Discourse and Perspective in Daoism: A Linguistic Interpretation of Ziran Author(s): W. A. Callahan Source: Philosophy East and West, Vol. 39, No. 2 (Apr., 1989), pp. 171-189 Published by: University of Hawai'i Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1399376 Accessed: 08/09/2010 12:22 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=uhp. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. University of Hawai'i Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Philosophy East and West. http://www.jstor.org W. A. Callahan Discourseand perspectivein Daoism: A linguisticinterpretation of ziran In Chinese philosophicalliterature, the term ziranais generallyrendered as "spontaneity,""natural," or "self-so" by both Chinese and Western trans- lators. I think that these translationsnot only miss the point being made in the texts, but actuallyserve to obscureit. Herein I propose a differentinterpretation of ziran-a linguisticinterpre- tation as a specificallyDaoist term. Broadlyspeaking, this essay seeks to re- examine certain presuppositionsthat we have with respect to Chinese phi- losophy, particularlyDaoism, combiningrecent philosophicalinsights with those made available by the sinological community.This essay argues that ziran serves as a basis for rational decisions for action that can be made within daoism.1I do not venture do claim that daoism is a rationalthought system; rather it contains elements of both rational and arational action. However, as traditional interpretationsof Daoism have concentrated on its arationalaspects (usually callingthem irrational),this essay will focus on the possibilitiesfor rationaldecision makingand action. My analysisis based on Chad Hansen'sDaoist Theoryof Language,begin- ning with his ContrastTheory of Language.2The ContrastTheory of Lan- guage states that names are createdin pairsas opposites. Examplesof this are found in the second chapterof the Dao De Jingb: That the whole world knows the beautiful'sbeing deemed "beautiful"is suf- ficient for "ugly". That the whole world knows the good's being deemed "good" is sufficientfor "evil". Thus "having"and "lacking"produce each other. "Difficult"and "easy" complementeach other. "Long" and "short" offset each other; "high" and "low" incline toward each other; "note" and "sound"harmonize each other; "before"and "after"follow each other.3 The image is of a whole, the fundamentalmetaphor being that of the "un- carved block" which is divided by a "line" to distinguishbetween opposites, for example, beautiful and ugly. Such delineation, then, is the process of distinctionand naming;when we distinguishand name one thing, we simul- taneouslydistinguish and name its opposite. Now let us put the ContrastTheory of Languageinto the more general scheme of the relation between languageand reality as found in the Dao De Jing. This is a theory of prescriptiverather than descriptivelanguage. In this theory, languageis composed of names, and knowing(knowledge) is having the abilityto manipulateand use these names towardsa desiredend. Thus, it is "know-how"rather than "know-that."According to this ContrastTheory, names come in pairs, and thus "knowing"is knowingthe distinctionbetween them. In makinga distinction,we create desires and values whichin turnlead to actions to fulfillthem. The Zhuang Zic is a source which in its own terms elaboratesthis Contrast W. A. Callahan is a graduate student in Political Science at the University of Hawaii. Philosophy East & West, volume 39, no. 2 (April 1989). ? by University of Hawaii Press. All rights reserved. 172 Callahan Theory, stressingas it does linguisticrelativity. This means that there is no fixed relationbetween the name and the object that it names. The distinctions out of which names grow are not fixed, but are alwaysshifting-the line that divides the whole is not set. The "line" is shifting, accordingto the Zhuang Zi, because distinctionsare alwaysmade from a perspective,and since every perspective is different, the distinctionsdiffer with every perspective. The ZhuangZi illustratesthis in its use of indexicals: What is "this"(shid) is also "that"(bie); what is "that"is also "this". There they say "that's it/that'snot" (shi/feif) from one point of view, here we say "that'sit/that's not" from anotherpoint of view.4 Zhuang Zi uses shilfei, "that's it/that's not," to illustrate both how discri- minationsarise between opposites and how judgmentsare invariablymade from a perspective.Cilbig, "this here/thatthere," is anotherpair of indexical opposites which operate analogouslyto shilfei, and will be importantin my theoreticalconsiderations. In this essay I want to regardthe fact that ziran originatesand occursin the pre-Qindaoist canons as being of considerablesignificance.5 will analyzethe worldview of daoismwhich developed in responseto the views of the schools of Confucius,Mo Di, the Dialecticians,and so on. Daoism, as articulatedin the Dao De Jing and the Zhuang Zi, rejects these several philosophies in favor of a new approachto the problemsin Chinesephilosophy. Ziran is part of this creation, for its first appearanceas a compoundin the corpusis in the Dao De Jing. Hence, ziran seems to be peculiarto daoismin its introduction and developmentin the classicalperiod. Daoism uses the linguisticallyderived notion of ziran as an alternativeto the Realisticways of Confucianismand Mohism,pitting its relativismagainst the rule-orderedrites and utility of these rival schools. Daoism presents a relativistworld view which rejects the hierarchyinherent in institutionsand conventions.In this theory I interpretziran to be "action-discriminationfrom a particularperspective." In this sense, it stands in contrast to the other schools' "action-discriminationfrom convention(for example, rites, utility)." In daoism, each "part"distinguishes from its own perspectiveand acts on it, rather than submittingto the establishedcustoms of society, which can be artificialto it. Thus, with this theory, we do not just walk our daoh; we are continuallyin the process of creatingit. The standardtranslations of ziran do not express this creativity,unfortu- nately suggestinga more quietistic,passive, and fatalisticinterpretation. The most common reading of ziran is "spontaneous."This interpretationmight originate from Shen Dao's proto-Daoism, which is anti-languageand anti- knowledge. It postulates a single absolute metaphysicalDao, as opposed to the multiple daos found throughout Chinese classical thought.6 And, of course, it is the Dao so defined (sometimes"Heaven") that inspiresa rather 173 oxymoronic"determined spontaneity." Spontaneity, in this view, is not a fac- tor of the object itself, a problemthat is implicitlydemonstrated in alternative translationssuch as "natural."Hence, in the traditionalinterpretation, hu- mans are distancedfrom nature, whereasone of the centralpoints of daoism surely is that humans are a part in the composite harmonyof nature. This Shen Dao proto-Daoism is further appealed to by traditional scholars to understand classical daoism as a whole, without due cognizance of the development that took place within daoism itself, and within the greater Chinese philosophicaltradition. My theory of ziran offeredhere places daoismin the context of the classical Chinese philosophicaldialectic and relates it to the contending schools of Confucianism,Mohism, and the Dialecticiansand, further, entails a serious critiqueof all Realistic theories of Dao by suggestinga workablealternative to them. Ziran is central to the daoist world view. In analyzingit theoretically, it should be noted that I am not a prescriptivegrammarian of the classical Chinese language. I see relationshipsbetween terms in classicalChinese, but no incontrovertibleprinciples of grammarthat might define the language separatefrom the context of the text at hand. Thus, I drawon the etymology and grammarof the terms to suggest an interpretation,and then go to the texts to see if it is borne out philosophically. To understandhow ziran comes to mean "discrimination,"and further "discourseabout actions from a perspective,"we must analyze the compo- nent charactersof the expression.7 Zii first appears in classical Chinese texts as a preposition that is usually translated"from." In the developmentof the languagethrough the classical philosophicalperiod, zi is extendedas a reflexiveadverb roughly analogous to "self' in English. Examiningthe etymology of the term is important,for it might enable us to discover a commonalityamong the several renderingsof zi. Accordingto