Genuine Pretending (eBook)

On the Philosophy of the Zhuangzi

Paul J. D'Ambrosio, Hans-Georg Moeller (Autoren)

eBook Download: EPUB

2017
Columbia University Press (Verlag)
978-0-231-54526-6 (ISBN)

Infos

This book presents an innovative reading of Daoist philosophy that highlights the critical and therapeutic functions of satire and humor. Moeller and D’Ambrosio show how the Zhuangzi expounds the Daoist art of “genuine pretending”: the paradoxical skill of enacting social roles without submitting to them or letting them define one’s identity.

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Genuine Pretending is an innovative and comprehensive new reading of the Zhuangzi that highlights the critical and therapeutic functions of satire and humor. Hans-Georg Moeller and Paul J. D'Ambrosio show how this Daoist classic, contrary to contemporary philosophical readings, distances itself from the pursuit of authenticity and subverts the dominant Confucianism of its time through satirical allegories and ironical reflections.With humor and parody, the Zhuangzi exposes the Confucian demand to commit to socially constructed norms as pretense and hypocrisy. The Confucian pursuit of sincerity establishes exemplary models that one is supposed to emulate. In contrast, the Zhuangzi parodies such venerated representations of wisdom and deconstructs the very notion of sagehood. Instead, it urges a playful, skillful, and unattached engagement with socially mandated duties and obligations. The Zhuangzi expounds the Daoist art of what Moeller and D'Ambrosio call "e;genuine pretending"e;: the paradoxical skill of not only surviving but thriving by enacting social roles without being tricked into submitting to them or letting them define one's identity. A provocative rereading of a Chinese philosophical classic, Genuine Pretending also suggests the value of a Daoist outlook today as a way of seeking existential sanity in an age of mass media's paradoxical quest for originality.

Autor

Hans-Georg Moeller is professor of philosophy at the University of Macau. His books include The Philosophy of the Daodejing (2006); The Moral Fool: A Case for Amorality (2009); and The Radical Luhmann (2011), all from Columbia University Press.Paul J. D’Ambrosio is assistant professor of Chinese philosophy at East China Normal University, where he serves as dean of the Center for Intercultural Research, Teaching, and Translation. He is the coeditor (with Michael Sandel) of Encountering China: Michael Sandel and Chinese Philosophy (2017).

Inhalt

Foreword by Chen GuyingPrefaceIntroduction: A Joker in the Fold1. Sincerity, Authenticity, and Ancient Chinese Philosophy2. The Confucian Regime of Sincerity3. Philosophical Humor and Incongruity in the Zhuangzi4. Smooth Operators: The Arts of Genuine PretendingConclusionNotesBibliographyIndex

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 17.10.2017
• Verlagsort: New York
• Sprache: englisch
• Maße: 150 x 150 mm
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Essays / Feuilleton
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie ► Allgemeines / Lexika
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie ► Ethik
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie ► Östliche Philosophie
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Religion / Theologie ► Weitere Religionen
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Anglistik / Amerikanistik
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Literaturwissenschaft
• ISBN-10: 0-231-54526-6 / 0231545266
• ISBN-13: 978-0-231-54526-6 / 9780231545266