Essays on Skepticism, Relativism, and Ethics in the Zhuangzi

Essays on Skepticism, Relativism, and Ethics in the Zhuangzi
Author: Paul Kjellberg
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Total Pages: 268
Release: 1996-04-11
Genre: History
ISBN: 1438409214

The Chinese philosophical text Zhuangzi, written in part by a man named Zhuangzi in late fourth century B.C.E. China, is gaining recognition as one of the classics of world literature. Writing in beautiful prose and poetry, Zhuangzi mixes humor with relentless logic in attacking claims to knowledge about the world, particularly evaluative knowledge of what is good and bad or right and wrong. His arguments seem to admit of no escape. And yet where does that leave us? Zhuangzi himself clearly does not think that our situation is utterly hopeless, since at the very least he must have some reason for thinking we are better off aware of our ignorance. This book addresses the question of how Zhuangzi manages to sustain a positive moral vision in the face of his seemingly sweeping skepticism. Zhuangzi is compared to the Greek philosophers Plato and Sextus Empiricus in order to pinpoint more exactly what he doubts and why. Also examined is Zhuangzi's views on language and the role that language plays in shaping the reality we perceive. The authors test the application of Zhuangzi's ideas to contemporary debates in critical theory and to issues in moral philosophical thought such as the establishment of equal worth and the implications of ethical relativism. They also explore the religious and spiritual dimensions of the text and clarify the relation between Zhuangzi and Buddhism.

An Introduction to Daoist Thought

An Introduction to Daoist Thought
Author: Eske Møllgaard
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 171
Release: 2007-08-07
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1134097484

There is increasing interest in Daoism in the West, where Laozi [Lao Tzu] is well-known. This book offers a comprehensive introduction to Zhuangzi, the most brilliant but overlooked Daoist thinker in ancient China First book in English to introduce this important Daoist thinker Offers succinct accounts of ancient Chinese schools of thought (Confucians, Mohist logicians, Sophists, and so on) that competed with the Daoists Compares Zhuangzi’s thought to Western philosophy and suggests striking similarities as well as decisive differences China’s significance in the world is increasing and today it is indispensable to understand Chinese culture. Daoist views of language and ethics are crucial to the Chinese tradition, but have generally be overlooked in the West Of interest to scholars of East Asian Studies, East Asian Religion and Philosophy

Genuine Pretending

Genuine Pretending
Author: Hans-Georg Moeller
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 244
Release: 2017-10-17
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0231545266

Genuine Pretending is an innovative and comprehensive new reading of the Zhuangzi that highlights the critical and therapeutic functions of satire and humor. Hans-Georg Moeller and Paul J. D’Ambrosio show how this Daoist classic, contrary to contemporary philosophical readings, distances itself from the pursuit of authenticity and subverts the dominant Confucianism of its time through satirical allegories and ironical reflections. With humor and parody, the Zhuangzi exposes the Confucian demand to commit to socially constructed norms as pretense and hypocrisy. The Confucian pursuit of sincerity establishes exemplary models that one is supposed to emulate. In contrast, the Zhuangzi parodies such venerated representations of wisdom and deconstructs the very notion of sagehood. Instead, it urges a playful, skillful, and unattached engagement with socially mandated duties and obligations. The Zhuangzi expounds the Daoist art of what Moeller and D’Ambrosio call “genuine pretending”: the paradoxical skill of not only surviving but thriving by enacting social roles without being tricked into submitting to them or letting them define one’s identity. A provocative rereading of a Chinese philosophical classic, Genuine Pretending also suggests the value of a Daoist outlook today as a way of seeking existential sanity in an age of mass media’s paradoxical quest for originality.

The Metaphysics of Chinese Moral Principles

The Metaphysics of Chinese Moral Principles
Author: Mingjun Lu
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 332
Release: 2022-01-17
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9004503544

This book seeks to construct and establish the metaphysics of Chinese morals as a formal and independent branch of learning by abstracting and systemizing the universal principles presupposed by the primal virtues and key imperatives in Daoist and Confucian ethics.

Dao Companion to the Philosophy of the Zhuangzi

Dao Companion to the Philosophy of the Zhuangzi
Author: Kim-chong Chong
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 812
Release: 2022-09-21
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 3030923312

This comprehensive collection brings out the rich and deep philosophical resources of the Zhuangzi. It covers textual, linguistic, hermeneutical, ethical, social/political and philosophical issues, with the latter including epistemological, metaphysical, phenomenological and cross-cultural (Chinese and Western) aspects. The volume starts out with the textual history of the Zhuangzi, and then examines how language is used in the text. It explores this unique characteristic of the Zhuangzi, in terms of its metaphorical forms, its use of humour in deriding and parodying the Confucians, and paradoxically making Confucius the spokesman for Zhuangzi’s own point of view. The volume discusses questions such as: Why does Zhuangzi use language in this way, and how does it work? Why does he not use straightforward propositional language? Why is language said to be inadequate to capture the “dao” and what is the nature of this dao? The volume puts Zhuangzi in the philosophical context of his times, and discusses how he relates to other philosophers such as Laozi, Xunzi, and the Logicians.

