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Downloaded on 2019-04-30T23:22:44Z View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Cork Open Research Archive UCC Library and UCC researchers have made this item openly available. Please let us know how this has helped you. Thanks! Title Towards a comparative process thought: from Nietzsche to ancient Chinese philosophy Author(s) Burke, Ruud Thomas Publication date 2019 Original citation Burke, R. T. 2019. Towards a comparative process thought: from Nietzsche to ancient Chinese philosophy. PhD Thesis, University College Cork. Type of publication Doctoral thesis Rights © 2019, Ruud Thomas Burke. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ Embargo information Not applicable Item downloaded http://hdl.handle.net/10468/7783 from Downloaded on 2019-04-30T23:22:44Z Towards a Comparative Process Thought: From Nietzsche to Ancient Chinese Philosophy Thesis presented by Ruud Thomas Burke, BA, MA For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Supervisors: Dr. Jason Dockstader, Dr. Gerald Cipriani Head of Department of Philosophy: Prof. Don Ross Department of Philosophy Faculty of Arts National University of Ireland, Cork February 2019 1 Abstract The objective of this research project is to develop a preliminary examination of an heuristic process ontology derived from an east-west comparative methodology. It attempts to trace the similarities and discontinuities of an ontological perspective in Friedrich Nietzsche‘s philosophy and several different strands of thought in Warring States era Chinese philosophical thought, focusing on Daoism in particular. The project traces the conclusions of these comparisons from a basic theoretical ontology to a socio-practical consideration. It concludes that in theorizing process both perspectives do not rely on traditional dichotomies that are seen in Western philosophical thought, they see the world as non-deterministic and utilize correlative thinking. The research traces further considerations in the areas of epistemology and evaluation based on these points and concludes that there is no separation between epistemology-evaluation and the underlying ontology, they are direct continuations of ontology. As a last question of theory, this research examines the consequences of comparative process ontology for language, claiming that it allows us to undermine a subjective/objective dichotomy by naturalizing language. Lastly, the theoretical groundwork of this project is applied to a number of extant philosophical issues. It attempts to resolve the dichotomy of reality and appearance as a metaphysical issue, and offers an account of how socio-political and economic issues can be theorized according to such an ontology. 2 Contents Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 5 Chapter 1 – Change as Ontology/Cosmology: Heraclitus, Nietzsche and Chinese Cosmology ............................................................................................................................................... 25 1.1 Heraclitus and Nietzsche .............................................................................................. 27 1.2 – Theorising Process in Nietzsche‘s Philosophy ......................................................... 38 1.3 – Theorising Process in Early Chinese Cultural Thought ............................................ 46 Chapter 2 – Epistemology-Evaluation in Comparative Process Thought .............................. 61 2.1 Epistemological Perspectivism – Crtitique of Perspectivism as Epistemology ........... 66 2.2 Epistemological Perspectivism - Perspectivism and Truth .......................................... 71 2.3 Psycho-biological Perspectivism: A Critique .............................................................. 78 2.4 Ontological Perspectivism (or Perspectival Ontology) ................................................ 80 2.5 Theories of Will to Power ............................................................................................ 85 2.6 Will to Power: Epistemological-Valuational Perspectivism ........................................ 88 2.7 – Epistemologic-Evaluation and Ontology in Early Chinese Philosophy.................... 98 Chapter 3: Re-Thinking Language through Comparative Process Thought ........................ 107 3.1 - The Problem of Language: Semiotics and Representation ...................................... 108 3.2 – Language in On Truth and Lies .............................................................................. 114 3.3 – Language in On the Genealogy of Morals .............................................................. 124 3.4 - Language Through Perspectivism and Will to Power ............................................. 128 3.5 - Conceptions of Language in Warring States Chinese Thought ............................... 136 Chapter 4 – Case Study 1 (Metaphysics), Case Study 2 (Socio-Economic overview) ........ 142 4.1 - Case Study 1 (Metaphysics) - Appearance and reality: The Zhuangzi .................... 144 4.3 – Case Study 1 (Metaphysics) - Nietzsche on Appearance and Reality .................... 145 4.4 Case Study 1 (Metaphysics) - Simulated Reality ....................................................... 147 4.5 Case Study 2 (Socio-Economic Overview) - Economics, Politics and Technology in Nietzsche‘s Philosophy .................................................................................................... 158 4.6 Case Study 2 (Socio-Economic Overview) - Politico-Economic Thought and Process in Chinese Legalism ......................................................................................................... 179 Chapter 5: Socio-Political Praxis in Comparative Process Ontology .................................. 184 5.1 Socio-Political Praxis in Comparative Process Ontology - East/West Models of Efficacy ............................................................................................................................ 185 5.2 Socio-Political Praxis in Comparative Process Ontology – Legalism: A Subversion of Chinese Efficacy? ............................................................................................................ 189 5.3 Socio-Political Praxis in Comparative Process Ontology – Nietzsche and Efficacy: Fate, Fatalism and Comparison ........................................................................................ 194 5.4 Socio-Political Praxis in Comparative Process Ontology – Emerging Problems: The Feminine as inadequacy in Comparative Process Ontology ............................................ 210 3 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 218 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................ 223 Works Cited ......................................................................................................................... 231 I hereby declare that this thesis is my own work, and has not been submitted for another degree, at University College Cork, or elsewhere. Signed: ____________________________________Ruud Burke Ruud Burke 4 Introduction This thesis is an attempt to set the ground for work in what I call ‗comparative process ontology‘, and I will begin by explaining what each of these terms mean. Starting with the last term, ‗ontology‘, what is meant is the very broad sense of the term as the study of what there is, or the general features of what there is. This is a contentious term to use in a project dealing with ancient Chinese philosophy (Daoism specifically), and as such I must qualify it further. In all cases, unless stated otherwise, I mean the term ‗ontology‘ to be convey elements of the terms ‗world-view‘ and ‗cosmology‘. The reason that I have refrained from substituting in ‗world-view‘ alone for ontology is that it fails to capture the specific focus of ontology on the fundamental features of the world, and it is too general. Likewise, ‗cosmology‘ would have been much more applicable in the case of ancient Chinese philosophy (and I do refer to cosmology as such in some relevant sections). Again, however, cosmology fails to perfectly mesh with the concerns of ontology. Cosmology is typically understood as the study of the physical universe and has in the past 100 years been more and more considered co-terminus with physics and astronomy. Hence, for lack of a more suitable term, I will use ‗ontology‘ for the duration of this thesis with the caveat that it does not refer to a strict discipline, it rather refers to those general, fundamental features that underlie a world-view, which may sometimes, and other times may not, be co-terminus with physics and astronomy1. This thesis thus deals with explicating the general, fundamental features of a world-view (namely, that contained within Nietzsche‘s philosophy and supplemented with elements of process thought in Daoism). What are these features, and in what way will they be explicated? This is a thesis that is couched in the methodology of process philosophy. Process philosophy is based on the premise that the nature of the world is change, and that such a dynamic nature of being should be the primary focus of any comprehensive philosophical account of reality. Process philosophy opposes substance metaphysics, which is the dominant research paradigm in the history of western philosophy since 1 Even so, it might be claimed that usage
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