老莊 思維와 意味 生成의 內的 論理

Abstract

This study is an attempt to recover the logic underlying the thinking in Laozi and Zhuangzi, by utilizing the systemization of symbols that serve as the mediating link in these two texts. In fact, while the studies on Laozi and Zhuangzi have so far focused on the literal interpretation of meaning and on the systematic organization, which is a result of this interpretation comprising ontology, ethics and politics, there has rarely been an attempt to uncover their inner logic, which is the underlying structure of the creation of meaning. This has led to many misunderstandings caused by an incomprehensive interpretation of the outward and concrete ‘phenomena (symbols)’ that lacks a thorough examination of the inner logic underlying it. These misunderstandings are the results of the misreading resulting from the literal interpretation of the ‘images’ that are emblematically floating on the surface of the texts. In contrast to the existing scholarship, this study reinterprets the outward meanings, by paying attention to the logic of creation of meanings. To do this, instead of interpreting individual symbols in Laozi and Zhuangzi, I focus on the ways in which the symbols in these two texts are interrelated and thus create meanings and, ultimately, how the world represented through these means is reconstructed. This study will demonstrate that in the mode of thinking in Laozi and Zhuangzi a meaning is not fixed by a particular ideological analytic system, but in fact there are many possible interpretations depending upon the standpoint that each interpreter adopts towards the world. In other words, an incessant subversion of meaning is very probable. In conclusion, it is contended that a meaning is something that is infinitely created, depending on the standpoint (worldview or cognitive system) of each interpreter.