Review of Youru Wang, The ethical dimension of forgetfulness: engaging the Daoist Zhuangzi in studies of cultivated forgetting

Yuan, Ai (avtor)

Wang Youru’s pioneering study of cultivated forgetfulness in the Zhuangzi responds to the growing academic interest in forgetfulness as a counterpart to memory, perception, and understanding. Wang’s book provides the first comprehensive reading of the vocabulary, reasoning and meaning of a cul­tivated and positive form of forgetting. Chapter one reveals how existing studies overlook the positive and active aspects of forgetting, for which the Zhuangzi can fill in the gaps in the academic literature. Chapter two discusses therapeutic forgetting in the Zhuangzi. Chapter three explores the relationship between self and forgetting. Chapters four and five enter into the socio-political dimension of forgetting, particularly about how we can respond to other people. Chapter 6 highlights the altruistic elements in forgetting, which leads to Chapter 7, which shows forgetting in relation to empathic capacity. Chapter 8 explores the themes of friendship and forgetting. The Epilogue of this book is important because it relates Wang’s philosophical outlook of forgetting to our real-life experience, making forgetfulness a living philosophy. This review focuses on the approach Wang uses to reconstruct the Zhuangzi’s forgetfulness, his inspiring use of com­mentaries, my opinion on the idea of forgetting emotions in the Zhuangzi, and the relevance of forgetting in other early Chinese discourses.

• Jezik: Angleški jezik
• Ključne besede: Zhuangzi, forgetting, oblivion, anecdotes, moral anger, emotions
• Vrsta gradiva: Članek v reviji
• Tipologija: 1.19 - Recenzija, prikaz knjige, kritika
• Organizacija: FF - Filozofska fakulteta
• Status publikacije: Objavljeno
• Različica publikacije: Objavljena publikacija
• Leto izida: 2026
• Št. strani: Str. 377-382
• Številčenje: Vol. 14, no. 3
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-190619
• ISSN pri članku: 2232-5131
• DOI: 10.4312/as.2026.14.3.377-382
• Datum objave v RUL: 05.11.2026

Gradivo je del revije

• Naslov: Asian studies = Azijske študije
• Založnik: Založba Univerze v Ljubljani
• ISSN: 2232-5131
• COBISS.SI-ID: 265206272

Licence

• Licenca: CC BY-SA 4.0, Creative Commons Priznanje avtorstva-Deljenje pod enakimi pogoji 4.0 Mednarodna
• Povezava: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.sl
• Opis: Ta licenca Creative Commons je zelo podobna običajni licenci Priznanje avtorstva, vendar zahteva, da so materialne avtorske pravice na izpeljanih delih upravljane z enako licenco.

Sekundarni jezik

• Jezik: Slovenski jezik
• Ključne besede: Zhuangzi, pozabljanje, pozaba, anekdote, moralna jeza, čustva