A Thought-to-Poetry Dialogue

Zhuang Zi is the most important thinker who has founded the Chinese pure spirit of art while Heidegger is the greatest philosopher who has made deepest influence upon the 20th century philosophy and poetics of the West. Under an all-round context of 'globalization'and in an effort 'to reconstruct the Chinese literary theory',we consider it essential to make a comparative study of their poetic thought. However,such a sort of study now is not further made. Based on a 'close reading'of many texts, this present dissertation attempts to systematically clarify and deeply compare the factual relationships, the academic links, unity and differences between Heidegger's poetics and Zhuang Zi's poetic thought. It may be a creative work on the mainland.The specific methods are value-phenomenology and 'trans-cultural dialogue'. Therefore, we get the following conclusions:1) Like Zhuang Zi, Heidegger is a 'poetic-thinker'who possesses a unique personality in spiritual world, a mysterious combination of thinking competence and poetic competence, an ultimate concern and a realistic concern. In addition, Heidegger keeps making a dialogue with the Taoist school and Zen school of China in his academic career of more than half a century, considers Zhuang Zi 'an important paradigmn to measure himself with'and makes his poetic thought in 'pre-established harmony'with Zhuang Zi's poetic thought.2) So far as the general modes of thinking, the basic theoretical models, the foundamental systems of concept are concerned, Heidegger's poetics bears a strong resemblance to Zhuang Zi's poetic thought. What's most important, there exists factual relationships and academic relationships between both. These 'relationships' and 'resemblances'show that Zhuang Zi's poetic thought is a 'hidden source'of Heidegger's poetics.3) Heidegger culturally misreads Zhuang Zi's poetic thought because of the heterogeneity between Chinese and Western cultures and the differences in academic ideals and academic personality. In this sense, there must be some differences between Heidegger's poetics and Zhuang Zi's poetic thought. But with the factual relationships and possible academic links between both and similarities between foundamental modes of thinking, general theoretical approches, major ways of thinking and basic ways of discoursing, most of the above-mentioned differences do not form obstacles to an effective exchange between Heidegger and Zhuang Zi, and on the contrary, form a 'hermeneutic distance'inciting a fresh dialogue and a fresh thought.4)This project promotes me to the conscious that various civilizations differ from each other in nationality and heterogeneity because of natural, ethic, social and historical conditions, and cultural lack, misreadings and conflicts arise thus, but these civilizations share a 'common aesthetic perception'or a 'common poeticity'because of identical'human nature','living conditions' and 'pursuit of life'.And consequently, this defines a feasibility of a 'productive dialogue'and 'historic fusion of visions'carried out between various civilizations.This Ph.D. dissertation consists of five chapters:Chapter 1 'Factual Relationships between Heidegger's Poetics and Chinese Taoist School', based on a number of texts, speeches, visits, letters,reminiscences and biographies of Heidegger's, intends to show that Heidegger establishes a direct link or a dialogue with Chinese Taoist school and Zen school at a critical moment when his thought formed, at hard times when his frustrations emerged and at a mature stage when his thought was deepened. As a result, Heidegger's poetics remains a factual relationships with Chinese Taoist school.Chapter 2 'An Academic Relationship between Heidegger's Poetics and Zhuang Zi's poetic thought ', based on a 'comparative analysis of texts'existing between Heidegger's poetics and Zhuang Zi's poetic thought, intends to show that Zhuang Zi's poetic thought was quoted in at least three parts of Heidegger's poetics, and both resemble each other in the general modes of thinking, the basic theoretical...