The Art of Becoming Infinite : Mou Zongsan's Vertical Rethinking of Self and Subjectivity.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Stanchina, Gabriella, 1972- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Self (Philosophy).

Subjectivity.

Philosophy, Chinese.

Mou, Zongsan.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (0 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, UK : Open Book Publishers, 2025.

Summary:

Mou Zongsan is arguably the most important Chinese philosopher of the twentieth century. This work delves into the philosopher's exploration of self and subjectivity, setting Mou Zongsan's theories against Western paradigms. Mou contrasts Western 'horizontal' model, based on the separation of subject and object, and aimed at cognitive enhancement, with the 'vertical' view dominant in the Confucian and Daoist tradition. The vertical model has, at its core, a practical-performative interpretation of the subject, based on the moral self-cultivation. This spiritual cultivation enables the finite human being to 'become infinite,' embodying the original unlimited moral mind that constitutes the Self and the universe. In addressing fundamental questions of self-consciousness and self-identity, the book contextualizes Mou's philosophy within contemporary discussions in neuroscience and cognitive science. By placing Mou's ideas in dialogue with Western thought-examining thinkers like Husserl, Kant, Hegel, and Lévinas-as well as with Daoist and Confucian vision of mind, this work opens a pathway to understanding selfhood beyond purely epistemological boundaries. This book will be of interest to readers and scholars interested in the contemporary debate about mind and the Self, as well as those intrigued by the new horizons opened by a cross-cultural Western-Chinese approach to subjectivity.

Contents:

Intro

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Introduction

A Vertical Rethinking of the Self: The Significance of This Study

Mou Zongsan's Life and Works

Chapter-by-Chapter Overview

1. The Question of Subjectivity

1.1 The True Face of Mount Lu

1.2 Contemporary Perspectives on Self

1.3 Comparative Perspectives

2. Mou Zongsan and the Critique of the Cognitive Mind

2.1 Towards a New Philosophy of Mind

2.2 Structure and Significance of the Critique of the Cognitive Mind

2.3 Perception and Apperception

2.4 Self-Consciousness and Psychological States

2.5 The Problem of the Self

2.6 From the Physiological Self to the Logical Self

2.7 Self-Consciousness and Meaning

2.8 The Oscillation between Self-Limitation and Springing Out ( )

2.9 The Mind of the Quiet Shining (Jizhaoxin 寂照心).

2.10 Toward the Transcendent Mind: The Meaning and Use of Zi

3. The "Diaphanous Subject" in Daoist Thought

3.1 Daoism as the Metaphysics of the State of Mind

3.2 Jingjie as Spiritual State and Hodological Space

3.3 Withdrawing and Progressing: Western Subject versus Daoist Subject

3.4 The Three-Step Dialectics of Daoism

3.5 The Daoist Subjectivity According to Mou

3.6 The Diaphanous Subject

3.7 Self-Awareness and Trans-consciousness

3.8 Priority of the Sense of Sight

3.9 Subject, Ancestor, Host

3.10 Diaphanous Subject and Thin Subject

4. Constitutive Mind and Constitutive Nature: The Moral Subject in Confucianism

4.1 Confucianism and "Authentic Subjectivity"

4.2 Freedom and Indeterminacy

4.3 The Performative Subject

4.4 The Subject as Incipience and Origin

4.5 Constitutive Mind and Constitutive Nature

4.6 Subjectivity and Interiority

4.7 Conclusion: The Child in the Well

5. Self-Limitation of the Moral Self as Kenosis

5.1 Kenosis: History of a Concept

5.2 Paradoxes of Self-Limitation

5.3 Abyss and Sinkhole: Self-Limitation as Sinking

5.4 Kenosis as Alienation: Hegel and Mou

5.5 Kenosis as "Making Space for the Other": Tzimtzum and Lévinas

5.6 Tremor and Awakening: Mou and Lévinas

Conclusions: Facets of Self across Cultures

The Contemplative Subject in Western Culture: Interiority, Reflection, Solitude

The Confucian Moral Subject in Mou's Thought: Rethinking the Concepts of Interiority and Reflection

Loneliness and "Vigilance in Solitude"

Differences between Chinese and Western Culture: From "What Is a Self?" to "How to Become an Authentic Self?"

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 335-349).

ISBN:

1-80511-478-6

1-80511-479-4

OCLC:

1492407272