Overview

In Philosophical Enactment and Bodily Cultivation in Early Daoism, Thomas Michael illuminates the formative early history of the Daodejing and the social, political, religious, and philosophical trends that indelibly marked it. This book centers on the matrix of the Daodejing that harbors a penetrating phenomenology of the Dao together with a rigorous system of bodily cultivation. It traces the historical journey of the text from its earliest oral circulations to its later transcriptions seen in a growing collection of ancient Chinese excavated manuscripts. It examines the ways in which Huang-Lao thinkers from the Han Dynasty transformed the original phenomenology of the Daodejing into a metaphysics that reconfigured its original matrix, and it explores the success of the Wei-Jin Daoist Ge Hong in bringing the matrix back into its original alignment. This book is an important contribution to cross-cultural studies, bringing contemporary Chinese scholarship on Daoism into direct conversation with Western scholarship on Daoism. The book also concludes with a discussion of Martin Heidegger’s recognition of the position and value of the Daodejing for the future of comparative philosophy.

Full Product Details

Author:   Thomas Michael, Market Analyst
Publisher:   Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint:   Bloomsbury Academic
Weight:   0.581kg
ISBN:  

9781350236653

ISBN 10:   1350236659
Pages:   288
Publication Date:   09 September 2021
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements PROLOGUE: APPROACHING THE MATRIX 1. Matrix Side A: Conventions of the Dao 2. Matrix Side B: Yangsheng, According to Ge Hong PART I: YANGSHENG DAOISM AND THE MATRIX 3. Uncovering Yangsheng Daoism 4. The Measurability of Chang 5. The Temporality of Heng PART II: HUANG-LAO DAOISM AND THE MATRIX 6. Yan Zun and Heshang Gong PART III: GE HONG AND THE MATRIX 7. Ge Hong and the Philosophy of the Pristine Dao 8. Ge Hong and Yangsheng Daoism EPILOGUE: YANGSHENG DAOISM AND COMPARATIVE PHILOSOPHY 9. Heidegger and the Philosophy of the Dao Bibliography Index

Reviews

This book presents a distinctive interpretative framework that uncovers an early yangsheng reading of the Daodejing through the differences between its early phenomenological and the later metaphysical versions. It engages with current literature from West to East to make a rigorous and genuine contribution. * Robin Wang, Professor of Philosophy, Loyola Marymount University, USA * Thomas Michael offers a refreshing interpretation of early Daoism as a philosophy for living-well and the practice of nurturing life. He delves into Huang-Lao, Han dynasty Daoism, and the practices of the Daoist alchemist Ge Hong in the Wei dynasty. The book concludes with a comparative study of the Daodejing and the phenomenology of Martin Heidegger. * James D. Sellmann, Professor of Chinese Philosophy, University of Guam, Guam *

Author Information

Thomas Michael is Associate Professor at the Beijing Normal University, China.

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