Self-Transcendence, Value, and Power: Emerson and Zhuangzi

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

I had a hard time providing a standard review of this paper because of the quality of the language.  Even when sentences are technically correct, there is an imprecision in the language that covers up the nuance the author might possess.  I do not want to reject the paper because I appreciate the comparison between Emerson and Zhuangzi, and think there is something of value here.  

But for example:

For him, soul is from above and it can influence human beings’ 89
will. When we give up self-will and surrender to the soul, we will have virtue. For Em- 90 erson, the soul will exert religious power for human beings and we cannot make our 91 choice not to be influenced by it.

These sentence are perhaps correct in a technical sense, but they are so poorly constructed in a technical sense that it is unclear what is intended to be said.  There are passages like this throughout the paper.  I do not view my job as a peer reviewer to be doing grammatical correction, so I would encourage the author to do a more thorough correction of the English language and formatting to correct these issues and then resubmit.  

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Subject verb agreement

Particle use

Sentence clarity and structure

Formatting

Use of long quotations - quotations require an introduction and analysis before and after.  Some of the quotes are longer than appear necessary.  This makes the analysis feel like it's using the long quotes as a crutch and not providing 

Author Response

I had a hard time providing a standard review of this paper because of the quality of the language.  Even when sentences are technically correct, there is an imprecision in the language that covers up the nuance the author might possess.  I do not want to reject the paper because I appreciate the comparison between Emerson and Zhuangzi, and think there is something of value here.  

Author’s response 1:

I have revised the entire article’s language writing including the grammar and the non-native expression of English.  

But for example:

For him, soul is from above and it can influence human beings’ 89
will. When we give up self-will and surrender to the soul, we will have virtue. For Em- 90 erson, the soul will exert religious power for human beings and we cannot make our 91 choice not to be influenced by it.

Author’s Response 2:

I re-wrote this passage as below.

The above passage best illustrates the relationship between self and virtue. For him, our most bodily activities, such as eating, drinking, planting, don’t represent our true self. Our body for Emerson is just the organ for the soul to express itself through actions. In terms of the relationship between soul and virtue, the concept of will in this passage can help us better understand it. The will in this passage refers to self-will, which uses one’s understanding to choose his or her way of life. Emerson stresses that we should relinquish self-will and surrender to the soul, and we will obtain virtue. The soul is derived from God. It will exert religious power on human beings, and we cannot resist its influence.

 

These sentence are perhaps correct in a technical sense, but they are so poorly constructed in a technical sense that it is unclear what is intended to be said.  There are passages like this throughout the paper.  I do not view my job as a peer reviewer to be doing grammatical correction, so I would encourage the author to do a more thorough correction of the English language and formatting to correct these issues and then resubmit.  

 

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Response

Subject verb agreement

Particle use

Sentence clarity and structure

Formatting

Use of long quotations - quotations require an introduction and analysis before and after.  Some of the quotes are longer than appear necessary.  This makes the analysis feel like it's using the long quotes as a crutch and not providing 

Author’s Response 3:

I have shortened some of the long quotes based on necessity and also added interpretations of the quotes. I will list some of them here.

By contrast, Zhuangzi’s expression of false self is the “intentional mind”, literally “formed heart-mind,” a construct that fabricates moral judgment. It comprises cheng (formed) and xin(heart-mind), it refers to a mind which is full of rigid preconceptions, without the Dao’s fluid reality. The term chengxin, combining cheng (formed, fixed) and xin (mind) denotes a mind burned by preconceived notions, detached from the Dao’s spontaneous flow. For Zhuangzi, the formed heart-mind, which generates moral values in human society, represents the false self. He states the “intentional mind” in the following passage.

If we follow whatever has so far taken shape, fully formed, in our minds, making that our teacher, who could ever be without a teacher? The mind comes to be what it is by taking possession of whatever if selects out of the process of alternation-but does that mean it has to truly understand that process? The fool takes something up from it too. But to claim that there are any such things as “Right” and “Wrong” before they come to be fully formed in someone’s mind in this way-that is like saying you left for Yue today and arrived there yesterday.” (Ziporyn 2009, p. 11)

