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《莊子》與《繫辭傳》思想中「常」與「變」研究
Other Title
Continuity and Change in the Zhuangzi and the Xicizhuan
Date Issued
2007
Date
2007
Author(s)
Schwabe, Wolfgang
DOI
zh-TW
Abstract
Abstract
The question how to attain continuity in change goes beyond specific disciplines or individual cultures. This thesis discusses the relationship between continuity and change in two philosophical works in ancient China, the Zhuangzi 莊子and the Xici 繫辭commentary of the Yijing易經 in a comparative manner. The thesis treats the subject from different angles. First continuity in change in the outside world is discussed, then the implications of this concept of change in the outside world for the human practice in such a world are examined. The organisation of the individual life and the community in line with the underlying concept of change are the focus of this part of the discussion. Finally, the concrete action in world defined by change is discussed. The Zhuangzi and the Xici commentary offer radically different approaches to the question of continuity and change. For the Zhuangzi the world is by random change controlled by a “maker” (zao wuzhe造物者) whose motives are not accessible to humans. This precludes any sort of constructive human effort and leaves the individual focusing on attaining stability in his own mind. In the Xici commentary change in the world is determined by the interplay between the two begnign and constructive forces qian and kun. The human world is part of this greater process, thus the society is to be organized along the lines of this interplay. The hexagrams of the Yijing mirror this change and are thus be consulted to underrstand the underlying continuity of the world process on the one hand, and to guide human action in concrete situations. The two counterpointing positions in the two texts can be characterized as follows: The ways of Heaven and man fall apart in the Zhuangzi and a crisis of meaning sets in, in the Xici commentary the relate to each other in a meaningful whole.
The question how to attain continuity in change goes beyond specific disciplines or individual cultures. This thesis discusses the relationship between continuity and change in two philosophical works in ancient China, the Zhuangzi 莊子and the Xici 繫辭commentary of the Yijing易經 in a comparative manner. The thesis treats the subject from different angles. First continuity in change in the outside world is discussed, then the implications of this concept of change in the outside world for the human practice in such a world are examined. The organisation of the individual life and the community in line with the underlying concept of change are the focus of this part of the discussion. Finally, the concrete action in world defined by change is discussed. The Zhuangzi and the Xici commentary offer radically different approaches to the question of continuity and change. For the Zhuangzi the world is by random change controlled by a “maker” (zao wuzhe造物者) whose motives are not accessible to humans. This precludes any sort of constructive human effort and leaves the individual focusing on attaining stability in his own mind. In the Xici commentary change in the world is determined by the interplay between the two begnign and constructive forces qian and kun. The human world is part of this greater process, thus the society is to be organized along the lines of this interplay. The hexagrams of the Yijing mirror this change and are thus be consulted to underrstand the underlying continuity of the world process on the one hand, and to guide human action in concrete situations. The two counterpointing positions in the two texts can be characterized as follows: The ways of Heaven and man fall apart in the Zhuangzi and a crisis of meaning sets in, in the Xici commentary the relate to each other in a meaningful whole.
Subjects
莊子
繫辭傳
變化
常
道家
造物者
Zhuangzi
Xici Commentary
Yijing, Change
Continuity
Philosophical Practice
Type
thesis