Title

Aesthetic Dialectics between the Mind and Things: Taking Mou Zongsan’s Interpretation of the Zhuangzi as a Point of Departure

Author

Liu Tsang-long

Genre

Article

Pages

513-537

DOI

10.6503/THJCS.202109_51(3).0003

Download

PDF

Language

Chinese

Key words

Zhuangzi 莊子, Mou Zongsan 牟宗三, mind, thing

Abstract

Adopting Mou Zongsan’s 牟宗三 interpretation as a starting point, this article seeks to discuss, from an aesthetic perspective, the dialectical relationship between the mind and things in the Zhuangzi 莊子. Mou Zongsan claims that Zhuangzi pursues the spiritual transcendence of subject from the “established mind,” or chengxin 成心, to the “mind of Dao,” or daoxin 道心, and he delineates this transformation from a dialectical perspective. We examine whether Mou’s conceptual framework requires adjustment, devoting particular attention to the relationships between mind/thing, mind/body, and conscious/unconscious. More specifically, the focus of this article centers on the following questions: Does the conceptual dichotomy of subject and object undermine the dynamic equilibrium which originally characterized the dialectical relationship between Zhuangzi’s mind and things? And does this overshadow the significance of Zhuangzi’s critical, paradoxical thought? In addition, how should we understand the body and the unconscious as well as the spiritual and rational dimensions? Furthermore, what can we learn from analyzing Mou’s elaboration of the infinite and finite through paradoxical and dialectical thinking? Finally, from the perspective of dialectics, we consider how Zhuangzi brings things into balanced communion (qiwu 齊物).