Understanding Asian Philosophy

Understanding Asian Philosophy
Author: Alexus McLeod
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 209
Release: 2014-11-20
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1780935730

Understanding Asian Philosophy introduces the four major Asian traditions through their key texts and thinkers: the Analects of Confucius, the Daoist text Zhuangzi, the early Buddhist Suttas, and the Bhagavad Gita. Approached through the central issue of ethical development, this engaging introduction reveals the importance of moral self-cultivation and provides a firm grounding in the origins of Asian thought. Leading students confidently through complex texts, Understanding Asian Philosophy includes a range of valuable features: • brief biographies of main thinkers such as Confucius and Zhuangzi • primary source material and translations • maps and timelines • comprehensive lists of recommended reading and links to further study resources • relevant philosophical questions at the end of each chapter As well as sections on other texts and thinkers in the tradition, there are frequent references to contemporary examples and issues. Each chapter also discusses other thinkers in different traditions in the West, presenting various comparative approaches. With its clear focus on thinkers and texts, Understanding Asian Philosophy is an ideal undergraduate introduction to Chinese, Indian, Buddhist and Daoist thought.

Wandering at Ease in the Zhuangzi

Wandering at Ease in the Zhuangzi
Author: Roger T. Ames
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Total Pages: 252
Release: 2016-02-24
Genre: History
ISBN: 0791494713

Chinese philosophy specialists examine the Zhuangzi, a third century B.C.E. Daoist classic, in this collection of interpretive essays. The Zhuangzi is a celebration of human creativity—its language is lucid and opaque; its images are darkly brilliant; its ideas are seriously playful. Without question, it is one of the most challenging achievements of human literary culture. Thematically, the Zhuangzi offers diverse insights into how to develop an appropriate and productive attitude to one's life in this world. Resourced over the centuries by Chinese artists and intellectuals alike, this text has provoked a commentarial tradition that rivals any masterpiece of world literature. Wandering at Ease in the Zhuangzi continues the interpretive tradition as Western scholars shed light on selected passages from the difficult text, offering the needed mediation between available translations of the Zhuangzi and the reader's process of understanding. Taken as a whole, this anthology is a primer on how to read the Zhuangzi.

Zhuangzi's Critique of the Confucians

Zhuangzi's Critique of the Confucians
Author: Kim-chong Chong
Publisher: SUNY Press
Total Pages: 212
Release: 2016-10-24
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1438462859

Looks at the Daoist Zhuangzi’s critique of Confucianism. The Daoist Zhuangzi has often been read as a mystical philosopher. But there is another tradition, beginning with the Han dynasty historian Sima Qian, which sees him as a critic of the Confucians. Kim-chong Chong analyzes the Inner Chapters of the Zhuangzi, demonstrating how Zhuangzi criticized the pre-Qin Confucians through metaphorical inversion and parody. This is indicated by the subtitle, “Blinded by the Human,” which is an inversion of the Confucian philosopher Xunzi’s remark that Zhuangzi was “blinded by heaven and did not know the human.” Chong compares Zhuangzi’s Daoist thought to Confucianism, as exemplified by Confucius, Mencius, and Xunzi. By analyzing and comparing the different implications of concepts such as “heaven,” “heart-mind,” and “transformation,” Chong shows how Zhuangzi can be said to provide the resources for a more pluralistic and liberal philosophy than the Confucians.

The Moral Fool

The Moral Fool
Author: Hans-Georg Moeller
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2009-07-15
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0231519249

Justice, equality, and righteousness these are some of our greatest moral convictions. Yet in times of social conflict, morals can become rigid, making religious war, ethnic cleansing, and political purges possible. Morality, therefore, can be viewed as pathology-a rhetorical, psychological, and social tool that is used and abused as a weapon. An expert on Eastern philosophies and social systems theory, Hans-Georg Moeller questions the perceived goodness of morality and those who claim morality is inherently positive. Critiquing the ethical "fanaticism" of Western moralists, such as Immanuel Kant, Lawrence Kohlberg, John Rawls, and the utilitarians, Moeller points to the absurd fundamentalisms and impracticable prescriptions arising from definitions of good. Instead he advances a theory of "moral foolishness," or moral asceticism, extracted from the "amoral" philosophers of East Asia and such thinkers as Ludwig Wittgenstein and Niklas Luhmann. The moral fool doesn't understand why ethics are necessarily good, and he isn't convinced that the moral perspective is always positive. In this way he is like most people, and Moeller defends this foolishness against ethical pathologies that support the death penalty, just wars, and even Jerry Springer's crude moral theater. Comparing and contrasting the religious philosophies of Christianity, Daoism, and Zen Buddhism, Moeller presents a persuasive argument in favor of amorality.