Wenhua as ornamentalization: transgressing methodological Eurocentrism

The present study aims to introduce a metaphor of “ornamentalization” in regard to a methodology of cross-cultural philosophical exchange derived from Confucian cultural practices. The term is closely related to the original semantics of the Chinese notion of wenhua 文化, which is conventionally translated as “culture” but far more embracive than that. The model of ornamentalization demonstrates that a certain narrative—or ornament—that is unable to inform a given set of actual socio-cultural practices, is inscribed upon these practices, on their periphery. One can look through the lens of ornamentalization theory vis-à-vis contemporary Confucianism, which appeared after the rapid Westernization of China in the early 20th century and has called for the coexistence between Confucianism and Western philosophical traditions. Its represenatives use classical Confucian patterns to ornamentalize the existing “Westernized China” image. Ornamentalization—concerning cross-cultural philosophical exchange—is therefore associated with meaningful decoration, or with the inscription on a material that effects no substantial change in the material but, at the same time, makes it open for interpretations. The idea of ornamentalization is helpful in avoiding the trap of Eurocentric representation and could further advance the task of transcultural (post)comparative philosophy.