In this passage, formed mind refers to the intentional mind, which is characterized by value judgements. The value judgment is closely related to moral values rather than objective facts. For Zhuangzi, value judgment will easily make people full of complicated feelings, including fear, joy, worry, and so on. He made a detailed and vivid description here. “Shooting forth like an arrow from a bowstring: such is our presumption when we arbitrate right and wrong. Holding fast as if to swear oaths, such is our defense of our victories. Wore away as if by autumn and winter: such is our defense of our victories. Worn away as if by autumn and winter: such is our daily dwindling, drowning us in our own activities, unable to turn back.” (Ziporyn 2009, p. 10). For Zhuangzi, when we make value judgements towards other people, it will create negative emotions and tensions among the people and our mind, which disturbs the harmony among the people and also the harmony among ourselves. For Zhuangzi, this is not evil; rather, it is negative psychological tendencies when people are deeply influenced by it.

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

In my preliminary assessment, I noticed that the manuscript has potential for further improvement. Specifically, the paper tends to treat Emerson's and Zhuangzi's ideas as if they were identical, without adequately explaining the significant differences in their philosophical and cultural backgrounds. The discussion of the historical and social contexts—19th-century America and ancient China—is somewhat superficial. A deeper exploration of these contexts would strengthen the arguments and better illustrate how each thinker responded to the challenges of their respective eras.
I believe addressing these points could substantially enhance the quality of the paper. 

Author Response

Reviewer 2 Response

In my preliminary assessment, I noticed that the manuscript has potential for further improvement. Specifically, the paper tends to treat Emerson's and Zhuangzi's ideas as if they were identical, without adequately explaining the significant differences in their philosophical and cultural backgrounds. The discussion of the historical and social contexts—19th-century America and ancient China—is somewhat superficial. A deeper exploration of these contexts would strengthen the arguments and better illustrate how each thinker responded to the challenges of their respective eras.
I believe addressing these points could substantially enhance the quality of the paper.

First, I would like to express my deepest thanks to your valuable comments, which have helped a lot in my revision process.  The following is my detailed response to each of your comments.

Author’s response 1:

Thank you very much for this insightful comment! I have rewritten the abstract and mentioned the significant difference between Emerson and Zhuang Zi.

Ralph Waldo Emerson and Zhuangzi both lived in eras of profound social transformation. They both reconstruct the virtue to respond to the meaning crisis in this social transformation. However, for the reason that their metaphysical foundation of virtue differs, there is a significant difference between them. Emerson’s concept of virtue promotes aesthetic appreciation of nature, and nature is regarded by Emerson as representing the best meaning of life. While Zhuangzi’s concept of virtue promotes the aesthetic appreciation of harmony between human beings and Dao. He doesn’t have Emerson’s sense of aesthetic appreciation of nature, including wilderness. In this paper, I will conduct a comparative study between Emerson and Zhuangzi from the core categories in the research on meaning in life, which are self-transcendence, value, and power. I aim at reconstructing Zhuangzi’s virtue through intercultural dialogue by absorbing Emerson’s virtue. Through the dialogue, we can deepen our understanding of Emerson and Zhuangzi in their efforts in the reconstruction of self and value through virtue, which gives them enormous spiritual power to cope with the meaning crisis in their lifetimes. The new virtue is environmental virtue, which will give us a new understanding of self, value, and power. The new self is an ecological aesthetic self, which is integrated with value in nature. The new self and value have the potential to shape new practices in the era of new transformation, which is generated by AI.

 

   The above is the new abstract, I mentioned the significant difference between Emerson and Zhuangzi here:

   However, for the reason that their metaphysical foundation of virtue differs, there is a significant difference between them. Emerson’s concept of virtue promotes aesthetic appreciation of nature, and nature is regarded by Emerson as representing the best meaning of life. While Zhuang Zi’s concept of virtue promotes the aesthetic appreciation of harmony between human beings and Dao. He doesn’t have Emerson’s sense of aesthetic appreciation of nature, including wilderness.

 

I also give a deeper introduction of Emerson and Zhuangzi’s social contexts.

