AP CHAPTER 19 Zhuangzis Daoism Zhuangzi next to Laozi is the other main text in the Daoist philosophical tradition Just as the Laozi is attributed to Laozi the Zhuangzi is attributed to Zhuangzi ID: 214518
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Slide1
Asian Philosophy
AP CHAPTER 19Slide2
Zhuangzi’s Daoism
Zhuangzi, next to Laozi, is the other main text in the Daoist philosophical tradition.
Just as the Laozi is attributed to Laozi, the Zhuangzi is attributed to Zhuangzi.
Zhuangzi is said to have lived from 369-286 BCE.
It is likely that Zhuangzi only wrote the seven inner chapters of the thirty three chapter masterpiece work.Slide3
Commonalities between Zhuangzi and Laozi
Both philosophers hold that the Dao
is
An undifferentiated whole.
Self-subsisting.
Boundless.
Great.
Invisible.
Inaudible.
The origin of all things.
The
unifying power of all things. Slide4
Differences between Zhuangzi and Laozi
Laozi:
Time
is
infinite in the future direction, but finite in the past direction.
Political
advice is frequent and common.Mysteriousness: there is something mysterious about the Dao.Preservation of life.Creativity is not important.
Zhuangzi:
Time is infinite in both directions.
No focus on political discourse. Only focused on how the individual can live with the Dao.
No focus on the mysterious, only focused on the here and now.
Living life to the fullest.
Creativity
is important
. For example, art is important for understanding the
Dao and living life well. Slide5
Zhuangzi on the Dao
The Dao is:
The totality of the self-transforming processes that make up the world.
Transformation is inevitable in our world.
The question
becomes:
what are you to do and not to do in light of the constant transformation of all things?
The answer is that we should not resist change. We need to change our emotional responses to what happens?Slide6
Zhuangzi on Freedom from the Fear of Suffering
We can free ourselves from suffering by
Broadening our perspective.
Opening our minds.
Freeing ourselves from the limitations of our own conditionings and circumstances.
The idea is that we need to focus on the ever changing nature of reality and to adjust our emotional
responses to
the changing nature of reality. We should not use instrumental mentality nor seek to fulfill our socially prescribed roles. Slide7
Zhuangzi on The Perspectival Nature of Ordinary Knowledge
Zhuangzi holds that ordinary knowledge is not the highest form of knowledge.
All knowledge comes under an aspect.
An entity can be known under many aspects.
When an entity is known through multiple aspects, it is revealed to one that knowledge is aspectual.
By sorting through the various aspects that we can know things under we can come to increase our understanding of a thing and broaden our outlook. Slide8
Zhuangzi on Ordinary Knowledge
Knowledge that comes under an aspect is limited.
Ordinary knowledge comes under an aspect.
So, ordinary knowledge is limited.
The
pivot
of the Dao point of view occurs when knows things through multiple points of view without seeing them as opposites.
The key is to look at all things in light of nature. Capturing the pivot is like standing in the center around which all things change. Slide9
Zhuangzi on the Instrumental Mind
Zhuangzi says that even though the Dao is unknowable we can find happiness only by leaving behind the instrumental mind.
The instrumental mind is the mind of a person that is caused by pre conceived categories of how things must be and conceptual distinctions. The instrumental mind blocks a person from being able to free
themselves
and be open minded.
To creatively
engage the spontaneity of transformation is to leave behind the instrumental mind that binds us to a set way of thinking of things. Authentic being comes from merging with the Dao. Slide10
Zhuangzi’s Arguments Against Conventional Knowledge
The Relativity of Distinctions.
The Complementariness of Opposites.
The Perspectives.
General Skepticism.Slide11
Argument from the Relativity of Distinctions I
Judgments about values and matters of taste are subjective.
What is subjective is relative.
So,
judgments of value and matters of taste are relative.
Critical Questions:
Are all judgments of values and matters of taste subjective?
Why is it true that what is subjective is relative?Does the fact that we use language to label things make things subjective or relative?Slide12
Argument from the Relativity of Distinctions II
If I know something, then I know that I know it.
I don’t know that what I believe to know is really knowledge.
So, I don’t know at all.
Critical Questions:
Is it true
that if one knows something they must know that they know it.
How is that I can be skeptical about what I claim to know?Slide13
Argument from Complementariness of Opposites
Every concept implies its negation.
Without the negation of a concept, a given concept cannot exist.
So, opposites are complements.
So, affirmation and negation are just different ways of looking at the same thing.
Critical Questions:
Are there any examples of concepts that don’t imply their negation?
What does it mean to say that a concept implies its negation?Do all concepts presuppose the ability to discriminate between things? Slide14
Argument from Perspectives
T
wo
people can have distinct perspectives on a given
object at the same time.
A single person can have distinct perspectives on a given
object over time.
If a creature has different senses from those of a human, it will perceive things differently from how a human would. Question: which appearance is the correct appearance? Zhuangzi: each thing is what it is, and not something else. What it is is independent of how it appears. Slide15
Zhuangzi Dreams He is a Butterfly
Last night
Zhuang
Chou [Zhuangzi] dreamed he was a butterfly, spirits soaring he was a butterfly (is it that in showing what he was he suited his own
fancy?)
, and did not know about Chou. When all of a sudden he awoke, he was Chou with all his wits about him. He does not know whether he is Chou who dreams he is a butterfly or a butterfly that dreams he is Chou.
Critical Question:
How can one determine that they are what they think they are, and not something else dreaming what they think they are? Zhuangzi: Locked within our own instrumental minds we cannot know what a thing is in itself. Slide16
Argument from Skepticism
Skepticism = we cannot really ever know anything?
Skeptical question: Is that really so?
The skeptical question can never really be answered.
So, skepticism is true.
Critical
Questions:
Why can the skeptical question never be answered?If skepticism is true, don’t we know that skepticism is true?Slide17
Zhuangzi on Skepticism
Zhuangzi’s skepticism is grounded in the insight that:
There is no indubitable criterion that we can appeal to when attempting to prove something.
The skepticism rests on the idea that to claim to know something in part depends on
assuming that something
is unquestionable. Slide18
Zhuangzi on Skepticism
Zhuangzi’s skepticism is grounded in the insight that:
There is no indubitable criterion that we can appeal to when attempting to prove something.
The skepticism rests on the idea that to claim to know something in part depends on
assuming that something
is unquestionable. Slide19
Zhuangzi on Rejecting the Ordinary World
Often advocating skepticism is taken
to involve
discussion of whether the ordinary world we know is to be rejected.
Often recognizing the limitations of our cognitive framework goes along with the adoption of a transcendent point of view.
Zhuangzi does not take either skepticism or the limitations of our cognitive framework to require that we should give up on the ordinary world. Slide20
Zhuangzi on the Artistry of Life
Zhuangzi advocates:
Embracing a change in perspective.
The possibility of self-transformation.
Striving for the best possible life one can lead in this world.
Producing
artistry in sculpting out meaning in one’s life.
Practicing discipline in carrying out life projects. Slide21
Zhuangzi on the Artistry of Life
Zhuangzi:
Artistry in life requires taking what is present and artfully engaging it.
All mundane activities that we perform can be artfully done.
Art brings to life that which is mundane.
Artistry leads to authenticity.