cartesian-dualism

Chapter 5 critically examines the evolution of human self-understanding from the Middle Ages through modernity, highlighting the shift from a faith-based to a reason-based worldview epitomized by Descartes’ cogito. It challenges the Cartesian separation of reason and emotion by drawing on contemporary neuroscience and philosophy, emphasizing the embodied and plural nature of the self. The chapter also explores the implications of these shifts for rethinking human progress, empathy, and moral consciousness in the context of global crises.

The chapter explores the philosophical and cultural rupture between Dao and Qi in China following the Opium Wars, emphasizing how Western technology and scientific rationality challenged and reconfigured traditional Chinese metaphysics. It details the Self-Strengthening Movement's attempt to integrate Western technology with Chinese principles, revealing a Cartesian dualism that fractured the unity of Dao and Qi, and discusses reformist intellectuals' efforts to reinterpret these concepts through Western materialist science, resulting in incompatible syntheses that reflect broader struggles to modernize Chinese thought and strengthen the nation.

The chapter examines China's rapid technological modernization and its disconnection from traditional Chinese philosophical reflections, highlighting the loss of moral cosmology amid accelerated development. It situates China's experience within the Anthropocene, critiquing modernity's Cartesian dualism as central to the ecological crisis and arguing against simplistic notions of resetting modernity due to its self-perpetuating logic. Emphasizing the tension between technological advancement and traditional cosmotechnics, the chapter calls for rethinking the human-cosmos relationship by drawing on ancient Chinese ecological wisdom as a guide for sustainable coexistence and governance.