  In the following revision, I add the dominant values in Emerson and Zhuangzi’s lifetime and different kinds of social transformation. This social background is the an important part for us to understand how they use virtue to create new values and meaning in life in response to the meaning crisis, which is caused by the loss of authority of traditional values

 

 

Both Ralph Waldo Emerson and Zhuangzi were philosophers who lived during periods of profound social transformation. As Richardson (Richardson 1995, p.12) observes, “Emerson came of age in a country that was inventing itself. The early nineteenth century was a time of extraordinary optimism and energy in America, with new lands opening to settlement, new industries taking root, and a new literature struggling to be born. It was an age when the individual seemed capable of anything, and Emerson’s voice gave expression to that boundless possibility”. In this age, traditional religious values such as Calvinism and Unitarianism have gradually lost authority over people. Intellectuals such as Emerson, Margaret Fuller, and Bronson Alcott sought to shape the new values through initiatives like utopian communities, advocacy for gender equality, and abolitionist movements. Emerson’s primary contribution was his reinterpretation of virtue. He integrates the self with virtue, which responds to the era’s meaning crisis by reconstructing a new religion, which is termed as “the romantic triad” by Samantha C. Harvey(Harvey 2013, p.15). It refers to the new trinity among nature, humanity, and spirit. Notably, Emerson borrows some of Zhuangzi’s ideas of virtue to address the crisis of meaning in his time.

Zhuangzi lived during China’s Warring States period, a time marked by the disintegration of the Zhou feudal order. Confucian rituals and Zhou-era values had lost their authority, prompting intellectuals such as Confucius, Mozi, Laozi, and Zhuangzi to propose diverse solutions to restore social order and meaning in life. This era is well known as the “Hundred Schools of Thought”. Zhuangzi’s virtue of “wandering” emerges as a compelling response to the meaning crisis, offering a framework for reconstructing life’s purpose. Today, as artificial intelligence (AI) increasingly shapes daily life, a renewed crisis of meaning has emerged. Through an intercultural dialogue between Emerson and Zhuangzi, this paper explores how Zhuangzi’s virtue ethics can be adapted to address this contemporary challenge in the age of AI.

 

Reviewer comment:

“Specifically, the paper tends to treat Emerson's and Zhuangzi's ideas as if they were identical, without adequately explaining the significant differences in their philosophical and cultural backgrounds.”

 

Author’s response: In each section, I have added a summary of the main difference between Emerson and Zhuangzi. I will give a few examples. More can be found in this article.

 

1.1In summary, Zhuangzi’s conception of inborn nature (xing) fundamentally differs from Emerson’s understanding of the soul. Zhuangzi posits xing as both a material process and a spiritual process. It is first the material process, since inborn nature is not separated from the movement of vital energy within our body. It is also the spiritual process. In the above passage, by activity, Zhuangzi refers to the mind’s activity, which tends to pursue definite aims, including success, long life, power, and so on. When the mind’s activity is goal-oriented, vital energy in our body will not flow in according with Dao, so that inborn nature tends to be harmed. However, for Emerson, the soul is not related to the body, but it relates to the functions of the mind. For him, the soul from God can trigger the movement of the functions of the mind, including memory and imagination.

 

1.2 To sum up, Emerson’s self-reliance is in essence God-reliance. It is closely related to ultimate values in God, which combines truth, goodness and beauty. However, Zhuangzi’s wandering mind doesn’t rely on any supernatural power to obtain guidance. The wandering mind transcends various types of values. It only flows spontaneously with Dao.

 

More can be found in the following section.

2.1  2.2  2.3   3.1  3.2  3.3

 

In each section, at the end of it, the summary of main difference between Emerson and Zhuangzi is given.

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Authors should pay attention to the correct formatting of Chinese names and place names in English. For instance, when referring to the philosopher Zhuangzi, it should not be written as "Zhuang Zi," and Yangzhou University should simply be written as "Yangzhou University." If referring to a book title, it should be written as *the Zhuangzi*, with italics used for emphasis. Additionally, in the references section, for journal articles, the volume number, issue number, and page range must be fully provided.

In terms of content, the author should further elaborate on the rationale for comparing Zhuangzi and Emerson. Why is the comparison of their philosophies of nature a worthwhile philosophical inquiry? The author must clearly articulate in both the introduction and conclusion the innovative aspects of the article compared to previous research. How does this innovation update our understanding of nature and the self, and how might it potentially transform our practices?

Author Response

Reviewer 3

1. Authors should pay attention to the correct formatting of Chinese names and place names in English. For instance, when referring to the philosopher Zhuangzi, it should not be written as "Zhuang Zi," and Yangzhou University should simply be written as "Yangzhou University." If referring to a book title, it should be written as *the Zhuangzi*, with italics used for emphasis. Additionally, in the references section, for journal articles, the volume number, issue number, and page range must be fully provided.

