Chinese Recipes for Ass-Kicking and Numbers-Taking (Reprise) (In-Person Meeting)

No background information is necessary for this meetup. Much of the reason I chose Is Justified True Belief Knowledge? for our last meeting was due to it being an exemplar of analytic philosophy. Much of the reason I choose Zhuangzi for this meeting is due to it being an examplar of a radically different approach to philosophy. Many of the challenges involved are so different they could be considered opposite. Zhuangzi is rife with paradoxes and contradictions. It is written in an unfamiliar style. It comes from a culture endemic to ancient China - a foreign context in time and location. Difficulties arising due to translation from ancient Chinese are compounded by copious wordplay and metaphor. Yet, Zhuangzi is too playful and lighthearted to prevent these difficulties from dissolving - if we free effortlessness and allow them to. The passages are discrete and disorganized; there is no continuity from one to the next. Much like painting given a palette containing an unexpectedly large array of colors but unexpectedly little of each, we must make due with what we are given and compensate for the paucity of one color through creative use of the rest. This lack of continuity - this discreteness - liberates us to traverse any permutation of the work’s passages. It also liberates an advantage often held captive when addressing a single work across many meetings – missing a meeting doesn't matter as much. Capricious, facetious, and blithe, yet often derisive, vulgar, and irreverent, Zhuangzi addresses life’s heaviest burdens by prancing around and mocking them as well as our attempts at dealing with them. ------------------------------------------------------------ We will start discussing Zhuangzi during this meeting, and I will use Burton Watson's translation. Links to this translation are below. Zhuangzi - Burton Watson Online Zhuangzi - Burton Watson Book PDF They link to the same translation, but the first presents it with a strange color palette, and the second presents it with strange formatting. Pick your poison. You are free to use any translation. It may be interesting to compare different translations, as I have not looked at any other. Countless free versions of Zhuangzi and various translations are provided by a simple google search. We will discuss "Section 3: The Secret of Caring for Life" and, if there is time, we will move on to "Section 5: The Sign of Virtue Complete". As usual, the reading is short. ------------------------------------------------------------ Links to some of my previous meetups are below. Family and Fractal Cosmology How to Enjoy a Tasty Snack of Minced Human Liver Character as the Source of Virtue A Defense of that which Requires None: Common Sense Prolonging Disfigures, Exertion Deranges Broken Paragon What to morality, is proof to truth? Back to the Roots – Man’s Search for Meaning