The China Mirror Learning through Difference in the Digital Age

Stéphane Grumbach
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Stéphane Grumbach: INRIA

No xhaqe_v1, SocArXiv from Center for Open Science

Abstract: Under conditions of rapidly increasing societal complexity, understanding other civilizations might become an epistemological necessity for fostering adaptive capacities. Drawing on Weber's Verstehen, Jullien's method of the écart, Luhmann's theory of observation, and Koselleck's conceptual history, we propose a method of differential displacement to compare not simply different situations, but their dynamics, with the aim of exposing implicit assumptions. As a case study, following Jullien, we examine what the categories through which China approaches the digital transformation can reveal to Europeans about its purposes and governance. The goal is neither to endorse nor to criticize China, but to move beyond the simplistic duality of democracy and authoritarianism and examine what the difference reveals about Europe's own categories. We further argue that persistent misunderstanding of others can progressively feed a misunderstanding of one's own transformation. Under conditions of complexity surge, comparison can become a mechanism of collective intelligence and adaptive learning.

Date: 2026-09-22
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cna
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:osf:socarx:xhaqe_v1

DOI: 10.31235/osf.io/xhaqe_v1

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