François Jullien's Unexceptional Thought

Although the French philosopher, Hellenist and sinologist François Jullien has published more than thirty books, half of which have been translated into English, he remains much less known in the English-language universe than many of his fellow "French philosophers", which may be due to his work being perceived as within the limits of sinology. This book attempts to rectify this, highlighting Jullien's work at the intersection of Chinese and Western thought and drawing out the "unthought-of" in both traditions of thinking. This 'unthought-of' can be seen as the culture that conditions our thought, lessening our capacity for new ways of thinking and understanding. This notion of 'unthought-of' is at the core of Jullien's methodology, operating in what he calls the 'divergence of the in-between'. Written in an engaging style, Arne de Boever offers an accessible introduction to François Jullien's work, in the process emphatically challenging some of the core assumptions of Western reasoning.

De Boever's introduction to the work of philosopher and sinologist François Jullien is a welcome antidote to the methodological insularity of so much "critical theory." While not shying away from the controversies that attend Jullien's sinology, De Boever makes Jullien's unique scholarly approach accessible to a wide audience, evidencing De Boever's own innovative interventions in theory and method.--Leah Kalmanson, University of North Texas, The substantial oeuvre of provocateur François Jullien has over the years produced both agony and joy, both red faces among many of his lock-step, dull-as-dust contemporaries and fitfully intelligent smiles among their graduate students. Here in his magnificent reportage, François Jullien's Unexceptional Thought, Arne De Boever uses both the many books together with personal interviews to take on the impossible and dangerously in-between task of translating the translator Jullien in order to try to say what it is that he has actually said.--Roger T. Ames, Humanities Chair Professor of Philosophy, Peking University, De Boever has done a remarkable job presenting my thought to the English-speaking public, as well as to the wider public abroad. His book isn't just an introduction; it's an overview. He has contextualized my Sino-philosophical project while at the same time taking aspects that are usually kept separate and setting them in communication and tension. The book serves as more than just a complement to my work; it serves as a brilliant interpretation.--François Jullien, Great thinkers need outstanding interpreters to disclose their thought. If Nietzsche ceased to be a cultural psychologist after Heidegger and Derrida a literary theorist after Rodolphe Gasché, it is now through Arne De Boever that François Jullien will be perceived as much more than a sinologist. He is a true philosopher determined to draw out the 'unthought' of both the European and Chinese traditions. As De Boever explains, Jullien does so by pursuing a 'deconstruction from the outside' (in opposition to Derrida's deconstruction from the inside) of exceptionalist European thought that demonstrates how Chinese thought is unexceptional. If you want to know why and how Jullien's philosophy ventures through the realms of Chinese aesthetics, politics, and economics to critically understand European philosophy, you must read De Boever's unique and impressive book very carefully.--Santiago Zabala, ICREA Research Professor of Philosophy at the Pompeu Fabra University and author of 'Why Only Art can Save Us' and 'Being at Large'

Arne De Boever teaches American Studies in the School of Critical Studies at the California Institute of the Arts, where he also directs the MA Aesthetics and Politics program. He is the author of Plastic Sovereignties (2016), Finance Fictions (2018) and Against Aesthetic Exceptionalism (2019).