This essay examines the concept of fate, exploring the causal-normative constraint problem in the existential phenomenology of humanity in A Dream of Red Mansions . It studies the structure, content, and origin of the consciousness and experience of fate, as it is illustrated in the phenomenology in the novel, exploring the causal and normative challenges that fate poses to the reality, value, authenticity, happiness, and freedom of a person. Doing so, the essay also demonstrates both the difference and affinity between (...) the Chinese concept of fate and Hindu concept of karma , as well as existentialist (Heideggeran) concepts of 'thrownness' and 'existentiality.'. (shrink)

This article explains Zhuangzi's philosophy by analyzing the metaphor of the potter's wheel. I argue that this is one of the central images in the core chapters of the Zhuangzi . Together with two cognate images, it not only appears in some crucial passages, but also allows us to integrate a variety of seemingly independent topics. The article consists of four sections. I start by placing the potter's wheel against a background of other artisan tools. A second section focuses on (...) three major themes revolving around the image of the potter's wheel in the Zhuangzi : stillness of mind, flexibility in response, and harmonizing and living out one's years. A third section discusses the negative portrayal of measurement tools in the Zhuangzi . In an afterword, I summarize the findings and revisit some methodological issues. The study shows that concrete images such as artisan tools may provide important clues for interpreting philosophical texts. (shrink)

In the philosophy of Confucius, the concept li is both central and elusive. While it is often translated 'ritual' or 'the rites,' I argue that there are numerous significant ways in which li is as much an internal property of individuals as it is an external set of rules or norms. I discuss li as deference, as developed dispositions, as embodied intelligence, and as personalized exemplary conduct. Finally, reflecting on the work of Fingarette, and Hall and Ames, as well as (...) Wilson's analysis of their work, I argue that the external aspect of li , although reasonably understood under the rubric of 'traditional norms,' may nonetheless legitimately evolve, and that this coheres well with the notion that an internal sense-of-ritual is integral to the meaning of li. (shrink)

Despite his strong commitment to the ideal of wuwei statecraft, Mencius advanced a distinct yet cohesive theory of Confucian youwei statecraft that can serve the ideal of wuwei , first by means of the principled application of individual and social responsibility under unfavorable socioeconomic conditions, and second by offering a concrete public policy (i.e. the well-field system) that contributes to a decent socioeconomic condition on which the society can be self-governing and where individuals (and families) can fully exercise their individual (...) moral and socioeconomic responsibility. My central claim is that Confucian wuwei statecraft has a practical and social background, namely, a socioeoconomically and morally self-governing civil society. (shrink)

The theoretical work of European and American structuralism has produced a number of important elements which have resulted in (especially with respect to certain new, fundamental approaches in semantics, philosophy and methodology) essential shifts in the modes of thinking in the humanities, and in the cultural and social sciences. Despite these shifts, Western discourses have still not produced any integral, coherent structural model of epistemology. The present article intends to show that such a model can be found in the pan-structural (...) epistemology of the modern Chinese philosopher Zhang Dongsun (1886-1973), and that the crucial, theoretical underpinnings of such models were developed much earlier in the history of Chinese thought, given that the bases of a structural approach to comprehension had already been established in ancient Chinese philosophy. This paradigmatic foundation (the concept li ) was further developed and elaborated by various Chinese philosophers in later centuries as a crucial feature of the classical Chinese logic of binary analogies. The article also points out that the central binary concept of the Neo-Confucian tradition (i.e. the concept of structure and creativity; li and qi ) has generally been interpreted as a dualism of idea and matter by Euro-American sinologists. However, such interpretations have overlooked an important feature of traditional, structurally determined Chinese onto-epistemology. (shrink)

This paper is a study of Bhart hari's understanding of the pram a s, i.e. the means whereby knowledge is acquired, as can be evinced from his V kyapadīya and the corresponding commentary (V kyapadīya V tti). Both Bhart hari's general attitude towards pram as as well as his specific understanding of the individual means of knowledge are analyzed. In particular, it is established that Bhart hari accepts exactly three pram as: perception (pratyak a), inferential reasoning (anum na) and tradition (...) ( gama). However, the status of the three is unequal: perception and inferential reasoning are fallible and hence cannot provide reliable guidance with regard to Dharma. These two pram as do have their place and according to Bhart hari should not be discarded entirely. As for gama, it is clear that Bhart hari accords it primacy in matters related to Dharma. But again, Bhart hari does not discard anum na and pratyak a entirely. Rather, he seems to suggest that they have to be supplemented by gama, which is the unimpeacheable judge of tradition. (shrink)