From Nothingness to Nothing : Guō Xiàng’s Nominalist Reduction of the Ontological Performativity of Wú 無

Van Daele, Raphaël (author)

It is well-known that the Daoist tradition conceives the world as emerging from an unfathomable first principle called Dào 道 or wú 無. Early medieval thinkers and commentators such as Hé Yàn 何晏 and Wáng Bì 王弼 played a key role in the elaboration of this tenet. However, their views were challenged at an early date, especially by Guō Xiàng’s 郭象 influential reading of the Zhuāngzĭ 莊子. Moreover, since the early 20th century, scholars have stressed the originality of Guō Xiàng’s rejection of the onto-generative power of the Dào. However, even in recent scholarship, readers tend to refer to a selected set of passages from the Zhuāngzĭ Zhù 莊子注, and to focus mostly on doctrinal statements. By contrast, this study aims at exploring the exegetical and argumentative strategies by which Guō Xiàng establishes his understanding of Dào and wú. I intend to show that Guō Xiàng’s rejection is based on a reduction of the meaning of wú to its verbal use, and on what I will describe as a nominalist attitude in the Zhuāngzĭ Zhù. By doing so, this study shall provide new insights into Guō Xiàng’s worldview, and the ways in which he construes his core tenet, namely the idea that all the myriad things are self-so (zìrán 自然), self-generated (zìshēng 自生), and lone transforming (dúhuà 獨化). 

• Language: English
• Keywords: Guō Xiàng 郭象, Xuánxué 玄學 (Dark Learning), Wú 無, Dào 道, Zhuāngzĭ Zhù 莊子注 (Commentary on the Zhuāngzĭ)
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Publication date: 09.05.2025
• Number of pages: Str. 109-136
• Numbering: Vol. 13, no. 2
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-178274
• ISSN: 2232-5131
• eISSN: 2350-4226
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4312/as.2025.13.2.109-136
• Publication date in RUL: 22.01.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Asian studies
• Publisher: Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete, Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete, Založba Univerze v Ljubljani
• ISSN: 2232-5131
• COBISS.SI-ID: 265206272

Licences

• License: CC BY-SA 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
• Description: This Creative Commons license is very similar to the regular Attribution license, but requires the release of all derivative works under this same license.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Od ničnosti do niča

Abstract

Dobro je znano, da po pojmovanju daoistične tradicije svet izhaja iz nepojmljivega prvot-nega načela, imenovanega dao道 ali wu無. Zgodnjesrednjeveški misleci in komentatorji, kot sta He Yan 何晏 in Wang Bi 王弼, so imeli ključno vlogo pri izoblikovanju tega načela, vendar so bila njihova stališča zgodaj postavljena pod vprašaj, zlasti zaradi vplivnega branja dela Zhuangzi莊子, ki ga je podal Guo Xiang 郭象. Poleg tega so učenjakinje in učenjaki od začetka 20. stoletja poudarjali izvirnost Guo Xiangove zavrnitve ontogenerativne moči daota. Vendar se tudi v sodobnih raziskavah bralci in bralke običajno sklicujejo na izbrani niz odlomkov iz dela Zhuangzi Zhu莊子注 ter se osredotočajo predvsem na doktrinarne izjave. Ta študija pa si, nasprotno, prizadeva raziskati eksegetične in argumentativne strate-gije, s katerimi je Guo Xiang oblikoval svoje razumevanje konceptov dao in wu.Namen članka je pokazati, da Guo Xiangova zavrnitev temelji na redukciji pomena wuna njegov glagolski pomen in na tistem, kar avtor članka opiše kot nominalistična drža v delu Zhuangzi Zhu. S tem bo ta študija ponudila nove razumevanja Guo Xiangovega pogleda na svet in načine, s katerimi je oblikoval svoje osrednje načelo – namreč idejo, da so vse obstoječe entitete ziran自然 (samonikle), zisheng自生 (samogenerirane) in duhua獨化 (samopreobražajoče).

• Keywords: Guo Xiang 郭象, xuanxue玄學, wú無, dào道, Zhuāngzĭ Zhù莊子注(Komentarji k delu Zhuangzi)