Gewundene Wege nach China: Heidegger, Daoismus, Adorno by Fabian Heubel, and: Was ist chinesische Philosophie? Kritische Perspektiven by Fabian Heubel (review)

Transcultural Orchids: A Response to Fabian Heubel

Fabian Heubel is intellectually situated in both Frankfurt and Taipei. He also embarks on regular excursions to Paris and Beijing. Due to this rare combination of influences, he has managed to square a philosophical circle that comprises Critical Theory in the Frankfurt-School tradition, contemporary French philosophy as well as classical and modern Chinese philosophy in the PRC and Taiwan. Heubel's approach reflects the experience of being existentially immersed in Chinese language as well as academic life at his academic home, the Academia Sinica in Taipei, for significant periods of his life, without thereby losing touch with Western academic discourse. One of the chapters of his two most recent books discussed in this review is fittingly dedicated to the "atopos" of "becoming Chinese." In an ironical self-reference, the author refers to his own process of becoming a "'crazy' Chinese (ein 'verrückter' Chinese)" (2021: 155). Beyond being a mere biographical feature, the theme of self-transformation is a recurring issue in the two works that represent the latest fruits of his transcultural work. Rather than an effortless task, "living inter-culturally" and "cultivating the capacity to stroll in the between of languages and cultures" (2021: 93) is presented as the most difficult and yet necessary exercise.

One can think of Heubel's mode of philosophizing as gardening. In this case, the gardener is specialized in the hybridization of highly different and yet distantly related plants. He has created an oasis in which transcultural orchids grow. Heubel is perfectly qualified for this delicate art since he has been trained in philosophy and sinology. Sinology used to be called an "Orchideenfach," an "orchid-discipline," in German academic circles. The term does not only capture the exotic aura of all things Chinese. Rather, the discipline is perceived to be useless from an employment as well as an intellectual perspective. Resisting this image, one of the recurring themes of Heubel's thinking is the use of uselessness.

What systematically connects both of Heubel's latest books are the themes of hybridity, modernization and paradoxical communication between selective Chinese and European philosophical traditions. These concerns have already taken on a crucial role in Heubel's earlier work, especially in his introduction to contemporary Chinese philosophy (Chinesische Gegenwartsphilosophie zur Einführung, Hamburg: Junius, 2016). The author continues to add more detail to the claim that Chinese modernization presents an invitation as well as a challenge that needs to be taken seriously by those who consider philosophy to be inherently world philosophy.

In contrast to Adorno and Heidegger, Heubel's two major Western interlocutors who failed to overcome the blockage of a self-centered Eurocentric discourse, the Sino-European gardener starts from the premise that such a dialogue has already taken place: not in Europe, but in modern China. The complex reception of Western philosophy and the simultaneous reinterpretation of the Chinese tradition provides contemporary Chinese philosophy with a comparative advantage in relation to its European counterpart.

Heubel's work discussed here is primarily addressed at Western scholars. It serves as a wake-up call to end the Eurocentric slumber and engage with what may be learned from China. The task is to advance a philosophical dialogue between the two civilizations at the polar ends of the Eurasian landmass. The need for such a dialogue is echoed by Jürgen Habermas. A little late to the party, the grand heir of the Frankfurt School has identified the task of reorienting philosophy not only towards religion, but also to non-European traditions. Habermas diagnoses that "an intercultural discourse has hardly begun at a philosophical level" (cited in 2021: 269). Heubel sets out to contribute to this dialogue and to reflect on the conditions of...