Tool Usage and Self-Carving in the Zhuangzi
A Heideggerian Perspective
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8410916 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Agnė Veisaitė (0009-0002-3918-5500, Chinese University of Hong Kong, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Pages | 1-16 |
| Publication date | 2025-12-04 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0007-1773 • E-ISSN: 2332-0486 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/00071773.2025.2597308 |
| OpenAlex | W4417006238 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 13 |
This paper examines tool-usage in the Zhuangzi through the lens of Heidegger’s philosophy of technology. Drawing on the ideography of wo 我 – commonly translated as “I” or “self”– I interpret wo as constitutive through its doings, particularly via the use of tools or equipment. The character wo 我 is derived from the radical for “hand” 手holding a dagger-axe 戈, which I address as a broader metaphor for tools. I argue that wo-self, like Heidegger’s Dasein, is situated within social roles and tool-bearing activities. By exploring the textual appearances of rectifying tools alongside the skill stories, I suggest that the tool metaphor embedded within wo-self can either reinforce inherited circumstances and social roles (ming 名/命), or serve as a means to cut through them. I further argue that self-forgetting in skilled activities arises not from absorption in action per se, but through dialogical attunement to non-human presence
Interpretation (philosophy) · Ontology · Perspective (graphical) · Phenomenology (philosophy) · Subjectivity · Chinese history and philosophy · Environmental and Cultural Studies in Latin America and Beyond · Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |