-cultural understanding

We often think of “dialogue between civilisations” in terms of grand conversations and debates. In this paper I shall argue that “small conversations” may also play a positive role in such a dialogue.
Philosophy has often been sceptical towards mere conversation while exalting the virtues of serious debate. Read the rest of this entry »

Theories of International Justice: An East Asian Perspective
Dr. Baogang He (East Asian Institute, the National University of Singapore)

At least five major theories of international or global justice can be identified.  First, the utility-based approach stresses mutual benefit or reciprocity and sees international justice located solely in the regulation of relationships between states. The second is a rights-based approach, Read the rest of this entry »

Conceptual Problems of a Global Ethic
Zhenming Zhai - (Zhongshan University)

Largely as a result of the “Declaration of the Religions for a Global Ethic” master-minded by Hans Küng, the concept of a “global ethic” has seized the attention of various intellectual communities in the world.  Though academic philosophers in the west may be well aware that a geographically defined “global ethic” is not equivalent to a “universal ethic” as philosophically understood, some proponents of a so-called “global ethic” have shown a tendency to confuse or conflate the two distinct concepts. Read the rest of this entry »

Conditions and Possibilities of a Dialogue Between China and the West on Ethics
Zhang Rulun - Fudan University

Since facts speak louder than words, the fact that our conference takes place successfully seems to make my paper, whose title is “Conditions and Possibilities of a Dialogue between China and the West on Ethics”, meaningless, even ridiculous. However, we also know that facts often don’t look like what we expect, or they should be. It is often the case that name falls short of the reality. In fact, a dialogue is not so easy as it seems. Read the rest of this entry »

Political Philosophy and Civilizational Analysis: Preliminary Reflections - (paper presented at conference on “ Global Justice and Intercultural Dialogues”, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 8-12 January 2004. Draft only)

Johann P. Arnason - La Trobe University, Melbourne

The main theme of this conference  is “global justice and intercultural dialogues.” But implicit in this substantive problematic is a more meta-theoretical one on which I would like to focus. It has to do with political philosophy and the plurality of civilizations. As is well known, the question of justice has been most central to recent debates in political philosophy; in surveys of the field, the main positions are often defined and contrasted in terms of their conceptions of and solutions to this problem. Read the rest of this entry »