First, I would like to express my deepest thanks to your valuable comments which do help me tremendously in the revision process. The following is my detailed response to each of your comments.

Author’s response:  I have changed all of the formatting of Chinese names.

In terms of Zhuangzi, there are about 76 times of incorrect format which has been changed into Zhuangzi.  I have changed Yang Zhou University into Yangzhou University.

2. In terms of content, the author should further elaborate on the rationale for comparing Zhuangzi and Emerson. Why is the comparison of their philosophies of nature a worthwhile philosophical inquiry? The author must clearly articulate in both the introduction and conclusion the innovative aspects of the article compared to previous research.

Author’s response: I add the new abstract and a few passages in the introduction part in response to the rationale for comparing Zhuangzi and Emerson.

To summarize: The reason why I choose Emerson and Zhuang Zi to make comparative study is to reconstruct virtue by intercultural dialogue to respond to the crisis of meaning which is generated by AI, new transformation of society.

Ralph Waldo Emerson and Zhuangzi both lived in eras of profound social transformation. They both reconstruct the virtue to respond to the meaning crisis in this social transformation. However, for the reason that their metaphysical foundation of virtue differs, there is a significant difference between them. Emerson’s concept of virtue promotes aesthetic appreciation of nature and nature is regarded by Emerson as representing the best meaning of life. While Zhuangzi’s concept of virtue promotes the aesthetic appreciation of harmony between human beings and Dao. He doesn’t have Emerson’s sense of aesthetic appreciation of nature, including wilderness. In this paper, I will conduct a comparative study between Emerson and Zhuangzi from the core categories in the research on meaning in life, which are self-transcendence, value, and power. I aim at reconstructing Zhuangzi’s virtue through intercultural dialogue by absorbing Emerson’s virtue. Through the dialogue, we can deepen our understanding of Emerson and Zhuangzi in their efforts in the reconstruction of self and value through virtue, which gives them enormous spiritual power to cope with the meaning crisis in their lifetimes. The new virtue is environmental virtue, which will give us a new understanding of self, value, and power. The new self is an ecological aesthetic self, which is integrated with value in nature. The new self and value have the potential to shape new practices in the era of new transformation, which is generated by AI.

 

Both Emerson and Zhuangzi were philosophers living in eras of profound social transformation. According to Richardson, “Emerson came of age in a country that was inventing itself. The early nineteenth century was a time of extraordinary optimism and energy in America, with new lands opening to settlement, new industries taking root, and a new literature struggling to be born. It was an age when the individual seemed capable of anything, and Emerson’s voice gave expression to that boundless possibility.” (Richardson, Robert D. Jr.1995, p. 12). Intellectuals such as Emerson, Margaret Fuller, and Bronson tried their own way to make the new country flourish, including establishing utopian communities, promoting gender equality, and abolitionist movements. One of Emerson’s main contributions to his lifetime is to advocate self-reliance in response to the profound social change. He reconstructed the meaning of life through virtue in his lifetime. Emerson absorbed much of Zhuangzi’s philosophy to address the crisis of life’s meaning in his time. Zhuangzi lived in the Warring States period, which was characterized by the disintegration of the Zhou feudal order. For this reason, there is a crisis of meaning in life since traditional morality no longer has a strong influence on people’s everyday life. In this situation, Zhuangzi’s virtue of wandering better copes with the meaning crisis and reconstructs the meaning in life for a lot of people. We are now living in an era where artificial intelligence controls various aspects of everyday life. Meaning crisis resurges again in this stage. Through a cross-cultural dialogue between their ideas, this paper aims to explore the contemporary transformation of Zhuangzi’s virtue ethics to address the crisis of life’s meaning in the age of artificial intelligence.

