The Butterfly Dream and Zhuangzi’s Perspectivism: An Exploration of the Differing Interpretations of the Butterfly Dream against the Backdrop of Dao as Pluralistic Monism

Abstract

The Butterfly Dream is probably one of the most well-known anecdotes in philosophical literature, and as such, it has both enjoyed and suffered from several interpretations and misinterpretations. There are much more interpretations of the Butterfly Dream than this study can gloss over, but for the sake of brevity: I divide the two approaches according to how they view the characters in the plot. Specifically speaking, the first group, which for convenience I will call the egoistic thesis, views the plot in such a way that Zhuangzi is Chuang Chou, and that the butterfly is an imagined representation of the mind, while the second group, which for convenience I will call the monistic thesis, holds that Zhuangzi is different from Chuang Chou as well as the butterfly, hence supposing that the butterfly dream is an entirely distinct reality. Albeit seemingly crude, this provides a simple yet insightful view of the premises that prevent one approach from compromising with the other, as well as the crossing over of one interpretation into another which belong to the same approach. Moreover, this approach will allow me to better fulfill the overarching aim of this study, which is to contextualize a specific rendition of the monistic thesis against the backdrop of the philosophy of the Inner Chapters and its notion of Dao as a whole such that the Zhuangzi will emerge more aptly as a perspectivist. In other words, the Butterfly Dream points to what Hans-Georg Moeller terms as "a structure of presence" which, if viewed against the context of Zhuangzi's philosophy, shows the paradox of the absolute unity but also the absolute singularity of all things.In what were earlier times, Chuang Chou dreamed, making a butterfly.So flitted, flitted, he was a butterfly. Indeed, he showed what he himself was, going as he pleasantly intended! He did not understand Chou. So suddenly, he awoke. Then so thoroughly, thoroughly, it was Chou.(But then he did) not understand did the dream of Chou make the butterfly? Did the dream of the butterfly make Chou?Chou with the butterfly there must-be, then, a division. This it is which men call 'things changing'. 1 1 Kuang-Ming Wu, The Butterfly as Companion: Meditations on the First Three Chapters of the Chuang Tzu (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1990), 153. I chose this translation because it is the closest, word per word, to the Chinese free-verse.2 Perspectivism here is to be distinguished from the notion that truth is relative, as in relativism, but rather that the relative is true, and is an angle of the bigger picture. T 102 THE BUTTERFLY DREAM AND ZHUANGZI'S PERSPECTIVISM

Simbol Kupu-Kupu dalam Cerpen Seto Menjadi Kupu-Kupu Karya A.S. Laksana: Kajian Semiotika

“…tersebut. Berdasarkan analisis Zhihua Yao yang menggunakan teori ketidaksadaran kolektif Jung dalam menginterpretasi kisah Mimpi Kupu-Kupu dalam artikelnya yang berjudul 'I Have Lost Me': Zhuangzi's Butterfly Dream, dapat dipahami bahwa simbol kupu-kupu merupakan pandangan yang terbentuk secara budaya, sebagaimana mitologi dan legenda, dan menjadi ketidaksadaran kolektif dalam kehidupan masyarakat Cina sejak lama (Tan, 2016).…”