Nelson contributes valuable new insights not only into the meaning of the Dao and Buddhism and their relation to Heidegger’s conception of being as emptiness and nothingness, but also into what these three philosophies share, despite originating independently worlds apart, in regard to an ethically and spiritually satisfying way of life. There are very few philosophers, even now, even today, capable of engaging the Dao, Buddhism and Heidegger’s phenomenology so deeply, comprehensively and with so much scholarly erudition.

David Michael Kleinberg-Levin, Professor Emeritus, Department of Philosophy, Northwestern University, USA

This remarkable book explores the interconnections between Heidegger's and Daoist philosophies. The critical reexamination of Heidegger's interactions with Daoist sources offers invaluable insights into alternative modes of attunement and dwelling, addressing contemporary ecological and social crises. An essential read for anyone interested in philosophy, ecology, or social justice.

Jana S. Rošker, Professor of Chinese Philosophy, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

In this exciting new study, Nelson provides compelling insights and arguments for a new understanding of some of the most difficult concepts of both Western and non-Western philosophy: world, thing, and nothing. Nelson’s ziranist approach should be compulsory study material for all interested in Heidegger, Daoism, Buddhism and their intersections.

Steven Burik, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Singapore Management University, Singapore

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Eric Nelson’s Heidegger and Dao: Things, Nothingness, Freedom is a groundbreaking study, which illuminates Heidegger’s concept of “letting-be” through the Daoist vision of living in concert with nature. Nelson shows how “Dao” provides an ethical principle of harmonious dwelling to complement Heidegger’s account of “Ereignis” as a meditative journey.

Frank Schalow, Professor of Philosophy and Research Philosophy, University of New Orleans, USA

The book accomplishes something almost beyond its own scope: namely, it shows that Heideggerian philosophy in the 21st century does not need to be stuck in its frequently prevalent solipsistic pastiche, but can still crack open the ontological assumptions so dearly held by many of us.

Global Intellectual History

In this innovative contribution, Eric S. Nelson offers a contextualized and systematic exploration of the Chinese sources and German language interpretations that shaped Heidegger's engagement with Daoism and his thinking of the thing, nothingness, and the freedom of releasement (Gelassenheit). Encompassing forgotten and recently published historical sources, including Heidegger's Daoist and Buddhist-related reflections in his lectures and notebooks, Nelson presents a critical intercultural reinterpretation of Heidegger's philosophical journey. Nelson analyzes the intersections and differences between the Daodejing, the Zhuangzi, and Heidegger's philosophy and the linguistic and conceptual shifts in Heidegger's thinking that correlate with his encounters and interactions with Daoist, Buddhist, and East Asian texts and interlocutors. He thereby traces hints for encountering things and environments anew, models for intercultural hermeneutics, and ways of reimagining the thing, nothingness, and freedom with and beyond Heidegger's thought. This work elucidates the thing, the mystery, and freedom in Heidegger and Daoism in Part I and Heidegger's thinking of nothingness, emptiness, and the clearing in relation to Daoist and Buddhist philosophy in Part II. In each part, Nelson unfolds a fresh perspective for thinking further with Heidegger and East Asian philosophies in relation to the contemporary existential and environmental situation for the sake of nourishing life amidst damaged life.
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AcknowledgmentsIntroductionPart I: Dao, Thing, and World1. Way, Thing, and World in Laozi, Zhuangzi, and Heidegger2. The Autopoietic Self-Transformation of Things in Ziranist Daoism and Heidegger3. Heidegger and Laozi’s Daodejing: The Gathering Emptiness of Thing and Place4. Heidegger and the Zhuangzi: The Uselessness and Unnecessariness of Things5. Heidegger’s Dao amidst Thing and WorldPart II: Nothingness, Emptiness, and the Clearing6. Daoist Nothingness, Buddhist Emptiness, and the Myth of “Oriental Nothingness”7. Nothingness, Emptiness, and the Clearing: An Intercultural Interpretation8. The Nothing, Nihilism, and Heidegger’s East Asian Entanglements9. Reimagining the Ethics and Politics of EmptinessBibliographyIndex
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A provocative and comprehensive study of Heidegger’s dialogues and affinities with Daoist and East Asian philosophy and how they informed key elements of his thinking.
The first historically detailed and contextualized account of Heidegger’s lifelong engagement with Daoist and East Asian philosophy
Daoism and the Human Experience creates a platform to explore, question, and learn about the ways Daoist thought can elucidate aspects of the human experience that have become neglected, ignored, or misunderstood in the two-and-half millennia since Daoism’s founding. The impact of Daoism on the philosophical, literary, aesthetic, medicinal, scientific, ecological, and religious aspects of China are well known but what of the rest of the world? What can Daoism contribute to our understanding of these aspects of the human experience in other parts of East Asia, or in Europe, India, Africa, the Americas, and the Islamic world? By making the Daoist perspective of human experience the foci of discussion, Daoism and the Human Experience invites book proposals that deepen our understanding of Daoism, irrespective of the discipline, historical period, whether singular or comparative in scope, or intracultural or cross-cultural in framework.Series Editor:David Chai, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong KongEditorial Advisory Board:Lisa Raphals, University of California, Riverside, USARobin Wang, Loyola Marymount University, USAFranklin Perkins, University of Hawaii, USAEric S. Nelson, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong KongThomas Michael, Beijing Normal University, ChinaJames Sellmann, University of Guam, USARobert E. Allinson, Soka University, USAChris Fraser, University of Toronto, CanadaBret Davis, Loyola University Maryland, USAZhihua Yao, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
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Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9781350411944
Publisert
2025-05-29
Utgiver
Vendor
Bloomsbury Academic
Høyde
234 mm
Bredde
156 mm
Aldersnivå
P, 06
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Heftet
Antall sider
272

Forfatter

Biographical note

Eric S. Nelson is Professor of Philosophy at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong. His authored books include Chinese and Buddhist Philosophy in Early Twentieth-Century German Thought (Bloomsbury 2017) and other works.