Paul J. D’Ambrosio : Department of Philosophy and Institute of Modern Chinese Thought and Culture, East China Normal University Hans-Rudolf Kantor : Graduate Institute of Asian Humanities, Huafan University, Taiwan Hans-Georg Moeller : Philosophy and Religious Studies Program, University of Macau, China
This essay is meant to shed light on a discourse that spans centuries and includes different voices. To be aware of such trans-textual resonances can add a level of historical understanding to the reading of philosophical texts. Specifically, we intend to demonstrate how the notion of the ineffable Dao 道, prominently expressed in the Daodejing 道德經, informs a long discourse on incongruent names (ming 名) in distinction to a mainstream paradigm that demands congruity between names and what they designate. Thereby, we trace the development of the idea of the ineffable Dao quite differently from modern mystical interpretations. We show how, in an early Chinese context, it first gives rise to a sociopolitical critique of the incongruity underlying socially constructed names in the Zhuangzi 莊子, then to a discourse on the incongruity between moral virtues and names in Xuanxue 玄學 philosophy, and eventually to Sengzhao’s 僧肇 claim that a perceived congruence of names with things does not entail actual congruence between names and reality.
目次
1 Introduction 306 2 Congruent Names and Sociopolitical Discipline 306 3 Three Types of Incongruent Names in the Zhuangzi 309 3.1 “Dao” and “Sage”: Incongruent Names 309 3.2 Incongruent Names of Honor 310 3.3 Incongruity between Names and Actualities/Forms 310 4 Three Types of Incongruity in Xuanxue Philosophies 313 4.1 HE Yan: Incongruity between Names and the Dao 315 4.2 WANG Bi: Extending Incongruity to Names and Virtues 316 4.3 GUO Xiang: On Incongruity between Names and All Actualities 318 5 Incongruity in Chinese Buddhist Thought 319 5.1 Incongruity and Nonduality in the Madhyamaka Concept of the Two Truths 319 5.2 Sengzhao on the Incongruity of Names and Reality/Actuality 322 6 Conclusion 328
