Title

The Twofold Loop of Ethics and Aesthetics: Contemporary Cultivation and Criticism of the Mencius and the Zhuangzi

Author

Tan Kang Lin

Genre

Article

Pages

229-266

Download

PDF

Language

Chinese

Key words

ethics, aesthetics, cultivation, criticism

Abstract

   In the development of contemporary philosophy, ethics has been closely related to aesthetics. Foucault proposed the concept of “Ethos” during his later years in an attempt to demonstrate the dialectical possibility of “subjectivation” and “desubjectivation” using the aesthetics of existence. Two important Chinese philosophical works, the Mencius 孟子 and the Zhuangzi 莊子, can offer a response to Foucault’s concept of Ethos, especially with respect to the dimensions of “cultivation” and “criticism.” The ethical concept of “life and the way of heaven are consistent with each other” proposed in the Mencius lays particular stress on the establishment of the moral subject. On the contrary, the aesthetics involved in the notion that “advancements of skills are based on Tao” from the Zhuangzi embodies desubjectivation. However, the concepts of “putting into practice” and “cultivating energy” from the Mencius also reflect the aesthetics of de-subjectivation, whereas the idea that “Heaven, earth, and the myriad things form one entity” advanced in the Zhuangzi also possesses an ethical dimension. The cultivation of aesthetic ethics, which is rich in critical spirit, can be developed by comparing the similarities and differences between these two works.