Dissertation
A comparative study of cosmology and its dynamics in Zhang Zai and Max Scheler
This dissertation examines cosmic dynamics through a comparative study of the Neo-Confucian thinker Zhang Zai (1020–1077) and the German phenomenologist Max Scheler (1874–1928). Using an intercultural hermeneutic “bridge framework,” it places their cosmological accounts in dialogue to clarify how differing conceptions of cosmic motion ground ethical orientation.
- Author
- Yuanping SHI
- Date
- 15 September 2026
The analysis shows that Zhang Zai conceives the cosmos as a self-generating, internally coherent process sustained by the cyclical interaction of polar forces. Cosmic order is thus immanent and continuously renewed, without recourse to a transcendent creator. By contrast, Scheler’s late metaphysics understands the world as a historical process of becoming, structured by a persistent tension between spirit and drive. This tension renders the cosmos open-ended and future-oriented rather than harmoniously closed.These cosmologies entail distinct ethical orientations.