Since the 19th century, with the translation and cultural dissemination of Chinese Confucian and Daoist philosophical classics, Emerson, the founder of Transcendentalism, began an “Eastern turn.” Due to the similarities between Emerson’s Transcendentalism and Confucian-Daoist philosophies in their views on human nature, nature, and the good life (i.e., a life in harmony with nature), comparative studies between Emerson and Chinese philosophy have remained a vibrant field in both Chinese and Western academia. While earlier comparisons predominantly focused on Emerson and Confucianism, over the past eight years, scholars have increasingly turned their attention to comparing Emerson and Zhuangzi. This paper primarily examines the core concepts in their texts and the interrelationships among them, including self-transformation, nature, spirit, humanity, virtue, truth, and the true. For instance, Robin Wang’s Emerson and Zhuangzi’s Self-Transformation: A Comparative Perspective deeply explores their ideas of self-transformation; Xia Chen’s Emerson and Zhuangzi: Interpreting Nature through Self-Reliance and Freedom and Sor-Hoon Tan’s Between Nature and Spirit: Zhuangzi and Emerson’s Positioning of Humanity are notable contributions. However, in recent years, with the intensification of the global environmental crisis, comparative studies of Emerson and Zhuangzi have taken an ecological turn. Scholars have begun to excavate the ethical and aesthetic values in their respective cultural traditions to address the challenges posed by the ecological crisis. Against this backdrop, comparative research on Emerson and Zhuangzi has gained momentum, with representative works including Hua Zhang’s A Comparative Study of Emerson’s Transcendentalism and Zhuangzi’s Daoist Ecological Philosophy and Yuedi Liu’s Transcendentalism and Daoism: A Comparative Study of Emerson and Zhuangzi’s Ecological Aesthetics. This study will continue to focus on a specific ethical category—virtue—but differs from the above approaches by adopting a life-meaning perspective. Comparing Emerson and Zhuangzi’s virtue ethics through the lens of life’s meaning remains an unexplored area in academia. This paper seeks to fill this gap by examining how Emerson and Zhuangzi reshaped life’s meaning through virtue in their respective eras. For example, Emerson viewed nature as the ultimate source of human life’s meaning, while Zhuangzi, through the virtue of “carefree wandering,” achieved individual spiritual freedom, fulfilling the pursuit of life’s meaning. Through this comparison, the study aims to construct a new, integrated virtue for the age of artificial intelligence—namely, environmental virtue. Grounded in the theoretical foundations of ecological aesthetic selfhood and the value of nature, this environmental virtue offers a pathway to reconstructing life’s meaning in the current era.

3. How does this innovation update our understanding of nature and the self, and how might it potentially transform our practices?

I have added one more part at the end of the paper to address this question.

The basic idea in the last part is that when faced with another profound social transformation of AI era, Zhuangzi’s virtue, through the lens of intercultural dialogue with Emerson, can transform into integrated environmental virtue, which responds to the meaning crisis in the new era. This virtue absorbs Emerson’s virtue (which integrates aesthetic appreciation of nature with virtue). It is just the framework of environmental virtue, I will develop it into a book in one year.

IV Transformative virtue from Zhuangzi: Ecological Aesthetic Self, Value in Nature, and Aesthetic Power

 

Through an intercultural and religious dialogue between Emerson and Zhuangzi on the concepts of self-transcendence, value, and power, this paper provides intellectual resources for the modern transformation of Zhuangzi’s virtue thought. By "modern transformation," I refer to the reinterpretation of Zhuangzi’s virtue thought into environmental virtue, which seeks new meaning in the era of significant social change driven by the advent of artificial intelligence. John Nolt, in his paper titled Hope, Self-transcendence and Environmental Ethics (John Nolt 2010, p. 167) has provided a similar approach to related environmental virtue to meaning in life through self-transcendence. However, I will modify this approach by relating environmental virtue with ecological aesthetic self, value in nature, and power.

The core virtue in Zhuangzi’s philosophy is wandering, characterized by its refusal to establish an objective value and its openness to all values. In contrast, Emerson’s virtues are tied to objective values, which are unified under the concept of God: truth, goodness, and beauty. Zhuangzi’s virtue of wandering is deeply related to the Dao, which transcends all objective values and moral frameworks. However, in China, with the deepening understanding of nature and the establishment of various natural spaces, such as national parks, our sense of wonder toward nature has been increasingly heightened. This sense of wonder forms the basis for recognizing nature’s value, providing a foundation for environmental virtue that integrates the self with value. The development of science and the popularization of science education in China enable us to incorporate Emerson’s nature-based aesthetics, grounded in natural science, into Zhuangzi’s environmental virtue. Environmental virtue encompasses three core elements: the ecological aesthetic self, the value of nature, and aesthetic power. Below, I elaborate on these three elements.

