| Summary: | 碩士 === 華梵大學 === 哲學系碩士班 === 98 === In view of the feeling of floating and frustrating life resulted from the rapid changes and unpredictability of the cosmos and the difficulties as well as instability in the various experiences of life, Zhuangzi proposed the ideal as a model of merit in an individual’s life consisting of 4 tiers namely Chih Jen, Shen Jen, Sheng Jen and Chen Jen; the performance in the respective disciplines as well as the horizons of relief in each tier indeed demonstrate something significant and valuable for everyone living in the age of uncertainty around the world today characterized with rapid changes in living environments, information explosion, confusion in values and feeling lost, hence this study aim to explore what is behind the ideal.
There have been more than enough literatures of research on “Zhuangzi” – the book of Zhuangzi’s Philosophy, and each of these authors already tried to discuss and argue it at various angles and from different aspects. Hence it is no point to take “Zhuangzi’s Philosophy” as the theme of research thesis exactly as the former researchers did – which was inevitably “extrinsic and general”, instead, this study aims to explore “Zhuangzi’s Philosophy” at a single specific angle to ensure this research to be as “intrinsic” as possible.
This research explores and puts emphasis on the “Ideal Character” in Zhuangzi’s Philosophy, including the categories, the disciplines each category takes and the performance in each horizon or tier of the virtue. “Ideal Character” is briefly defined as the highest horizon or tier in a character pursuit. Simply put the highest horizon is a performance of an ideal, in other words, the recognition of a value, and the human’s pursuit for beauty and virtue.
This study first categorizes and organizes the articles and sections discussing the different “Jen” in Chih Jen, Shen Jen, Sheng Jen and Chen Jen, and analyses each of them, comparing it with the former researchers’ explanation, then clarify the different and similar elements in each of the ideal character categories, so as to establish the main theme of this research “An Exploration into the Ideal Character”.
The Hsiao-Yao “carefree” horizons in Zhuangzi are asserted by Zhuangzi for a human being to face a civilized world, development in social organization is an inevitable development in human history. Living in a society a person will start to pursuit the meaning of life when facing a tough or difficult situation; Hsiao-Yao “Carefree” makes no sense for a person who leads a living without any confinement or restrain. “Carefree” horizon relies on acceptance and recognition of natural lives, hence the establishment of the value of nature lives makes a person live in harmony with various lives and beings and stay free in the world formed with numerous relations externally.
Secondly, this study tries to explore the disciplines performance and horizon of ideal character from the aspect of “Carefree horizons” in Zhuangzi’s Philosophy, as the author’s views and evidences.
At last, this study reexamines the present research and comes to the conclusion on the influences of Ideal Character in Zhuangzi’s Philosophy to the thinkers in next generations, and also makes a good use of the belief in addressing the issues arising in today’s human life and relieving a person from difficulties in life.
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