Re-Reading Zhang Taiyan against François Jullien
Ontology and Political Critique in Chinese Thought
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2353244 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Joyce C H Liu (0000-0002-0235-2195, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 40 |
| Issue | 4-5 |
| Pages | 201-218 |
| Publication date | 2023-07-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Theory Culture & Society (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0263-2764 • E-ISSN: 1460-3616 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/02632764231169926 |
| OpenAlex | W4379514834 |
| Language | TL |
| References cited | 11 |
This article challenges François Jullien's reading of Chinese thought based on his disjunction between ontology and shi, or propensity. According to Jullien, the Chinese history of ideas has been a never-changing entity in a homogeneous society for thousands of years. Jullien's juxtaposing and contrasting 'European thought' and 'Chinese thought' falls into the trap of cultural essentialism he wanted to avoid. Jullien's interpretation of shi also led him to believe that Chinese people never challenge reality, never confront or resist, tend to stay in conformity, and lack interest in critical thinking. This paper argues that, despite the combination of Confucianism, Daoism and Legalism that constituted a powerful paradigm of normative governmentality of the hierarchical system in different dynasties in Chinese history, the spirit of political resistance has never ceased. Zhang Taiyan, at the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of Republican China, demonstrated the tradition of such critical political thinkers. The re-reading of Zhang Taiyan's Buddhist-inspired reading of Zhuangzi could offer us an additional possibility for the emancipatory and political thinking that can be inspirational even today
Art · China · Epistemology · Interpretation (philosophy · Linguistics · Literature · Ontology · Political science · Politics · Reading (process · Sociology · Subject (documents · Zhàng · Chinese history and philosophy · Law · Philosophy · Political Theory and Influence · Seventeenth-Century Political and Philosophical Thought
| Highly cited | No |
|---|