03.04.2025The Elephant in the Zhuangzi: Incongruity, Absurdity, and Philosophy

Speaker

Prof. Dr. Paul J. D'Ambrosio (East China Normal University)

Date and Time

April 3,  2025, 4:15 pm - 5:45 pm

Venue

Zürichbergstrasse 4, CH-8032 Zürich, Room ZUB-4-416

Abstract

In response to fear of death, the Zhuangzi depicts Lady Li’s life story: A young lady who got kidnapped, was deeply distraught, and later came to enjoy her new situation greatly. In addition to the explicit presentation of the story as a parable illustrating skepticism over the fear of death, contemporary scholars suggested alternative interpretations focusing on perspectivism, and the ethical benefits of changing viewpoints. However, these readings ignore a core element of the actual narrative: when the text says that Lady Li is forced to “share the king’s couch,” it is suggested that she was raped. This central feature of the narrative is an “elephant in the room,” ignored in both the explicit “morale” of the parable as well as in virtually all its contemporary philosophical readings. There is a glaring incongruity between this unsettling core of the story’s plot and its edifying messages. This incongruity between the plot and its “morale” is only increased to absurdity when considering the historical background of the story: as contemporaneous readers of the Zhuangzi would well know, Lady Li was nicknamed in her own times “The Seductive Witch of the Century” (⼀代妖姬) and famous for manipulating the king, murdering her political enemies, having her step sons killed and instigating the horribly destructive Warring States Period. In this presentation I will argue that the paradoxical and incongruous elements of the story are irreconcilable with its philosophical meaning and function as an absurd deconstruction of “edifying” philosophical parables.

Organization

Institute of Asian and Oriental Studies - Chinese Studies