Mereological Reconstruction of the Metaphysical System in the Daodejing

Projektinformationen

Mereodao

ID Finanzhilfevereinbarung: 850593

DOI

10.3030/850593

Projekt abgeschlossen

EK-Unterschriftsdatum 3 Oktober 2019

Startdatum 1 April 2020

Enddatum 31 März 2023

Finanziert unter

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)

Gesamtkosten

€ 229 500,00

EU-Beitrag

€ 229 500,00

Koordiniert durch

THE CHANCELLOR, MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
United Kingdom

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - Mereodao (Mereological Reconstruction of the Metaphysical System in the Daodejing)

Berichtszeitraum: 2021-10-01 bis 2023-03-31

Zusammenfassung vom Kontext und den Gesamtzielen des Projekts

MereoDao is a project that combines contemporary metaphysical research and Daoism, a school of classical Chinese philosophy. The project consists in applying mereology––the theory of relationships between parts and wholes––to the Daodejing 道德經, a main text of philosophical Daoism.
The project has a twofold aim. First, it aims at achieving a comprehensive account of Daoist metaphysics in terms of mereological relations. The parthood relationships interpretation is employed to provide a fine-grained conceptualization of this part of Chinese philosophy. It also provides a step beyond it in terms of making many mereological issues compatible with Daoist metaphysics.
This entails the second aim––integrating a mereologically reconstructed Daoist system with contemporary metaphysics research. Considering the analytic character of reconstruction, the conceptualization opens field to examining the intricacies of Daoist metaphysics in an unprecedented way as it builds a bridge for integrating the Chinese and Western philosophical traditions. This integration goes beyond the mainstream pluralism conceived as parallel coexistence of different philosophical traditions or merely their comparison. The mereological conceptualization is a platform for global philosophy, where different philosophical traditions merge to produce new philosophical constructions, which is the core business of philosophy.
Apart from the scholarly impact of the project, MereoDao can be perceived as important also in social and cultural terms. By integrating the Chinese and Western philosophical traditions, it contributes to a more diverse approach in scholarship as well as the promotion of awareness of multiple traditions that constitute the global intellectual landscape.

Arbeit, die ab Beginn des Projekts bis zum Ende des durch den Bericht erfassten Berichtszeitraums geleistet wurde, und die wichtigsten bis dahin erzielten Ergebnisse

MereoDao is focused on the following aspects:
(a) The pivotal relation of dao and you, which are understood as metaphysical regions that constitute the Daoist metaphysical universe
(b) Parthood status of dao
(c) Referring the mereological reconstruction to the axioms that underlie the mereological theory.
(d) Referring the mereological reconstruction to the spatial location of parts
(e) Referring the mereological reconstruction to temporal location
(f) Complementing the mereological reconstruction with causation theory

Research tasks (a)-(c) have led to three main results. First, the tasks complied with my initial interpretation that the dao and you relation in a mereological paradigm can be conducted in a consistent way. This shows that parthood relations can not only be referred to the Daoist metaphysical system but also explore it in a highly comprehensive manner.

The second result is connected with parthood relationships. The tasks consist in ruling out the possibility of a nihilist interpretation of dao––that dao is a metaphysical region composed of entities that cannot be parts––which is tantamount to that in dao there are no complex entities, referred to in mereology as compositions or fusions.

Third, it has been found that parthood relationships in Daoist metaphysics are unlikely to be accommodated by the set of axioms that constitute the so-called classical mereology. The inconsistency in this respect is connected with the antisymmetry axiom, according to which entities that are part of each other are identical. This result is likely to direct the further work towards constructing non-classical axiomatic systems.

Tasks (d)-(f) are the next step in exploring and complementing the reconstruction. Task (d) undertakes the problem if ultimate parts in Daoism can be treated as particles––discrete entities with determinate spatial location. The task leads to a conclusion that such an interpretation is unlikely, and Daoism poses an interesting challenge to the notion of spatially informed parts.

Task (e) examines how eternal dao as a whole persists through time. It is concluded that dao as the totality of space-time remains unchanged by way of occupying all temporal locations, and the apparent changed of dao are attributed to moving from its one temporal part to another.

Task (f) discusses how a mereologically conceptualised Daoist system can be complemented by a causation theory. It is found that Daoism does not comply with a causation model in which cause and effect are isolable from each other as well as other events background. Instead, a new causal model, which accommodates the Daoist metaphysical intuitions and mereological characteristics, is proposed.

Fortschritte, die über den aktuellen Stand der Technik hinausgehen und voraussichtliche potenzielle Auswirkungen (einschließlich der bis dato erzielten sozioökonomischen Auswirkungen und weiter gefassten gesellschaftlichen Auswirkungen des Projekts)

As yet, no other attempt at a complete reconstruction of any metaphysical system in Chinese philosophy from the mereological perspective has been proposed. Hence, MereoDao is unprecedented in determining this direction in Chinese philosophy research. The project results reflect important characteristics of the project as well as are informative of the expected shape of the complete project.

First, generally, MereoDao results by confirming that the mereological reconstruction can Daoist metaphysics can be conducted in a consistent and comprehensive fashion, show that the practically inexistent analytically oriented approaches to Daoist philosophy are feasible. This entails that Daoist metaphysics can be conceptualized within the paradigm of parthood relations and facilitates a possible interaction, and hopefully, integration of classical Chinese philosophy with contemporary philosophical research done globally.

Second, the mereological analysis of the relationship between dao and you––the two metaphysical regions (undifferentiated and differentiated respectively) that constitute the metaphysical universe in Daoist metaphysics––as well as the parthood status of dao lead to important specific conclusions. It has been ruled that dao is not a region characterizable by mereological nihilism, which assumes entities that cannot become parts of any complex entities. Considering the interrelation of dao and you, this result allows an interpretation that the relation between dao and you can be viewed in terms of parthood relation, most likely part sharing, which is conceptualized as mereological overlap. It has also been found that the nature of parthood relationships in Daoist metaphysics is unlikely to comply with the complete set of axioms that constitute the so-called classical mereology. The inconsistency in this respect is particularly connected with the antisymmetry axiom (entities that are part of each other are identical). This result is likely to direct further work towards constructing non-classical axiomatic systems. To sum up the particular results, they reveal the high plausibility of achieving a comprehensive reconstruction of the Daoist metaphysical system. The reconstruction will be a fine-grained metaphysical account, which will include its own axiomatics.

Third, the mereological conceptualization reveals an extension potential that allows for a more profound understanding of the Daoist metaphysical characteristics. It has been demonstrated that the mereological basis can be referred to the problem of spatial and temporal locations, as well as causation. All these metaphysical aspects contribute to a building a comprehensive conceptualization of Daoist metaphysics.

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