Embodiment Theory and Chinese Philosophy: Contextualization and Decontextualization of Thought

by Margus Ott

Overview

This book analyses some of the seminal texts of the Chinese tradition in light of the embodied tradition: the Analects of Confucius, the Zhuangzi, and the Treatise on Music. Margus Ott's study shows how they exemplify aspects of embodiment theory while highlighting others that have been neglected in contemporary work. Ott also develops far-reaching possibilities of an embodied philosophy.

The embodied understanding did not go unchallenged in Ancient China. There were important counter-currents, most notably the Mohists and the so-called Legalists. It has been argued that this challenge set the Chinese philosophical tradition in motion. By using embodiment theory Ott demonstrates how these ideas can be seen as a decontextualizing tendency of thought that plays an important role in human affairs.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781350424142
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	08/22/2024
Pages:	232
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.56(d)

About the Author

Margus Ott is a researcher at Tallinn University, Estonia. He has performed previous research in Taiwan and Xiamen with the National Taiwan University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

1. Introduction
1.1. Contextualizing and Decontextualizing Thought
1.2. Roots of Embodiment Theory (ET)
1.3. Chinese Traditions and ET
1.4. Content Summary

2. Embodiment
2.1. Tenets of Disembodiment
2.2. Embodiment
2.3. Embeddedness
2.4. Enactment
2.5. Extendedness
2.6. Affectivity
2.7. Emergence
2.8. Self-relation
2.9. Other-relation
2.10. Implicitness
2.11. Guidance by Example
2.12. Singularities and Intensities
2.13. Embodied Disembodiment
2.14. Meaning of Disembodiment
2.15. Conclusion

3. Background
3.1.Greek Socio-political Background
3.2.Chinese Socio-political Background
3.3. Ritual Background
3.4. Rituals as Contextualizing
3.5. Kurankos
3.6. Hasidic Traditions
3.7. Ritual Knowledge
3.8. Conclusion

4. Embodied Foundations: Confucius
4.1. Embodied
4.2. Singular and Ordinary
4.3. Embedded
4.4. Flexibility
4.5. Enacted
4.6. Extended
4.7. Other-relation
4.8. Emotive
4.9. Implicitness
4.10. Emergence
4.11. Ease and Joy
4.12. Self-cultivation
4.13. Conclusion

5. Mohist Disembodied Reaction: Mozi
5.1. Introduction
5.2. Disembodied Standards
5.3. Extension of Subjectivity: All-inclusive Care
5.4. Meritocracy
5.5. Explicitness
5.6. Conclusion

6. Legalist Disembodied Reaction: Han Feizi
6.1. Introduction
6.2. Laws
6.3. General and Explicit
6.4. Generality of Basic Preferences: Third-person View
6.5. Staying “cool”
6.6.New, Decontextualized Civic Morality
6.7. Objectivity, Quantity
6.8. Conclusion

7. A Confucian Development of Embodiment: Record of Music (Yueji)
7.1. Mencius
7.2. Xunzi
7.3. Record of Music
7.4. Emotions
7.5. Return to One's Body: Individual Transformation of Emotions
7.6.Social Embeddedness: Collective Transformation of Emotions
7.7.Ontology of Energy and Veins
7.8.Self-cultivation According to Energy and Veins
7.9.Enacted Knowledge
7.10. Music and Rituals: integration and differentiation
7.11. Free Space
7.12. Simplicity and Ease
7.13. Cosmic Purport
7.14. Conclusion

8. A Daoist Development of Embodiment: Zhuangzi
8.1. Introduction
8.2. A “knack”
8.3. Stages of Practice
8.4. Danger of Mechanical Mind in Extended Cognition
8.5. Other-relation
8.6. Transformation
8.7. Sitting and Forgetting
8.8. Free Roaming
8.9. Knowing with Non-knowing
8.10. Zhuangzian Ideas as Reflection on a Skill
8.11. Zhuangzi and Decontextualization
8.12. Conclusion

9. Conclusion
Notes
References
Index

Editorial Reviews

Margus Ott critically examines traditional Western epistemologies, noting their abstract, decontextualizing nature, and contrasts them with Chinese philosophy. He explores how knowledge intertwines with embodied context, revealing how transcending physical forms can lead to an integrated understanding of body and mind, offering alternative ways of experiencing and being in the world.” —Jana S. Rošker, Professor of Chinese Philosophy, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

“Embodiment Theory and Chinese Philosophy breathes life into the early Chinese traditions through the lens of embodiment theories. Ott's multifaceted analysis resists a universalised account of the Chinese traditions, thereby providing rich, nuanced and novel insights. Here is Chinese philosophy, embodied.” —Kayn Lai, Professor of Philosophy, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

“Margus Ott's Embodiment Theory and Chinese Philosophy breaks new ground by showing how Chinese thought is embodied, embedded, and affective, rather than disembodied, decontextualized, and contemplative. Ott's wide-ranging approach skillfully synthesizes not only Chinese and Western philosophy but also discoveries in anthropology and cognitive science, giving us an exciting new perspective on ancient texts and their relevance to the modern world.” —Bryan W. Van Norden, James Monroe Taylor Chair in Philosophy, Vassar College, USA

From the Publisher