"Equality of Life in Taiwan: An Ontology for Rights Beyond the Human"

 

時間 ： 2023 年2月20日(一)下午2:30-4:30

地點 ： 中研院民族所2420會議室

講者 ： Jeffrey Nicolaisen倪杰 (Research Fellow, The New Institute Centre for Environmental Humanities, Ca' Foscari University of Venice)

題目 ：Equality of Life in Taiwan: An Ontology for Rights Beyond the Human 

   For John Locke, the intellectual forbearer of human equality, the equality of humans was based on their God-given capacity to reason that God exists and created the universe. In Taiwan, the concept of “equality of life” is rooted in Chinese Buddhism. Perhaps the most well-known advocate for “equality of life” is the philosopher-nun Shi Chao-hwei. For Chao-hwei, equality derives from dependent-arising—the fact that all life arises from causes and conditions. Suffering is the standard for ethical consideration. The subjects of moral concern, which she calls “life,” includes all sentient beings, but “equality of life” also extends beyond individuals, as dependent arising is based on dependence rather than independence. With ethnographic examples of the way that equality of life affects activist movements and legislation in Taiwan, Nicolaisen will present “equality of life” as a viable alternative to human equality, constrained by international legal standards rooted in human equality.