莊子哲學

The philosophy of Zhuangzi is a crucial contribution not just to the Daoist tradition, but to the Chinese intellectual tradition as a whole. Its depth in the inquiry into the human existence, mind and language, ontology and knowledge, morality and justice, is widely recognized as the most philosophical among his peers in the pre-Qin period. The purpose of this course is to lead the students to go deeply in to the philosophy of Zhuangzi through a proper reconstruction of its original text within a framework of analytic philosophy and neuroscience. The reading materials will be mainly based on a pair of book manuscripts which the instructor and his collaborator Georg Northoff are currently working on with a focus on self and personal identity in which my work on Zhuangzi is influenced by Northoff's spatialtemporal neuroscience and Northoff's spatialtemporal neuroscience is influenced by my interpretation of Zhuangzi. This pair of collaborative book manuscripts will be completed by the time this seminar is offered. Supplementary readings related to the theoretical framework and to important works on Zhuangzi will also be provided and discussed in class. By the end of the semester, students will be expected to critically appreciate the contemporary significance of the philosophy of Zhuangzi, and to conduct a research program of their own.

None

A social media online will be created for questions and discussions among the participants of this seminar. Our TA will facilitate the exchange of ideas.

a) Each student takes turn to lead discussions: 30% b) Presence and active participation in discussion: 20% c) Term paper: 50%

A book manuscript by Kai-Yuan Cheng entitled “Inverting Self and Personal Identity: A Philosophical Perspective of Zhuangzi” A book manuscript by Georg Northoff entitled “The Critique of Personal Identity”