A New Analysis of Yaoti and Yaowei in ZHOUYI : Focusing on Mobility and Immobility

Abstract

According to the rapid development and convergence of transporta-tion and IT technologies, we are witnessing the unprecedented ubiquity of mobility. In philosophy, the universality of movement and the motility of existence has been one of the main themes for all times and places. In particular, Zhouyi Philosophy in East Asia has long dealt with the ethical issues of human society with the weltanschauung of movement and change. In the Zhouyi texts, Yaoti(爻體) can be deemed the substance of changeability, while Yaowei(爻位) construed as the substance of unchangeability enables the upward and downward mobility of Yaoti. Yaoti initiates mobility by being aware of the place as the concrete space-time of Yaowei. Put differently, Yaoti acquires the placeness of Yaowei by the reflection on the placelessness of Yaowei as well as by the relevant ethical practice. In the same manner that Yaoti comes to recognize the placeness of Yaowei, the moving subjects come to learn the meaning of the place (placeness). Moreover, in the Zhouyi text, the reflective thinking and ethical practice of Yaoti allows the changeability of divining statements, such as good or ill luck. That being the case, the changeability of divining statements is nothing but the effects of the reflective thinking and ethical practice of Yaoti. As long as the equality of mobility power and the relevant participation of citizens are the duties and rights of the communities in the mobility society, the reflective thinking and ethical practice of Yaoti in the Zhouyi Philosophy has the potential to empower the moving subjects to actualize the duties and rights of the communities.