Taking China as a "philosophical tool" and Chinese thought as a "method of reflection"

François Jullien puts Chinese and Western thought into perspective and advocates East-West dialogue. According to Jullien

the unique Chinese thought

such as the golden mean

Taoist Wu-Wei

propensity

efficacy and availability

presents the unthought-of (impensé) of Europe

which is an ideal "method" for reflecting on Western philosophical traditions and modes of thinking. In this sense

Jullien’s methodology to approach China is innovative and self-reflexive

in which Chinese thought is not simply an object of study

but a "theoretical tool" placed in the foreground of East-West dialogue. By exploiting the abundant cultural resources in-between the East-West divergence

the foray into China presents other possible sources of intelligibility

and demonstrates that the ideal way of cross-cultural communication is not to compare

but to manage the divergence and establish an intelligent mechanism for dialogue amongst cultures.