Zhang / Xianglong Zhang / ZhangHT / Heidegger and Taoism

Zhang, Xianglong, Ph.D.. Heidegger   and Taoism. New York: State University of New York at Buffalo, 1992

The main thesis of this dissertation is that there is an intrinsic connection between Heidegger and Taoism, which may be called “the horizontal-regional way of thinking”. This is a middle way extending “between and beyond” the conceptual and the perceptual, and through “pure images” or “techne”, being essentially involved into an ontological horizon or region. The nature of this region is what Heidegger calls “appropriation” (Ereignis) that is comparable to Chinese “Tao” and ancient Greek “logos”. It signifies the primordially mirror-playing and reciprocal belonging, through which opponents are opened to each other and thus win their “ek-sistential” ownership. In the text of Lao Tzu   and Chuang Tzu   (Lao-Chuang), Tao is neither a law nor an isolated nothingness, but must be understood as the appropriational region of ch’i — the topological regioning and mingling of yin and yang.