Beyond the Troubled Water of Shifei SUNY series in Chinese Philosophy and Culture ————— Roger T. Ames, editor Beyond the Troubled Water of Shifei From Disputation to Walking-Two-Roads in the Zhuangzi Lin Ma and Jaap van Brakel Work on this book is supported by the Chinese Fund for the Humanities and Social Sciences, the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, and the Research Funds of Renmin University of China. 18WZX010 (cid:26657)(cid:18070)(cid:9141)(cid:18840)(cid:315)(cid:289)(cid:7798)(cid:15228)(cid:24363)(cid:9370)(cid:11022)(cid:17964)(cid:22906)(cid:11854)(cid:13130)(cid:18974)(cid:8432)(cid:18830)(cid:12229)(cid:12443)(cid:7637)(cid:17964)“(cid:13783)(cid:26374)” Cover art: Lu Zhi (1496–1576). Zhuangzi Dreaming of a Butterfly. Ming dynasty, mid-sixteenth century. Published by State University of New York Press, Albany © 2019 State University of New York All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher. For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY www.sunypress.edu Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Ma, Lin, 1970– author. | Brakel, J. van (Jaap), author. Title: Beyond the troubled water of Shifei : from disputation to walking-two-roads in the Zhuangzi / Lin Ma and Jaap van Brakel. Description: Albany : State University of New York Press, 2019. | Series: SUNY series in Chinese philosophy and culture | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2018036000 | ISBN 9781438474830 (hardcover : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781438474847 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Zhuangzi. | Methodology. | Philosophy, Comparative. Classification: LCC BL1900.C576 M29 2019 | DDC 299.5/1482—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018036000 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Photogragh taken by Ma Lin in Kunming, Yunnan, China. Text on top reads: Renjian youjing (cid:7778)(cid:25915)(cid:11813)(cid:10283) “A place of tranquility in the human world.” Calligraphy by Yang Shen (cid:14578)(cid:12534) (1488–1559, Ming dynasty), who resided in Yunnan for thirty years. Contents Acknowledgments xi Note on Referencing xiii Introduction xix 1 Preliminaries 1 Necessary Preconditions of Interpretation 1 Against the Ideal Language Assumption 3 Underdetermination of Meaning and Interpretation 8 Would “On Its Own Terms” Be Possible? 9 Part I The Troubled Water of Shifei 2 Projection of Truth onto Classical Chinese Language 15 The Harbsmeier–Hansen Dispute 15 Looking for the “Is True” Predicate in Classical Chinese 18 Conceptual Embedment of Shi (cid:13783) and Its Congeners 19 Transcendental Pretense in Projecting “Theories of Truth” 21 The Later Mohist Canons 25 3 Competing Translations of Shifei (cid:13783)(cid:26374) 31 4 Variations of the Meaning of Shi 39 Shi as a Demonstrative 39 Shi as Meaning both “This” and “Right” 41 Modifiers of Shi 43 viii / Contents 5 Dissolution of Dichotomies of Fact/Value and Reason/Emotion 49 Are There Dichotomies in Classical Chinese? 49 Fact/Value Dichotomy in Western Philosophy 54 6 Rightness and Fitting 57 Nelson Goodman on Rightness and Fitting 57 Setting up the Quasi-universal of Yi (cid:11076) and Fitting 62 7 Shi and Its Opposites and Modifiers in the Qiwulun (cid:28402)(cid:16913)(cid:23166) 67 Non-English Translations of Shifei 67 Bi/Ci ((cid:12068)/(cid:15116)) and Shi/Fei 74 Shibushi (cid:13783)(cid:7605)(cid:13783), Ranburan (cid:16606)(cid:7605)(cid:16606), Kebuke (cid:9111)(cid:7605)(cid:9111) 78 Qing (cid:12397) and Shifei 82 Modifiers of Shi in the Qiwulun 85 Graham’s Contrasting between Yinshi (cid:9864)(cid:13783) and Weishi (cid:16482)(cid:13783) 89 Translations of Yinbi (cid:9864)(cid:12068), Weishi, and Yinshi 95 Part II From Disputation to Walking-Two-Roads in the Zhuangzi 8 Is Zhuangzi a Relativist or a Skeptic? 109 Zhuangzi and Relativism 109 Relativities versus Relativism 114 Hansen and Graham’s Relativistic Interpretations of the Zhuangzi 118 Zhi (cid:18317) and Skepticism 121 9 Zhuangzi’s Stance 129 Stance Instead of Perspective or Set of Beliefs 129 No Fixed Meanings (Weiding (cid:14034)(cid:11074)) 135 Walking-Two-Roads (Liangxing (cid:8465)(cid:22516)) 141 Doubt and Rhetorical Questions 149 Buqi Erqi (cid:7605)(cid:28402)(cid:20404)(cid:28402): Achieving Equality by Leaving Things Uneven 155 10 Afterthoughts 161 Do the Ruists and Mohists Really Disagree? 161 Is Zhuangzi’s Stance Amoral? 170 Contents / ix Appendix 179 The Zhuangzi—Key Notions 179 Zhuangzi’s Text(s): What Are the Authentic Chapters? 180 The Big (Da (cid:10447)) and the Small (Xiao (cid:11191)): Early Interpretations and Disagreements 184 The Qi (cid:28402) and Lun (cid:23166) of Wu (cid:16913) 188 The Sages 193 Dao (cid:24571), Tian (cid:10449), and “the One” 198 Ziran (cid:20882)(cid:16606) and Hundun (cid:15846)(cid:15412) 201 Wuwei (cid:13704)(cid:16482) and Wuyong (cid:13704)(cid:17616) 203 Notes 209 Works Cited 253 Name Index 271 Subject Index 277