The Penumbra Unbound: The Neo-Taoist Philosophy of Guo Xiang

The Penumbra Unbound is the first English language book-length study of the Neo-Taoist thinker Guo Xiang (d. 312 C.E.), commentator on the classic Taoist text, the Zhuangzi. The author explores Guo's philosophy of freedom and spontaneity, explains its coherence and importance, and shows its influence on later Chinese philosophy, particularly Chan Buddhism. The implications of his thought on freedom versus determinism are also considered in comparison to several positions advanced in the history of Western philosophy, notably those of Spinoza, Kant, Schopenhauer, Fichte, and Hegel. Guo's thought reinterprets the classical pronouncements about the Tao so that it in no way signifies any kind of metaphysical absolute underlying appearances, but rather means literally nothing. This absence of anything beyond appearances is the first premise in Guo's development of a theory of radical freedom, one in which all phenomenal things are self-so, creating and transforming themselves without depending on any justification beyond their own temporary being.

Author: Brook Ziporyn
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Published: 03/01/2003
Pages: 196
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.59lbs
Size: 9.18h x 6.00w x 0.45d
ISBN: 9780791456620

About the Author
Brook Ziporyn is Assistant Professor of Religion and Philosophy at Northwestern University.

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