The Study Of Ultimate Ground On Zhuang Tzu

This thesis mainly deals with the existence of human being by analyzing Chuang Tzu, in which the ground of rationality of it is discussed. Textual analysis of Chuang Tzu shows that the discussion centers on what is a good life. Nevertheless, a good life requires a criterion to define, but that varies with individual and a consensus is difficult to reach. Therefore it gets into the predicament of how to set the criterion. Whereas Chuang Tzu demonstrates the insufficiency of the criterion by discussing "relying property" of a specific existence, since a specific criterion is invariably dependent on other conditions and itself can't prove the legitimacy of its very being. Chuang Tzu ultimately builds the rationality on concepts such as "Tao" and "Tian". By systematic study of Chuang Tzu, this criterion is rational in that such concepts are applied to refer to the world as an integrated whole. By the wholeness of the world, it means not a specific and limited existence but a comprehensive one, which includes the becoming and changing in the universe. The world is self-contained and self-explicable so that it is the ultimate rational criterion. Comparing with the "being" concept in the ancient Greece, which is the supreme existence to explain the whole, Chuang Tzu builds the ground on something more initial:the original state of constituting and connecting of everything. However, an epistemic difficulty arises:how to understand the becoming and changing? Tao in Chuang Tzu is repeatedly said to be beyond learning and grasping. If this is true, it won't do any good to our existence for human beings can't utilize what they haven't known. This thesis clarifies the confusion by expounding that "unknown" thing could be experienced exemplified in the "word" and "meaning" argument in Chuang Tzu. The world as an integrated whole can't be treated as a subject and the understanding of it shouldn't be acquired the same as we know a specific object. In this sense, Tao in Chuang Tzu is said to be beyond normal learning. Thus it advocates the "intuitive understanding" of the world as a whole. Furthermore, how is this intuitive understanding possible? By the analysis of wu(which means the preconceptual and preconscious state), the thesis shows that the inaction transcends the constraint of the finiteness of object, so it lays bare that the finite possibility of object that has been formerly fixed and limited by our cognition. Hence the possibility becomes the focus of our attention. The possibility itself is the becoming and changing process, the operation of the world, and the way we understand the world as an integrated whole. Unfortunately, such intuitive criterion couldn't help to offer an evident choice or judgment to the specific existence problems under finite conditions. As all the wholeness of the world directs to an insurmountable focus-human existence, the relationship between universe and mankind should be based on human existence and the starting point should be found from the existence of human being-the reason why human beings become themselves. Chuang Tzu finally focuses on nothing, neglecting the starting point and direction of human existence.