The Concept of Humanity in an Age of Globalization

　　Rethinking humanity as a concept in our age of globalization and its relevance to the social and political reality of our times are the topic of this book. It calls for the reclaiming of humanism as an effective response to the conflict, turmoil, and violence we witness in the world today. Concepts of humanity and humanism have become suspect of na?vet? at best, and guilty of bad faith and repressive ideologies at worst. Yet, hope for improvement is incorrigibly human – the concept of humanity still holds enormous attraction to intellectuals and humanistic scholars. At the same time, it is important to realize that the critique of humanism is very much based on – and limited to – Western social and historical experience. To re-conceptualize humanity and humanism from a truly global perspective will help reclaiming a more inclusive kind of humanism. In this sense, a cross-cultural perspective is important for reclaiming humanism in our age of globalization.

　　The present volume is the result of such an effort. The diversity of the authors’ views speaks eloquently of the complexity of the concept of humanity or what constitutes the distinctly human, and therefore the necessity to have an in-depth dialogue on the fate of humanity.

作者簡介

Zhang Longxi

　　Chair Professor of Comparative Literature and Translation at the City University of Hong Kong and a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities.

Acknowledgment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Zhang Longxi
Introduction: Humanity and the Diversity of Conceptualization . . . . . 9
Fred Dallmayr
1. Who Are We Now? For an “Other” Humanism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
J?rn R?sen
2. Towards a New Idea of Humankind: Unity and Difference of Cultures
at the Crossroads of Our Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Djelal Kadir
3. Ecce homo: Somewhat Human, Particularly Global, Conveniently
Universal, Relatively Unique, Comparatively Incommensurable . . . . . . 55
Balmurli Natrajan
4. The Problem of “Difference” in Discourses of Civilization and Culture 67
Patrick Colm Hogan
5. The Trouble with Moral Universalism: On Human Cognition, Human
Bias, and Human Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Dieter Sturma
6. Humanism and Intercultural Dialogue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Georg Essen
7. “Who observes religions?” Negotiating Faith, Politics and the Idea of
Humanism in an “Era of Terrorism” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Sophia Rosenfeld
8. Humanity and Its Common Sense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Donald D. Stone
9. The Theme of Forgiveness in Western Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
David Stern
10. The Idea of Humanity in Jewish Tradition: From “The Image of God”
to the Jews of China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Oliver Kozlarek
11. Towards a Practical Humanism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Zhang Longxi
12. What Is Human or Human Nature? Different Views in Ancient China 189
Krishan Kumar
13. Empires as Bearers of Global Ideas of Humanity . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
G.E.R. Lloyd
14. Humanities in a Globalized World: Vive l’Unit?, Vive la Diff?rence . . 217
List of Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229