Usefulness of being useless: reading the narratives in the
Zhuangzi

k 2014

Usefulness of being useless: reading the narratives in the Zhuangzi

VÁVRA, Dušan

Základní údaje

Originální název

Usefulness of being useless: reading the narratives in the Zhuangzi

Název česky

Užitečnost neužitečného - strategie čtení narativů v knize Zhuangzi

Autoři

VÁVRA, Dušan

Vydání

20th Conference of the European Association for Chinese Studies, Braga and Coimbra, Portugal, 22. 7.-26. 7. 2014, 2014

Další údaje

Typ výsledku

Prezentace na konferencích

Utajení

není předmětem státního či obchodního tajemství

Organizační jednotka

Filozofická fakulta

Klíčová slova česky

Zhuangzi; čínské myšlení; textualita

Klíčová slova anglicky

Zhuangzi; Chinese thought; textuality

Příznaky

Mezinárodní význam

Změněno: 2. 5. 2019 08:55, Mgr. Igor Hlaváč

Anotace

V originále

The Zhuangzi, like many other early Chinese texts, is a composite text consisting of relatively short textual units. Despite its composite nature, the Zhuangzi is usually approached as a philosophical work, which (at least in part) can be viewed as philosophically coherent. Any reading strategy approaching the text from “one philosophical vision“ point of view necessarily integrates individual units into the philosophical vision it constructs, which is supposed to be the general framework all parts of the text must fit in. In this paper an alternative reading strategy is explored and tested on the Zhuangzi narratives on “usefulness of being useless”. The proposed reading primarily establishes meanings of the individual units. It is suggested that many units contain information establishing specific context for the unit’s content (a narrative about “usefulness of being useless” in this case). The paper argues that diverse contexts can be reconstructed for seemingly similar textual units. The idea of “usefulness of being useless” is viewed not as a peculiar concept of human existence advocated by the text (the text’s author/s), but as an argumentative tool that can be used in various contexts for various purposes. The paper demonstrates that the received Zhuangzi can be read as an evidence of the process of putting ideas in context and using them for various purposes. The paper concludes that the proposed “unit-by-unit” reading highlights and retains meanings that are necessarily obscured by any reading reducing the text into one worldview

Citovat

VÁVRA, Dušan. Usefulness of being useless: reading the narratives in the Zhuangzi. In 20th Conference of the European Association for Chinese Studies, Braga and Coimbra, Portugal, 22. 7.-26. 7. 2014. 2014.

@proceedings{1333782,
   author = {Vávra, Dušan},
   booktitle = {20th Conference of the European Association for Chinese Studies, Braga and Coimbra, Portugal, 22. 7.-26. 7. 2014},
   keywords = {Zhuangzi; Chinese thought; textuality},
   title = {Usefulness of being useless: reading the narratives in the Zhuangzi},
   year = {2014}
}

TY  - CONF
ID  - 1333782
AU  - Vávra, Dušan
PY  - 2014
TI  - Usefulness of being useless: reading the narratives in the Zhuangzi
KW  - Zhuangzi
KW  - Chinese thought
KW  - textuality
N2  - The Zhuangzi, like many other early Chinese texts, is a composite text consisting of relatively short textual units. Despite its composite nature, the Zhuangzi is usually approached as a philosophical work, which (at least in part) can be viewed as philosophically coherent. Any reading strategy approaching the text from “one philosophical vision“ point of view necessarily integrates individual units into the philosophical vision it constructs, which is supposed to be the general framework all parts of the text must fit in. In this paper an alternative reading strategy is explored and tested on the Zhuangzi narratives on “usefulness of being useless”. The proposed reading primarily establishes meanings of the individual units. It is suggested that many units contain information establishing specific context for the unit’s content (a narrative about “usefulness of being useless” in this case). The paper argues that diverse contexts can be reconstructed for seemingly similar textual units. The idea of “usefulness of being useless” is viewed not as a peculiar concept of human existence advocated by the text (the text’s author/s), but as an argumentative tool that can be used in various contexts for various purposes. The paper demonstrates that the received Zhuangzi can be read as an evidence of the process of putting ideas in context and using them for various purposes. The paper concludes that the proposed “unit-by-unit” reading highlights and retains meanings that are necessarily obscured by any reading reducing the text into one worldview
ER  -

VÁVRA, Dušan. Usefulness of being useless: reading the narratives in the Zhuangzi. In \textit{20th Conference of the European Association for Chinese Studies, Braga and Coimbra, Portugal, 22. 7.-26. 7. 2014}. 2014.

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