Husserl's Intercultural Implication of Ethical Renewal and Theoretical Rationality:A Reappraisal from an East Asian Perspective

In the Kaizo articles,written between 1922 and 1924,Husserl touched on the intercultural relationship between"the European"and"the non-European."Husserl addressed Japan as he dealt with ethical and cultural renewal in his Kaizo articles.Husserl wished to spread the European spiritual gestalt,which he comprehended as a universal theoretical rationality to remote cultures.At that time,Husserl imagined China as unfamiliar and remote.He even used China as a typical example of alienworld when he dealt with the problem of cultural difference.This paper reappraises Husserl's thesis by exploring Eurocentrism as a factor that might impede the willingness for non-Western or non-European cultures to accept the idea of European spiritual gestalt.This paper suggests that the non-Western or non-European cultures should take delight in learning from Europe and carry out what Husserl had in mind about the meaning of"renewal."