Deleuze and Zhuangzi : rethinking the self ’s engagement with the world

Ahn, Kanghun (author)

The purpose of this article is to formulate a distinct theory of our engagement with the world. I focus on the self and its relationship to the world in terms of perception and ac­tion, arguing that the self—shaped by our biological and conceptual proclivities—limits both our perception of and engagement with the world. To transcend the self and engage more fully, I highlight the dual role of the world itself: forces whose intensity both affects us and exceeds our established frameworks dismantle the self, and this selflessness, in turn, provides a basis for uncovering and engaging with previously hidden or invisible di­mensions of the world. I characterize this discovery as an aesthetic mode of engagement, in which these dimensions are captured and expressed as manifestations of underlying forces.

• Language: English
• Keywords: Deleuze, Zhuangzi, encounter, force, aesthetics
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2026
• Number of pages: Str. 127-140
• Numbering: Vol. 14, no. 3
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-190608
• ISSN on article: 2232-5131
• DOI: 10.4312/as.2026.14.3.127-140
• Publication date in RUL: 05.11.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Asian studies = Azijske študije
• Publisher: 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: Deleuze in Zhuangzi : ponovno razmišljanje o odnosu jaza do sveta

Abstract

Namen tega članka je oblikovati jasno teorijo o našem odnosu do sveta. Osredotočam se na jaz in njegov odnos do sveta v smislu zaznavanja ter delovanja, pri čemer trdim, da jaz – oblikovan z našimi biološkimi in konceptualnimi nagnjenji – omejuje tako naše zazna­vanje sveta kot tudi naš odnos do njega. Da bi presegli jaz in se bolj vključili, poudarjam dvojno vlogo sveta samega: sile, katerih intenzivnost vpliva na nas ter presega naše uvel­javljene okvire, razgradijo jaz, ta nesebičnost pa nato zagotavlja podlago za odkrivanje in vključevanje v prej skrite ali nevidne razsežnosti sveta. To odkritje opisujem kot estetski način vključevanja, v katerem se te razsežnosti zajamejo in izrazijo kot manifestacije temeljnih sil.

• Keywords: Deleuze, Zhuangzi, srečanje, sila, estetika