originally an image of Joe is never Joe, but in hundreds of ‘gazes’, the image of ‘Joe’ is Joe…that is #alienation or #schizophrenia i learnt from film theory. always hard for me to agree ‘existence precedes essence’, which is making a subject alienated. any being, incl.AI, is a historical process.

*Vankrijk

but but, that's why scholars examine more historical context of chinese theories than continental theories - while hegel speaks to spinoza, marx speaks to hegel, and keep
our “thinking” credible, confucius speaks to everyday life in feudal society. (not to say which one is better, just different)

but i still don’t think there’s a so-called “chinese philosophy” - in western tradition “transcendence” means there’s not a subject you speaks to, or only god. but chinese theories inevitably serve as civil cultivating. No one thinks just for thinking, which hardly constitutes “philosophy”.

kant sometimes feels confucian on the same issue of “moral law”, and how deleuze deterritorializes/deconstructs everything brings the same liberal taste as buddhist concept “emptiness” fosters.

Then reminded of Jameson’s ‘Remapping Taipei’, which resonates this topic of “virtue”. Jameson thought <Terrorizers> (1986) speculates a late-capitalist city where dwellers lose all “virtue” and become a “terrorizer” - can’t stop taking advantage of each other. Does morality limit us, or help?

Liang (1901-1972) once put, urban designer should set up “form-order” of a city, hence dwellers can keep “social-order”, i.e. keep good virtue, be genuine and supportive. That’s typical east/west mindset mix: confucius says, before you socialize, be a person of integrity first.

Lori, thanks for sharing! just checked this out. Read it in a class before but still inspiring to have Yuk Hui’s insights. Can’t agree more with his critiques of Hegel-Marxian dialectics - globalization renders a configuration of power rather than simply bourgeois vs proletariat, or lord vs slave.

wow made the matter lively:)

For me, though it was a novel, this book also shows a way of writing the history of theory, as each figure represents a perspective; for example, I guess Daiyu is a Taoist - she‘s full of sentiments (or “affect” in Spinozism), which is like water, “the greatest virtue”, fill in what lacks.

from work, i realize how capitalism is hovering, and i try to make theoretical toolkits to keep distance from the system. recently i wonder if sinophone/asian theorists can inspire continental philosophy on the issue of capitalism. i just feel a gap there. maybe my theory takes years.