Date: Wed, 12 Apr 1995 20:54:44 -0400 (EDT)
From: amertha@umich.edu
To: Nancy Lin (nancylin@umich.edu)
Subject: Re: do you have a second you can spare
It seems to me that this is a question of domain. If you follow a purely
hermenutical line of thinking, it seems to me that it is irrelevant as to
whether Xiao Zhou is Xiao Zhou or whether he is a butterfly, as long as
he has acheived a level of complete intersubjectivity with either being.
One could argue that in not being able to differentiate between one or
the other, he has indeed acheived complete intersubjectivity, with domain
being contingent on which of the two intersubjective states he is in at a
particular point in time.
Or not...
Philosophy is not my strong suit, so I will quit while I am only slightly
behind. Mao said it best when he siad "the more books you read, the
stupider you become." Right now, I feel like I have read volumes...
See you tomorrow,
Andy
On Wed, 12 Apr 1995, Nancy Lin wrote:
> What do you think of this tale by Chuang Tzu (Zhuang Zi), our favorite
> Daoist?
>
> In one or two sentences what do you think this means, or what does it
> mean to you. There's no right or wrong.
>
> Once Zhuang Zhou dreamed he was a butterfuly, a fluttering butterfly.
> what fun he had, doing as he pleased! He did not know he was Zhou.
> Suddenly he woke up and found himself to be Zhou. He did not know
> whether Zhou had dreamed he was a butterfly, or a butterfly had dreamed
> he was Zhou. Between Zhou and the butterfly there must be some
> distinction. This what is meant by the transformation of things.
>
> THANKS!
> Nancy