ASIAN PHILOSOPHY最新文献

{"title":"Philosophical incantations ( <i>Itihāsa</i> and <i>Epode</i> ). The power of narrative reason in the <i>Mahābhārata</i>","authors":"Raquel Ferrández Formoso","doi":"10.1080/09552367.2023.2259189","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/09552367.2023.2259189","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACTBoth the itihāsa-s of the Mahābhārata and the Platonic philosophical ‘epode’ are often used to persuade in conditions where emotion threatens to incapacitate the person for argumentative discourse. Narrative reason has its own conditions of success and failure, opening up a discursive arena in which all kinds of utterances are welcome. Emphasizing the psychagogic function of the ‘once-upon-a-time’ reason, it is worth asking who the real protagonist of the story is and whether the story has a duty or a dharma of its own to fulfill. Dharma and all the dilemmas it brings along with it constitute one of the fundamental problems that make up the whole Mahābhārata. In this essay I wonder about the dharma of the Mahābhārata itself—a literary work which gives itself the name ‘triumph’ (jaya)—and the cultural mission it fulfills in the lives of those who hear it, read it, study it, and share it with others.KEYWORDS: PersuasiondharmaPlatoimaginationmythallegory Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1. Wilhelm Halbfass warns against the misunderstanding of associating the Vedic concept of ṛta, which refers to a natural, cosmic and transcendent law, with the concept of dharma. ‘The fact that the sun does rise with regularity does not mean that the sun is following or fulfilling its own dharma. […] Dharma it is the continuous maintaining of the social and cosmic order and norm which is achieved by the Aryan through the performance of his Vedic rites and traditional duties’ (Halbfass, Citation1988, pp. 315–316). In his study of the notion of dharma in the Mahābhārata, James L Fitzgerald (Citation2004b, p. 673) agrees with Halbfass: “In particular I agree with Halbfass’ emphasizing that the word dharma is not a descendent of Vedic ṛta and does not refer to some kind of free-standing, overarching cosmic natural law. I see little or no basis in the Mahābhārata justifying this wide-spread understanding of dharma”.2. All the translations in this essay of the Śāntiparvan are taken from James L. Fitzgerald (Citation2004a), The Mahābhārata. 11. The Book of Women. 12. The Book of Peace. Chicago University Press.3. In the context of this collective attempt at persuasion, Vyāsa (MBh, 12.34.5) will remind Yudhiṣṭhira that war has only been ‘an instrument of Time’, therefore, neither he nor his brothers have killed anyone, they have only carried out the designs of Time expressing itself through living beings.4. Thus, in MBh 12.11.1 Arjuna tells him the story of Śakra (i.e. Indra) and some ascetics, but Yuddhiṣṭhira remains indifferent and in MBh 12.18.1 Arjuna tries to persuade him with another ‘ancient story’ (purāvṛttam itihāsam…) about the conversation the king of Videha had with his wife. After a long attempt at persuasion through this story, Yudhiṣṭhira answers his younger brother with condescending words, stressing that he knows well the ‘two paths’ prescribed by the Vedas, that of renunciation and that of de","PeriodicalId":44358,"journal":{"name":"ASIAN PHILOSOPHY","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135015912","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Guo Xiang’s account of ideal personhood: Self-fulfillment without the admiration of sages","authors":"Wai Wai Chiu","doi":"10.1080/09552367.2023.2247635","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/09552367.2023.2247635","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Guo Xiang’s philosophy of life, presented in the Commentary on the Zhuangzi, is sometimes characterized as advocating that people should follow their inborn qualities and be content with their given social positions. It is thus criticized as implying a form of passivism and conformism. This paper analyzes Guo’s account of ideal personhood and argues that although Guo does not think that everyone should become a sage or mystic, he allows everyone engage in self-cultivation. This is because one is advised to attain self-fulfillment through following one’s spontaneous tendency (xing 性), which is not equal to inborn qualities and does not preclude learning. Furthermore, since only the existence of sage ruler can ensure that people attain self-fulfillment completely, in reality people are not required to conform to the status quo.","PeriodicalId":44358,"journal":{"name":"ASIAN PHILOSOPHY","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2023-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44810798","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Zhuangzi as externalist: Reconciling two interpretations of the Happy Fish debate","authors":"Ranie B. Villaver","doi":"10.1080/09552367.2023.2247634","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/09552367.2023.2247634","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT In the English language contemporary literature, there are mainly two philosophical approaches to interpretation of the Zhuangzi’s Happy Fish debate. The two approaches to the famous passage are the logical, which focuses on analysis, and the non-analytic, which focuses