Hui, Xianzhe , WENNING, MARIO
No
Philos. Compass
Article
Científica
01/11/2024
001369917400001
2-s2.0-85210075071
This article explores the significance of engaging in intercultural reversals of perspectives by reconstructing Voltaire's reflections on the relationship between China and Europe. It highlights the ensuing ethics of universal religious tolerance in this civilizational comparison. Voltaire employed China as a heuristic model primarily to criticize the intolerance and fanaticism of French Catholics. He also used the methodology of intercultural reversals of perspectives to articulate his arguments for universal religious toleration. This paper's focus on the philosophical reception of China reveals the emergence of what we call "intercultural self-critique" and an important conception of religious toleration during the European Enlightenment.
China; intercultural self-critique; religious toleration; the Enlightenment; voltaire