Karyn Lai | Explaining Zhuangzian Cultivation | Philosophy Speaker Series

Abstract: The Zhuangzi, a 4^th Century BCE Chinese text, contains stories of figures who perform daily undertakings in magnificent ways. These figures are presented as antitheses to the ideal of the cultivated gentleman, such as that promoted in Confucian philosophy. The Zhuangzian figures excel in activities such as swimming, butchering, or woodcarving, because they are thoroughly responsive to the circumstances in which their activities are embedded. In this light, some recent scholarship on the Zhuangzi’s epistemology has framed it in in terms of embodied knowledge.

In this talk, drawing on debates on embodied knowledge, I reflect on how we can better understand what the Zhuangzi is attempting to convey through these figures. I focus on the phenomenon of cultivation, whereby they hone their skills for undertaking activities in the excellent ways they do. In doing so, I move away from a dominant view of embodied knowledge in the Zhuangzi, that it is essentially or primarily embodied and contextualized. Although the spotlight on embodied knowledge helps establish the Zhuangzian stance against the codified, decontextualized knowledge embraced by those in official life, that alone does not sufficiently explain what is going on when the figures sharpen their skills. I also affirm the place of decontextualized knowledge (Ott, 2024*) to give a fuller picture of Zhuangzian cultivation.

*Ott, Margus. 2024. Embodiment Theory and Chinese Philosophy, London: Bloomsbury

Karyn Lai is Professor of Philosophy at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.