Literatur und Philosophie im Zhuangzi

Philosophical themes are often explored in literature, especially when revealing new methods for depicting the problems of existence, moral dilemmas, and the complexities of human nature in a profound way. Authors use structures, characters, and symbolism to convey and examine philosophical ideas, often creating a rich interaction between the two disciplines. Philosophy, in turn, can manifest itself in literary form through dialogues, essays, and philosophical fiction. It employs narrative elements, characters, and allegories to convey complex ideas and engage readers in its discourses in a perhaps more accessible way. This literary expression of philosophy can enhance the understanding of its content and make abstract concepts more comprehensible. The intertwining of philosophy and literature, poetics and analysis, can be observed in the work of the ancient Chinese thinker Zhuangzi. Through a dialectical interaction and constructive mutual sublation of the literary-philosophical elements present in his eponymous work, this essay attempts to present a new form of transcultural hermeneutics, which finds its expression in the method of merging aesthetic spheres (or jingjie 境界).