on context. The approaches are in tension with one another since one implies that the other is wrong. This paper suggests that the view that Zhuangzi holds an externalist view of justification according to the debate (here abbreviated as ZE) reconciles the approaches. ZE is the interpretation that says that in the debate, Zhuangzi is an externalist, in particular, a process reliabilist, because he takes sense perception as means to attaining knowledge. ZE reconciles the two approaches in that in each of them ZE is implicit. Ultimately, this paper not only offers a perspective about the two approaches, it also offers a view about the debate.","PeriodicalId":44358,"journal":{"name":"ASIAN PHILOSOPHY","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2023-08-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43879885","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"On being “without-desire” in Lao-Zhuang Daoism","authors":"Jacob L. Bender","doi":"10.1080/09552367.2023.2234202","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/09552367.2023.2234202","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This study clarifies how and why Daoist philosophers critique desires. For the Daoists, desires perceptually obstruct the capacity for people to understand and interpret situations. In particular, desires also obstruct the ability to understand that all things are interdependent and do not exist as independent ‘things’. Contrary to recent claims by scholars that Daoist philosophy encourages people to develop certain desires, in reality, the Daoist insists that we stick with our basic animal needs and do not depart from them.","PeriodicalId":44358,"journal":{"name":"ASIAN PHILOSOPHY","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2023-07-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46700235","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A contextual review of the Nei 內 (internality) / Wai 外 (externality) debate in the Mencius","authors":"Yuzhou Yang","doi":"10.1080/09552367.2023.2235166","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/09552367.2023.2235166","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The theme of ren nei yi wai (rnyw) 仁內義外 in the Mencius has been crucial for the understanding of traditional Confucian/Mencian xin-xing theory. However, contemporary studies inspired by new discoveries in the Guo Dian Chu Jian and/or Western analytical tradition pose challenges to the conventional understanding of rnyw and/or xin-xing. Despite their innovativeness, these discoveries and/or interpretations appear to be divorced from the original text. Through a contextual review of both those relevant studies and the debate of rnyw/xin-xing in the original (con)text, this study uncovers a hitherto neglected ‘inclusive methodology’ in Mencius’ philosophy. Mencius’ inclusive vision provides invaluable insights into a means of not only creatively reading the Mencius in close connection with the original text, but also fostering an effective comparative study between Chinese and Western cultures/philosophies.","PeriodicalId":44358,"journal":{"name":"ASIAN PHILOSOPHY","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2023-07-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41958448","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Did Mīrdāmād believe in the primacy of quiddity?","authors":"H. Khademi, R. Hesari","doi":"10.1080/09552367.2023.2225962","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/09552367.2023.2225962","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Some scholars showed that Mīrdāmād believed in the ‘primacy of quiddity’ by adducing his theory of ‘the simple act of creation’ in which an entity’s quiddity is the ‘object‘ of the act of creation, and by adducing his belief that ‘existence‘ is constructed. Some other passages in Mīrdāmād’s work reinforce such attribution, made by his prominent student, Mullā Ṣadrā and his followers. This article offers a careful account of Mīrdāmād’s theory of ‘simple act of creation’ to assess the accuracy or inaccuracy of this attribution, and to provide a precise picture of quiddity in his philosophical system. The authors concluded that Mīrdāmād’s idea about ‘quiddity’ as the ‘object’ of creation by no means implies the primacy of quiddity as understood by Mullā Ṣadrā.By explicating his theory of ‘the simple act of creation’, they showed that it does’ imply the primacy of quiddity.","PeriodicalId":44358,"journal":{"name":"ASIAN PHILOSOPHY","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2023-06-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49009855","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The multifaceted perspective: Confucius’ political philosophy as manifested in his perception and engagement with Ji Shi 季氏 (the Ji family)","authors":"T. Lim","doi":"10.1080/09552367.2023.2226784","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/09552367.2023.2226784","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Three main themes emerge in Confucius’ response to the Ji family, reflecting the core tenets of his zeitgeist philosophy. Firstly, by criticizing the usurpation of Ji Shi 季氏 (the Ji family), he emphasized the moral principle of ‘overcoming oneself to return to ritual propriety’. Secondly, as a political philosopher, he stressed the importance of utility, emphasizing