4.1 The Ecological Aesthetic Self

The ecological aesthetic self is grounded in natural science and the immersive bodily experience of being in nature. This self represents a transcendence of Zhuangzi’s wandering (xiaoyao you) self. Although Zhuangzi’s texts contain many descriptions of nature, these descriptions serve as symbols of the Dao. In Zhuangzi’s philosophy, there is no aesthetic appreciation of nature itself, which is closely tied to his value system. Zhuangzi’s aesthetics revolve around human beings, focusing on a human-centered aesthetic where the object of beauty is harmony—harmony between humans and nature. The core of Zhuangzi’s human-nature relationship lies in the harmony derived from the sustainable use of land. While the concept of sustainability did not exist in Zhuangzi’s time, we can infer from certain textual descriptions that Zhuangzi regarded natural agriculture (without the use of technology) as an essential aspect of human nature. However, the ecological aesthetic self expands the boundaries of this agrarian aesthetic to include the aesthetic appreciation of wilderness itself. Some scholars have argued that Zhuangzi exhibited an aesthetic appreciation of the wilderness. For instance, Xiaona Wang’s paper titled, “Zhuangzi’s aesthetic appreciation of the wilderness is evident in his vivid portrayals of untouched landscapes and creatures living in harmony with the Dao. For Zhuangzi, the wilderness is not merely a backdrop but a space where one can experience the ‘true’ beauty of the cosmos, as seen in his notion of ‘wandering freely’ amidst nature’s vastness.” (Xiaona Wang 2020, pp. 176-193.) In fact, this view is a misunderstanding. In Zhuangzi’s philosophy, the wilderness represents a vast spatiality, such as mountains and forests, which he believed was conducive to cultivating the human spirit. However, this does not mean he objectified the wilderness for aesthetic appreciation. In Zhuangzi’s texts, all descriptions of nature are grounded in the transcendent value of the Dao, serving as expressions of the Dao rather than depictions of natural elements themselves. On this point, Zhuangzi’s translator offers a more profound commentary: “Zhuangzi does not dwell on the aesthetic qualities of nature as an end in itself. Rather, nature in his texts functions as a backdrop for illustrating the spontaneity and freedom of the Dao. The beauty he describes lies in the philosophical realization of non-action (wuwei) and equanimity, not in the sensory appreciation of natural forms.” (Hans-Georg Moeller 2006, pp. 377-390.) This differs significantly from Emerson, who, grounded in natural science, describes and appreciates natural objects themselves, as they embody the spiritual laws of God. The aesthetic appreciation of nature reflects a love for these laws. In Zhuangzi, however, the wilderness is not appreciated for itself but represents a vast, devalued space in contrast to the value-laden spaces of human culture. The natural elements he mentions are merely symbolic expressions of this devalued space.

                        

 4.2 The Value of Nature

Another element of environmental virtue is the recognition of nature’s value. In Zhuangzi’s philosophy, material nature, as a realm of the Dao, does not possess inherent value. For Zhuangzi, the core value is zhen (truth/authenticity), which primarily revolves around human beings, unlike Emerson’s concept of truth. Professor Shaojun Wang has given a very detailed research on this term of Zhen, which support this viewpoint. (Shaojun Wang 2025). In Emerson’s philosophy, the recognition of nature’s value is achieved through God, who created nature, endowing it with a miraculous secondary value. In the Chinese cultural context, without the concept of God, recognizing nature’s value can be achieved by cultivating a sense of wonder, which establishes a connection between humans and nature’s value. This aesthetic sense of wonder arises from the combination of scientific understanding and immersive experiences in nature, while modern technological advancements allow people to access extreme landscapes without safety concerns. The logical relationship between wonder and nature’s value has been extensively studied, with a consensus that wonder facilitates a non-anthropocentric perspective, encouraging concern for the well-being of others. For example, American philosopher Martha Nussbaum explains the relationship between wonder and nature’s value as follows: “Wonder, as I shall understand it, is an emotion involving attention to an object that is evaluated as valuable in itself, not as a means to some further end. It involves a delighted, non-egotistical absorption in the object, seeing it as wonderfully important in its own right. Unlike awe, which may involve fear or a sense of being overwhelmed, wonder is painless and opens the heart to the particularity of the world.” (Nussbaum, Martha C. 2001, p.54) Similarly, Australian scholar Haydn George Washington, in his book A Sense of Wonder towards Nature: Healing the Planet through Belonging, defines wonder as follows: “A sense of wonder at nature is the key to changing our worldview from anthropocentrism to ecocentrism. It fosters a deep sense of belonging to the natural world, inspiring us to value nature not for what it provides us, but for its intrinsic worth and interconnectedness.”(Haydn George Washington 2008, p.11.)Through their definitions and explanations, we can see the deep connection between wonder and intrinsic value. However, this sense of wonder requires cultivation to become a stable emotion rather than fleeting curiosity. In Emerson’s philosophy, this wonder is primarily achieved through faith, as a response to the creations of God. In the context of Chinese cultural traditions, if Zhuangzi’s thought is to be modernized, the cultivation of wonder toward nature must be achieved through immersive experiences, scientific understanding, and narratives about nature that spark imagination.

