5 replies on “New Book: Chong on Zhuangzi”

  1. Good. Finally, philosophers dare to deal with the difference between Daoism and Ruism directly. I would like to see who will finally convince. We actually need a conference called ‘Daoism and Ruism: philosophy, history and their contemporary situations’, or a book, a course with similar titles. For me, the philosophical difference between Daoism and Ruism is the singular most important question of Chinese philosophy, but lamentably, not so many works directly address this issue. I will try to see into this book as soon as possible!

    • I share the sentiment, Bin. For me Ruists like Xunzi and Daoist thinkers engaged in some of the most sophisticated philosophical discussions of the period. Hopefully this book helps people reach the same conclusion.

      Concerning Anglophone discussion of this topic, I have to make a shameless plug for my teacher Chris Fraser’s work:

      “A Daoist Critique of Morality.” Forthcoming in Justin Tiwald, ed., Oxford Handbook of Chinese Philosophy, Oxford University Press.

      “Xunzi Versus Zhuangzi: Two Approaches to Death in Classical Chinese Thought.” Frontiers of Philosophy in China 8.3 (2013), 410–427.

      “The Limitations of Ritual Propriety: Ritual and Language in Xunzi and Zhuangzi.” Sophia: International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, Metaphysical Theology and Ethics 51:2 (2012): 257–282.

      “Zhuangzi, Xunzi, and the Paradoxical Nature of Education.” Journal of Chinese Philosophy 33.4 (2006): 529–42.

      I also have a paper on this topic on the way.

    • Thanks a lot, Frank. I have copied the article list. Great resource! I think I will contact you if I begin to write something about the same topic. Thank you again!

  2. I have a paper in Dao, “In the World of Persons: The Personhood Debate in the Analects and Zhuangzi” (2012) that deals with Zhuangist criticisms of Confucians (and vice-versa). Very much looking forward to seeing how this issue is handled in this book. I made my own small contribution but then abandoned the issue–great to see that others are doing the needed work!

Leave a Reply to Frank Saunders Jr Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.