the concept of quandao 權道 (the way of the changeable), which implies that deviating from established principles can be valid in certain circumstances. Lastly, as an educator and reformer running the Confucian private school, he emphasized the importance of political realism. This educational goal stems from the specificity of the feudal era, and Confucius believed that governing the state and bringing peace to the world can only be achieved and advanced through public affairs.","PeriodicalId":44358,"journal":{"name":"ASIAN PHILOSOPHY","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2023-06-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45731561","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Is there a universal priority in cases of value conflicts? —Reverse engineering Quan 權","authors":"Yuhan Liang","doi":"10.1080/09552367.2023.2220245","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/09552367.2023.2220245","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT When we face a choice between two incompatible actions, is there a universal priority? The early Confucians used the notion of quan 權 to navigate conflicts. On the one hand, quan can be a mean of weighing or assessing. Through quan, agents should be able to recognize the most valuable action and arrive at a universal priority. Thus, quan entails impersonal reasoning. On the other hand, quan means balancing, and its aim is to seek the most appropriate response. What is appropriate depends on each individual’s personal factors. Thus, quan implies personal reasoning. I argue that quan represents a holistic thinking process that includes both impersonal and personal reasoning. But agents cannot engage in these two types of reasoning simultaneously. By reverse engineering how exemplars would implement quan, I show that these two types of reasoning are primarily used in different kinds of value conflicts.","PeriodicalId":44358,"journal":{"name":"ASIAN PHILOSOPHY","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2023-06-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48450107","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The silent speaker: A Nietzschean reading of Rūmī’s aesthetics of lyric poetry","authors":"H. M. Arani","doi":"10.1080/09552367.2023.2210008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/09552367.2023.2210008","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Lyric poetry, often regarded as the epitome of subjectivity in the realm of artistic expression, emerges from the depths of the poet’s personal emotions. Hence, in the aesthetic landscape of the nineteenth-century Germany, it was excluded from the inventory of genuine art forms, all of which were deemed to be objective and disinterested. Associating lyric poetry with music in its origin and essence, Nietzsche extends his Schopenhauerian metaphysics of music to the lyric, making it a highly objective art reverberating from the abyss of existence, the Ur-Eine, expressing its intrinsic self-contradictory and agonizing nature. A similar understanding of the creative process of poetic composition in the lyric, which this article aims to elucidate, can also be found in some of Rūmī’s ghazals and observations. These include a metaphysics of the unseen, a reunion through ecstasy and rapture, and a reflection and mirroring, initially through music and then through the lyric.","PeriodicalId":44358,"journal":{"name":"ASIAN PHILOSOPHY","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2023-05-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42319706","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Reasserting the primacy of xing (human nature) and self-cultivation (xiushen): Li Cai’s (1529-1607) defense of Confucianism against the interpenetration of the three teachings","authors":"Lunan Li","doi":"10.1080/09552367.2023.2202545","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/09552367.2023.2202545","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT By the late Ming, the concept of ‘the mind/heart-cum-principle’ 心即理 had generated confusion in the relations between xing (human nature) and xin (mind/heart). Moreover, with the increasing interpenetration of the three teachings of Confucianism, Buddhism and Daoism, some scholars became gravely concerned that the perversion of traditional Confucian thinking had resulted in the degeneration of the moral and social order. Li Cai (1529–1607) was one of these concerned scholars. Wielding the two concepts of ‘zhizhi’ (knowing the ultimate end) and ‘xiushen’ (self-cultivation) in the Great Learning, Li wrestled with Wang Yangming’s teachings by reasserting the primacy of xing, insisting that moral reality must involve direct individual action in order to preserve the unity of substance and effort. Li’s keen awareness of the inner tension between the mind/heart and xing not only prompted his critical reflections on Wang ’s thought but also on Zhu Xi’s. In so doing, he sought to address the fundamental question of what Confucianism is by clarifying the boundaries between the three teachings, and reshaping the spiritual values of Confucianism.","PeriodicalId":44358,"journal":{"name":"ASIAN PHILOSOPHY","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2023-05-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47977033","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}