Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
acceptedVersion
Publication Date
9-2019
Abstract
The light metaphor is a perpetual favorite for philosophers, both East and West. I seek to revaluate its opposite, darkness. I claim that there are good reasons to favor darkness over light, or at least to not see them as mutually incompatible or in hierarchical fashion. In recent Western philosophy, both Heidegger and Derrida argue that what the light metaphor represents, the promise of clarity and objectivity, is exactly what makes Western metaphysics problematic. In Chinese philosophy, classical Daoism offers a thinking that does not favor the light metaphor over its opposite. Daoists have the good sense to acknowledge darkness as a positive contribution to human life, at the very least on par with light. I argue that both the Western criticism of the light metaphor, and the Daoist approach to light and darkness, can be read as challenging the metaphysics of presence and providing an alternative way of thought.
Keywords
Daoism, Darkness, Derrida, Heidegger, Metaphysics
Discipline
Metaphysics | Philosophy
Research Areas
Humanities
Publication
Dao
Volume
18
Issue
3
First Page
347
Last Page
370
ISSN
1540-3009
Identifier
10.1007/s11712-019-09670-7
Publisher
Springer (part of Springer Nature): Springer Open Choice Hybrid Journals
Citation
BURIK, Steven.(2019). Darkness and light: Absence and presence in Heidegger, Derrida, and Daoism. Dao, 18(3), 347-370.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/3012
Copyright Owner and License
Authors
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11712-019-09670-7