Lin Ma & Jaap van Brakel 
Beyond the Troubled Water of Shifei 
From Disputation to Walking-Two-Roads in the Zhuangzi

In recent decades, a growing concern in studies in Chinese intellectual history is that Chinese classics have been forced into systems of classification prevalent in Western philosophy and thus imperceptibly transformed into examples that echo Western philosophy. Lin Ma and Jaap van Brakel offer a methodology to counter this approach, and illustrate their method by carrying out a transcultural inquiry into the complexities involved in understanding
shi and
fei and their cognate phrases in the Warring States texts, the
Zhuangzi in particular. The authors discuss important features of Zhuangzi’s stance with regard to language-meaning, knowledge-doubt, questioning, equalizing, and his well-known deconstruction of the discourse in ancient China on
shifei. Ma and van Brakel suggest that
shi and
fei apply to both descriptive and prescriptive languages and do not presuppose any fact/value dichotomy, and thus cannot be translated as either true/false or right/wrong. Instead,
shi and
fei can be grasped in terms of a pre-philosophical notion of fitting. Ma and van Brakel also highlight Zhuangzi’s idea of ‘walking-two-roads’ as the most significant component of his stance. In addition, they argue that all of Zhuangzi’s positive recommendations are presented in a language whose meaning is not fixed and that every stance he is committed to remains subject to fundamental questioning as a way of life.

Зміст

Acknowledgments

Note on Referencing

Introduction



1. Preliminaries

Necessary Preconditions of Interpretation

Against the Ideal Language Assumption

Underdetermination of Meaning and Interpretation

Would “On Its Own Terms” Be Possible?



Part I. The Troubled Water of
Shifei



2. Projection of Truth onto Classical Chinese Language

The Harbsmeier–Hansen Dispute

Looking for the “Is True” Predicate in Classical Chinese

Conceptual Embedment of
Shi 是 and Its Congeners

Transcendental Pretense in Projecting “Theories of Truth”

The Later Mohist
Canons



3. Competing Translations of
Shifei 是非



4. Variations of the Meaning of
Shi


Shi as a Demonstrative


Shi as Meaning both “This” and “Right”

Modifiers of
Shi



5. Dissolution of Dichotomies of Fact/Value and Reason/Emotion

Are There Dichotomies in Classical Chinese?

Fact/Value Dichotomy in Western Philosophy



6. Rightness and Fitting

Nelson Goodman on Rightness and Fitting

Setting up the Quasi-universal of
Yi 宜 and Fitting



7.
Shi and Its Opposites and Modifiers in the
Qiwulun 齊物論

Non-English Translations of
Shifei


Bi/Ci (彼/此) and
Shi/Fei


Shibushi 是不是,
Ranburan 然不然,
Kebuke 可不可


Qing 情 and
Shifei

Modifiers of
Shi in the
Qiwulun

Graham’s Contrasting between
Yinshi 因是 and
Weishi 為是

Translations of
Yinbi 因彼
, Weishi, and
Yinshi



Part II. From Disputation to Walking-Two-Roads in the
Zhuangzi



8. Is Zhuangzi a Relativist or a Skeptic?

Zhuangzi and Relativism

Relativities versus Relativism

Hansen and Graham’s Relativistic Interpretations of the
Zhuangzi


Zhi 知 and Skepticism



9. Zhuangzi’s Stance

Stance Instead of Perspective or Set of Beliefs

No Fixed Meanings (
Weiding 未定)

Walking-Two-Roads (
Liangxing 兩行)

Doubt and Rhetorical Questions


Buqi Erqi 不齊而齊: Achieving Equality by Leaving Things Uneven



10. Afterthoughts

Do the Ruists and Mohists Really Disagree?

Is Zhuangzi’s Stance Amoral?



Appendix

The
Zhuangzi—Key Notions

Zhuangzi’s Text(s): What Are the Authentic Chapters?

The Big (
Da 大) and the Small (
Xiao 小): Early Interpretations and Disagreements

The
Qi 齊 and
Lun 論 of
Wu 物

The Sages


Dao道,
Tian 天, and “the One”


Ziran 自然 and
Hundun 渾沌


Wuwei 无為 and
Wuyong 无用



Notes

Works Cited

Name Index

Subject Index

Про автора

Lin Ma is Associate Editor of
Philosophers at the School of Philosophy at Renmin University of China. She is the author of several books, including
Heidegger on East-West Dialogue: Anticipating the Event.
Jaap van Brakel is Professor Emeritus in the Higher Institute of Philosophy of the University of Leuven in Belgium. He is the author of
Philosophy of Chemistry: Between the Manifest and the Scientific Image. Together, Ma and van Brakel are coauthors of
Fundamentals of Comparative and Intercultural Philosophy.