Lecture 6: Zhuangzi Flashcards
What are Zhuangzi’s critiques of Hui Shi?
He was against Hui Shi’s empirical and logical use of language, his unceasing search for knowledge of the external world, and effort to keep his own political power with instrumental rationality.
What is Zhuangzi’s philosophy of language and his use of philosophical language (i.e. yuyan, chongyan, and ziyan)?
Zhuangzi places an emphasis on language, and uses parables and metaphors or yuyan (consigned words 寓言), interpretive discourse or chongyan (repeated words 重言), and situational/deconstructional discourse or ziyan (goblet words 卮言), to express his philosophical ideas.
Explain Zhuangzi’s concept of “tradition,” such as written tradition and oral tradition.
Nanbo Zikue asked, “From whom did you hear this [Dao]?” Nuju answered, “I heard it from the son of Aided-by-Ink (副墨之子; books), and Aided-by-Ink heard it from the Repeated–Recitation (luo song zi sun 洛誦之孫; oral tradition). The Repeated-Recitation heard it from Seeing-Brightly (observation), and Seeing-Brightly from Whisper-Listening (listening); Whisper-Listening from Need-Action (action, practice); and Need-Action from Singing-Songs; Singing-Songs (the murmurings of the heart) from Dark-Obscurity; and Dark Obscurity (the darkness of the universe) from Joining-the-Vast (the boundless universe), and Joining-the-Vast from Doubtful Beginning (the doubtful beginnings of the universe).”
Explain Zhuangzi’s vision of the origin of universe in relation to that of language.
The beginning of the universe starts with the beginning of language, because language limits our understanding of the universe.
“Heaven and earth were born together with myself and the myriad things are one with me. Since all things are one, how can there be anything to say? Since I said myriad things are one, how can there be nothing said? One and saying make two, two and one make three. Going on in this way, even the cleverest mathematicians couldn’t get it, how much less an ordinary person. Therefore, if from nothingness to being we proceed to three, how much farther we shall reach when we proceed from being to being?”
Explain Zhuangzi’s solution to the antinomy of “There is a first cause” and “There is no first cause” of the universe.
“That there is some first cause, or that no first cause would make it, these are the ultimate questions our doubt could arrive at. When I look for its origin, the past is without limit; when I look for its end, the future is without stop. Without limit and stop, it is the absence of words, because words share the same principle as things. That there is some first cause, or that no first cause would make it, these speculations were based on words, that begins and ends with things. Dao as a name is borrowed as an expedient. To presuppose either a first cause or no first cause is but one limited corner of things, what do they have with the great Dao?” That is, dao is not a thing that can be bound by language, and thus the question of origins become irrelevant.
How does Zhuangzi the constitution of the human self (i.e. human subjectivity, empirical ego, and authentic self)?
He divided the self into the empirical self, which you experience, and authentic self (or transcendental self), which you don’t experience. The empirical self stems from the bodily self. It is the basis through which we come into contact with external things. From the bodily self you move to the psychological/mental self. You know that you have this because you know that you have mental states. However, the psychological self lacks a subject. Your emotions are like “a musical sound coming out from an empty tube.” It is not your real self because you can have contradictions in your mental states (e.g. you can be both happy and sad). Thirdly, you have the arbitrary/calculative self, or the ego. It is what makes your decisions. Whether or not you feel that you have an authentic self, it’s still in you. This is the basis for Zhuangzi’s belief that all things are equal, because all things have an authentic self.
Discuss Zhuangzi’s image of ideal person or paradigmatic person.
For Zhuangzi, the perfect man is very diverse. This person can be called the the supreme man (zhiren), the marvelous man (shenren), the sage (shengren), and the authentic man (zhenren). Especially important is the authentic man. An authentic person practices self-control, to the point of transcending all constraints of life and death and followed the natural rhythm of birth and death in absolute spiritual freedom.
- “The authentic man of old did not override the weak, did not attain their ends by brute strength, and did not gather around them counselors. Thus failing had no cause for regret; succeeding, no cause for self-satisfaction. And thus they could soar to heights without trembling, enter water without becoming wet, and go through fire without feeling hot. This is the kind of knowledge which reaches to the depth of dao.”
Explain Zhuangzi’s concept of life-praxis.
According to Zhuangzi, life praxis begins with unifying bodily functions and the spiritual functions of the soul in meditation. By natural breath, the spirit is purified to a point where it clarifies the consciousness, becoming a metaphysical looking glass. Then, through a mystical passivity, one returns to a union with the dao. Zhuangzi sees life and death as natural processes of the universe. We should follow the rhythm of cosmic creativity instead of imposing ourselves on specific forms of existence.
Explain the philosophical meaning of Zhuangzi’s dream of becoming a butterfly.
“Once Zhuang Zhou dreamt he was a butterfly, a butterfly flitting and fluttering around, happy with himself and doing as he pleased. He didn’t know he was Zhuang Zhou. Suddenly he woke up and there he was, solid and unmistakable Zhuang Zhou. But he didn’t know if he was Zhuang Zhou who had dreamt he was a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming he was Zhuang Zhou. Between Zhuang Zhou and a butterfly there must be some distinction. And this is called the transformation of things.”
Ontically, Zhuangzi and the butterfly have some distinctions. But ontologically, they are both united under dao, and there is no distinction. You are different from dao and other things, but there is no distinction. The relative rarity of the human body does not mean that it is superior.
Explain Zhuangzi’s dynamic ontology of relation, and the dialectics between freedom and relation in the narrative of the Butcher Ding.
“Butcher Ding, who, cutting up an ox, behaved in such a marvelous way that he slid the knife along artistically, with a rhythm like that in music and dance. An ox is a living being constituted in a very complicated way, and so it signifies the complexity of life, individual as well as social, constituted by all kinds of relations. With a life praxis that is capable of grasping this complexity, one can eventually follow natural rhythms and attain the way of freedom.”
On the one hand, human life praxis is situated in an ontology of relation, in which all are complexly related to one another. One should act according to one’s natural makeup and follow things as they are. But there are also possibilities for freedom, the “spaces between the joints, in which there is “plenty of room—more than enough for the blade to play about it.”
What is “methodology of mysticism” according to Fung? How he sees the Daoist Way to achieve “sageliness within”?
What is the third phase of Classical Daoism? Which are its two schools?
Huanglao Daoism emerged in the late middle Warring State when time and society demanded more active participation of the Daoists. All in keeping the concepts of Dao, de, laws of nature and principle of non-action, they played more active role in politics and offered ideological guide for political leaders. They referred to Laozi and the legendary Yellow Emperor (Huangdi 黃帝) to justify their political effectiveness. They served also as the transition from philosophical Daoism to religious Daoism.
Huanglao Daoism can be divided into two branches. The first began arguably in the 4th Century BC in the Chu 楚 State. The second, constituted of Daoist members of the Jixia Academy in Qi 齊 State, was represented by “Four Daoist Chapters in the Guanzi” (管子四篇). The Guanzi was not out of the hand of Qi’s prime minister Guanzi himself, rather by Jixia 稷下 scholars who attributed to his name to show their works as an autochthonic system of thought of Qi state.
