The Art of Becoming Infinite: Mou Zongsan’s Vertical Rethinking of Self and Subjectivity - cover image

Copyright

Gabriella Stanchina

Published On

2025-01-27

ISBN

Paperback978-1-80511-477-2
Hardback978-1-80511-478-9
PDF978-1-80511-479-6
HTML978-1-80511-481-9
EPUB978-1-80511-480-2

Language

  • English

Print Length

368 pages (vi+362)

Dimensions

Paperback156 x 20 x 234 mm(6.14" x 0.79" x 9.21")
Hardback156 x 21 x 234 mm(6.14" x 0.83" x 9.21")

Weight

Paperback520g (18.34oz)
Hardback692g (24.41oz)

Media

Illustrations1

OCLC Number

1492407272

LCCN

2023513471

THEMA

  • QDHC
  • JMS
  • 1FPC

BISAC

  • PHI003000
  • PHI026000
  • PHI016000
  • PHI005000
  • REL000000

LCC

  • B5234.M674

Keywords

  • Mou Zongsan
  • Chinese philosophy of the self
  • Comparative philosophy
  • Moral self-cultivation
  • Subjectivity and self-consciousness
  • Eastern vs. Western philosophical models

The Art of Becoming Infinite

Mou Zongsan’s Vertical Rethinking of Self and Subjectivity

  • Gabriella Stanchina (author)
Mou Zongsan is arguably the most important Chinese philosopher of the twentieth century. This work delves into the philosopher's exploration of self and subjectivity, setting Mou Zongsan’s theories against Western paradigms. Mou contrasts Western ‘horizontal’ model, based on the separation of subject and object, and aimed at cognitive enhancement, with the ‘vertical’ view dominant in the Confucian and Daoist tradition. The vertical model has, at its core, a practical-performative interpretation of the subject, based on the moral self-cultivation. This spiritual cultivation enables the finite human being to ‘become infinite,’ embodying the original unlimited moral mind that constitutes the Self and the universe.

In addressing fundamental questions of self-consciousness and self-identity, the book contextualizes Mou's philosophy within contemporary discussions in neuroscience and cognitive science. By placing Mou's ideas in dialogue with Western thought—examining thinkers like Husserl, Kant, Hegel, and Lévinas—as well as with Daoist and Confucian vision of mind, this work opens a pathway to understanding selfhood beyond purely epistemological boundaries.

This book will be of interest to readers and scholars interested in the contemporary debate about mind and the Self, as well as those intrigued by the new horizons opened by a cross-cultural Western-Chinese approach to subjectivity.

Endorsements

The Art of Becoming Infinite is a remarkable book: wide-ranging and ambitious, yet with a consistent focus on self and subjectivity that gives the whole a satisfying coherence. It is eloquently written and yet technically precise; I strongly recommend this book to those already interested in Mou Zongsan or modern Chinese philosophy, as well as to anyone looking to broaden their engagement with the philosophy of mind.

Stephen C. Angle

Wesleyan University

Additional Resources

[document]EPUB Accessibility Report

Contents

Introduction

(pp. 1–38)
  • Gabriella Stanchina

1. The Question of Subjectivity

(pp. 39–68)
  • Gabriella Stanchina

2. Mou Zongsan and the Critique of the Cognitive Mind

(pp. 69–112)
  • Gabriella Stanchina

3. The “Diaphanous Subject” in Daoist Thought

(pp. 113–188)
  • Gabriella Stanchina

4. Constitutive Mind and Constitutive Nature: The Moral Subject in Confucianism

(pp. 189–246)
  • Gabriella Stanchina

5. Self-limitation of the Moral Self as Kenosis

(pp. 247–300)
  • Gabriella Stanchina

Conclusions: Facets of Self across Cultures

(pp. 301–334)
  • Gabriella Stanchina

Contributors

Gabriella Stanchina

(author)

Gabriella Stanchina holds a Phd in Western Philosophy from the Catholic University of Milan, and a PhD in Chinese Philosophy from Fudan University, Shanghai. Her research area is Chinese-Western Comparative Philosophy, with particular focus on the problem of self-consciousness in Mou Zongsan and Novalis. Her publications include Il limite generante. Analisi delle Fichte Studien di Novalis [The generating boundary. Analysis of Novalis’ Fichte Studien] (2002), and several comparative articles including: ‘Zhi 知as unceasing dynamism and practical effort. The common root of knowledge and action in Wang Yangming and Peter Sloterdijk’ (Wenxue Journal 2015), ‘The butterfly dream as “creative dream”: dreaming and subjectivity in Zhuangzi and María Zambrano’ (Asian Philosophy 2018), and ‘Naming the unnamable: a comparison between Wang Bi’s Commentary on the Laozi and Derrida's Khōra’ (Dao, 2020).