On the Relatedness of Human-being, Thinking, Language, and Being: A Discussion on the Ontology in Later Heidegger and The Inner Chapters of Chuang-tzu

This dissertation is a comparative study on Heideggerian philosophy, Zhuangzi, and Early Buddhism. The common thread of these three philosophies is that they are against substantial metaphysics in each their own tradition. This dissertation wants to reveal and analyze how they manage to deconstruct substantial metaphysics. In the end, the dissertation concludes that these three philosophies deconstruct substantial metaphysics by revealing the fact that the fundamental ground for metaphysics either as the most universal or the highest, for example, Being, Tao, or Brahma, is the result of hermeneutical articulation. For these philosophies, the importance of hermeneutics is not just of epistemology, but more importantly, hermeneutics is essential for ontology. After analysis, the author attributes “hermeneutical ontology” to these three philosophies, in the sense of the fact that they all intend to reveal that all forms of metaphysical ontology actually are outcomes of hermeneutical articulation. herefore the most important task for these three philosophies is to reveal hermeneutics itself from different aspects. After providing creative interpretations to Er-eignis in Heideggerian philosophy, One-ing in Zhuangzi, and Dependent co-arising in Early Buddhism, the author proposes that hermeneutical event can best reveal the important connotations pregnant in these three key concepts. Centered around hermeneutical event, these three philosophies emphasize topos and logos to illustrate how the hermeneutical event actually takes place. he author re-evaluates the interpretations on Oneness in Heideggerian philosophy and Zhuangzi. The author aims to show that, if Oneness is further articulated in as-structure, such as One as Being, or One as Tao, and Being and Tao further as the most universal or the highest, then One falls back into the domain of metaphysics. Likewise, if the Oneness of the undifferentiated totality in meditation emphasized in Buddhism is further articulated as any field, which serves as the ground for all, it also falls into prey of substantial metaphysics. Thus the author proposes that those concepts related with topos in these three philosophies can best be understood as the hermeneutical condition, the related totality of the world in both spatial and temporal aspects, where the hermeneutical events take place. The author holds Pöggeler’s rendering of topology as temporal field of play in the fitting-together of the world as an insightful interpretation. This interpretation can brings us back right at the spot each time when and where those key concepts are being articulated. In conclusion, those topos-related metaphors in these three philosophies represent the related totality of the world, and the togetherness of the totality is gathered together for a while when hermeneutical events take place. Thus hermeneutical events are incessant happenings. The author emphasizes this very point to reveal the most important unique philosophical insight those three philosophies try to convey. In the end, the author concludes that these three philosophies, by revealing the hermeneutical event as the origin for all philosophizing, also hope to show the fact that the hermeneutical event is the origin for both empiricism and rationalism. ogos is the linguistic articulation when the hermeneutical events articulated in as-structure. The author first reveals the emphasis on the duality of topos and logos in these three philosophies: the related totality in the temporal field of play in the fitting-together of the world is to be articulated in language. These three philosophies all give language the expressive-constitutive role in truth-revealing and reality-constructing. Since language origins from incessant hermeneutical events, language also renews itself incessantly. Thus these three philosophies all hold multivocality as their language policy and they all do their best to avoid any linguistic articulation to be taken as the final truth. The author provides detailed analysis to reveal how these three philosophies manage to accomplish the task; For example, Heidegger’s proposal of poetic language, Zhuangzi’s adoption of parable, denegation, and paradox, and Buddhism’s unique formula of the Four-corned Logic. In the end, the author concludes that the special characteristics regarding language in these three philosophies also reveal the fact that nominalism and realism actually converge in the hermeneutical event.s for personhood, scholars have difficulties in providing satisfactory interpretations to the peculiar characteristics regarding personhood in those three philosophies, for example, non-self proposed in Buddhism and Zhuangzi and Heidegger’s bold and odd statement “we can belong entirely to no thing, not even to ourselves; yet being-there (Dasein) is in every case mine.” The author, after evaluating various interpretations, proposes that those unique characteristics are because these three philosophies emphasize the fact that personhood is identity articulated in hermeneutical events. Thus the personal identity is also being articulated incessantly in incessant hermeneutical events; therefore these three philosophies propose a multiple-identity theory for personhood. Likewise, multiple-identity theory of thing-hood that comes with every hermeneutical event is also proposed by these three philosophies. All these indicate that true essence of person and thing dwells in the hermeneutical events. n conclusion, these three philosophies all aim at revealing any systematic substantial ontology is the result of hermeneutical articulation. The hermeneutical articulation is conditioned by hermeneutical condition; thus, it is only regional philosophy and is not absolute philosophy as ontology intends to claim. The author concludes that these three philosophies intend to play a corrective role for regional philosophies.