     

 4.3 Aesthetic Power

The ecological aesthetic self is closely related to the category of power. Aesthetic appreciation can inspire the power of action. In the history of wilderness preservation in the West, the initial advocates were often individuals with a strong sense of nature’s aesthetic value. This paper takes John Muir as an example. Through his aesthetic appreciation of nature, Muir gained spiritual strength, enabling him to transcend the self shaped by the traditional religious values of his family and society. For instance, Donald Worster writes in Muir’s biography, “Muir’s religious background was steeped in a strict Calvinist tradition, where his father demanded rigorous Bible study. Yet, Muir found his deepest spiritual connection in the wilderness, where he saw the divine more clearly than in scripture. He wrote, ‘I’d rather be in the mountains thinking of God, than in church thinking about the mountains,’ revealing how the aesthetic grandeur of nature supplanted the Bible as his primary source of spiritual insight.” (Worster, Donald 2008, p. 72). Clearly, through aesthetic appreciation, Muir transcended the moral self shaped by traditional Calvinism, developing a wilderness aesthetic self. It is important to emphasize that this transcendence does not involve a complete abandonment of the previous self but rather the construction of a new self. This new self retains the core of the original spirit while incorporating new dimensions.

 

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The paper has been greatly improved through the revisions.

There are still some details to be addressed, including additional, though much more minor English language grammar to be fixed--mostly subject/object agreement.

Also, some of the long quotes are offset, while others are not.

The paper itself is an interesting overview of the connections between Emerson and Zhuangzi.  The only major objection I have is the repeated reference to the "objective" qualities of Emerson's thought.  I do not think this term really originates with Emerson, and if it does, it needs to cite specific passages in his thought that would support such a conclusion.  Pieces like Emerson's "Circles" suggest a constant flux to morality and movement of our notions of virtues.  As he writes:

There is no virtue which is final; all are initial. The virtues of society are vices of the saint. The terror of reform is the discovery that we must cast away our virtues, or what we have always esteemed such, into the same pit that has consumed our grosser vices.

At the very least, it is important that the author acknowledge that Emerson's virtues are not final or "objective" in certain of his writings, even if Emerson came to believe in static, objective virtues later in his work (I don't think he did, but it could be argued).  Even virtues like truth, beauty, etc., that are constant do not manifest in the same constant way, as beauty is different for different generations of persons.  

The question of science is also a difficult question in Emerson, as he embraces scientific insight but also clearly finds it lacking--the scientific method does not teach spiritual and poetic listening which Emerson requires, so it is an access point, but certainly not a method in itself.  This could be better qualified in the piece.

Author Response

Round 2  Response

1. The paper has been greatly improved through the revisions.

Author Response: Thank you very much for your encouragement and I will work hard to revise the paper based on your valuable comments which are really very helpful.

2. There are still some details to be addressed, including additional, though much more minor English language grammar to be fixed--mostly subject/object agreement.

Author Response: I have revised the grammar in terms of subject/object agreement.

