The Penumbra unbound : the neo-Taoist philosophy of Guo Xiang / Brook Ziporyn.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ziporyn, Brook, 1964-

Series:

SUNY series in Chinese philosophy and culture

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Guo, Xiang, -312.

Guo, Xiang.

Taoist philosophy.

Physical Description:

ix, 186 pages ; 23 cm.

Other Title:

Neo-Taoist philosophy of Guo Xiang

Place of Publication:

Albany : State University of New York Press, [2003]

Summary:

The Penumbra Unbound is the first English language book-length study of the Neo-Taoist thinker Guo Xiang (d. 312 C.E.), commentator on the classic Taoist text, the Zhuangzi. The author explores Guo's philosophy of freedom and spontaneity, explains its coherence and importance, and shows its influence on later Chinese philosophy, particularly Chan Buddhism. The implications of his thought on freedom versus determinism are also considered in comparison to several positions advanced in the history of Western philosophy, notably those of Spinoza, Kant, Schopenhauer, Fichte, and Hegel. Guo's thought reinterprets the classical pronouncements about the Tao so that it in no way signifies any kind of metaphysical absolute underlying appearances, but rather means literally "nothing." This absence of anything beyond appearances is the first premise in Guo's development of a theory of radical freedom, one in which all phenomenal things are "self-so," creating and transforming themselves without depending on any justification beyond their own temporary being.

Contents:

The Classical Chinese Philosophical Background 5

An Overview of Guo Xiang's Philosophical Project 17

The Problem of Spontaneity and Morality in Earlier Xuanxue 23

Guo's Solution: The Image of Traces 31

The Dangers of Traces 51

Interactivity Without Traces: "Vanishing (Into) Things" 65

The Unification of Independence and Interdependence 85

Lone-Transformation 99

The Unity of Activity and Nonactivity 125

Appendix A Guo Xiang's Use of the Term Xing: The Inherency of Change and the Confluence of Chance, Freedom, and Necessity in the Notion of the Self-So 143

Appendix B Comparative Notes on Freedom and Determinism 149.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 179-182) and index.

ISBN:

0791456617

0791456625

OCLC:

50034836