• They both reconstruct the virtue… has been changed into “they both construct virtue.
• “Their metaphysical foundation of virtue differs” has been changed into “their metaphysical foundations of virtue differ”
• While Zhuangzi’s concept of virtue promotes the aesthetic appreciation of harmony between human beings and Dao has been changed into “While Zhuangzi’s concept of virtue promotes the aesthetic appreciation of harmony between humanity and the Dao.
• In the introduction, “Intellectuals such as Emerson, Margaret Fuller, and Bronson Alcott sought to shape the new values” has been changed into “Intellectuals such as Emerson, Margaret Fuller, and Bronson Alcott sought to shape new values.”
• In the introduction, “Notable, Emerson borrows some of Zhuangzi’s ideas of virtue to address the crisis of meaning in his time” has been changed into “notably, Emerson draws on several of Zhuangzi’s ideas about virtue to address the crisis of meaning in his time.”
• In the introduction of section I, “However, Emerson has reconstructed the concept of self and connected the concept of self with virtue” has been changed into “however, Emerson has reconstructed the concept of self and connected it with virtue.”
• In the introduction of section I, Wesley T. Mot has been changed into Wesley T. Mott.
• In the introduction of section I, Zhuangzi has stressed No Self has been changed into Zhuangzi has stressed no self.
• In the introduction of section I, “I will investigate the concept of soul in Emerson and Xing in Zhuangzi” has been changed into I will investigate the concepts of soul in Emerson and Xing in Zhuangzi.

……. I will not list all of the corrections. It can be seen in the manuscript in red colors.

3. Also, some of the long quotes are offset, while others are not.

Author Response: I delete part of long quote in 2.1, 2.2, 2.3,3.1.

The paper itself is an interesting overview of the connections between Emerson and Zhuangzi.  The only major objection I have is the repeated reference to the "objective" qualities of Emerson's thought.  I do not think this term really originates with Emerson, and if it does, it needs to cite specific passages in his thought that would support such a conclusion.  Pieces like Emerson's "Circles" suggest a constant flux to morality and movement of our notions of virtues.  As he writes:

There is no virtue which is final; all are initial. The virtues of society are vices of the saint. The terror of reform is the discovery that we must cast away our virtues, or what we have always esteemed such, into the same pit that has consumed our grosser vices.

Author Response:

At the very least, it is important that the author acknowledge that Emerson's virtues are not final or "objective" in certain of his writings, even if Emerson came to believe in static, objective virtues later in his work (I don't think he did, but it could be argued).  Even virtues like truth, beauty, etc., that are constant do not manifest in the same constant way, as beauty is different for different generations of persons.  

Author’s response: I rewrite the last passage in this section. I stress that Emerson’s idea of truth is flowing and not ultimate entity. Nature is the bearer of truth. However, for Zhuangzi, truth is not related to physical nature rather it lies in spontaneity. We can know Dao if our mind is spontaneous. The details are as follows:

 

Although Emerson and Zhuangzi’s concept of virtue are both related to Goodness and goodness is not objective rather it is fluid and always in the process of transformation. However, they differ in their interpretation of the value of good and its relationship with the other two values (truth and beauty). For Emerson, among truth, beauty and goodness, beauty guides people into pursuing the truth and goodness. Goodness is most important. He conveys this idea in the passage, “In the eternal trinity of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty, each in its perfection including the three, they prefer to make Beauty the sign and the head.”(Emerson 1983, p. 206). Compared with the concept of Goodness and Truth, beauty represents intuition. In terms of truth, it is related to nature. For Emerson, human beings’ intellect and intuition will evolve with the help of God since “God enters by a private door into every individual.”(Emerson 1983, p. 418) so that “whatever curiosity the order of things has awaked in our minds, the order of things can satisfy.” (Emerson 1983, p. 7) Emerson appeals to faith in our understanding of God. By contrast, For Zhuangzi, goodness is most important. Beauty lies in harmony between human beings and Dao. It doesn’t play a role as Emerson interprets it as the guidance for humans to know Goodness. Nature doesn’t represent the truth since physical nature is interpreted as the flowing energy. It is not guided by any spiritual laws rather it flows naturally. For Zhuangzi, we can know Dao if we give up developing the intellectual knowledge. 

3. The question of science is also a difficult question in Emerson, as he embraces scientific insight but also clearly finds it lacking--the scientific method does not teach spiritual and poetic listening which Emerson requires, so it is an access point, but certainly not a method in itself.  This could be better qualified in the piece.

Author’s response: I add one passage in section 3, 3.2.

Although he emphasizes science, he reminds us of the danger if we rely too much on science since science will be dry and meaningless if it is separated from imagination, which can connect us to both material and spirit of nature. Emerson writes, “Science does not know its debt to imagination. Goethe, the great genius of the Germans, was a poet first, then a philosopher; and his clear and universal glance pierced the secret laws of nature, because he was poet first. When the imagination is lord, then science is a true vassal, and yields noble service.”(Emerson 2010, p. 37) For Emerson, science is just the tool for imagination to know the ultimate truth of God.

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf