臺灣博碩士論文加值系統

新英格蘭的哲學家研究真理的本質並且以吠陀和佛教的哲學及直覺的實踐作為指導原則。此論文旨在探索吠陀、愛默森及梭羅的哲學與後現代主義的作品之間超越主義的關聯性。我試著以人類行為可感知的現象重新定義超越主義，並將它當成是實用的哲學，因為它以前並未被以正確的角度看待，後現代哲學大多將這些哲學家置於過去的歷史，轉而以評論的方式解構語言和本體。然而，愛默森認為寫作是有啟發性的，它使心靈渴望擴展的內驅力和超越合而為一，化為具體。不論人類行為的目的為何，一個超越的本體是協調所有行為的基底。我的論點是--文學，作為我們想像力的產物--意識的或潛意識的，使作者自身與超越達成合一的渴望實現。此內在渴望的受限或實現與否可藉由書中角色受苦和喜悅程度的體驗得以被量化、實現。然而，超越性的哲學認為真理是難以言詮的，真理的本質必須是無限的，它是一種超越語言和邏輯分析的「全然自由」。因此，它自古以來被描述成寂靜--一種語言永遠無法超越的無限。
為了呈現後現代作品及超越思想的關聯性，我從超越的觀點去評論了J.M.柯慈《麥可?K的生命與時代》與麥可?翁達傑《菩薩凝視的島嶼》當中的受苦，解脫和喜悅，J.M.柯慈和麥可?翁達傑兩位都是相當知名的後現代作家。也許，因為後現代評論家的身分使他們低估了我所研究的超越性主題的重要性。此論文尤其受到J.M.柯慈在Doubling the Point中所提到的：「作家的責任是藉由寫作去表達超越的渴望」所啟發。翁達傑在《菩薩凝視的島嶼》中直接提到佛教，然而評論家們卻集中在其作品中的政治性，而忽略了我認為翁達傑所啟發的超越性觀點。我最後討論了「超越的後現代哲學」及其與當代的關聯作為總結。

The New England Transcendentalists investigated the intangible and were guided by the philosophy and intuitional practices of Vedanta and Buddhism. This thesis explores the transcendental links between Vedanta, Emerson and Thoreau’s cosmology and postmodern writing. I relocate transcendentalism as a pragmatic philosophy which is “not seen in its true perspective” by mediating it with the tangible effects of human action (Miller 3). Postmodernism has essentially relegated Transcendentalism to history, turning its critical gaze towards the analytic deconstruction of discourse and identity. Emerson, however, held that great writing is synthetic and it symbolizes the imperative mind has to expand -- culminating in the experience of a transcendent singularity. This transcendent identity is the mediating background of all actions regardless of their purported goals. The central idea of my reading is that literature -- as a product of imagination --consciously or subconsciously objectifies the author’s desire for that singularity. The extent of its limitation or actualization quantifies the perception of suffering/bliss experienced by characters in the texts. Furthermore, Transcendentalism recognizes the inadequacy of discourse to express the ineffable: absolute truth must, by its very nature, remain unqualified; it is a ‘void’ free of the fetters of language and empirical mind. Therefore, it is traditionally represented as silence: a void which language is unable to cross.
To illustrate the connections between postmodern writing and transcendental thought I interpret J.M. Coetzee's Life ＆ Times of Michael K and Michael Ondaatje's Anil's Ghost, exposing the novels’ transcendental approach to suffering, detachment, and bliss. Both Coetzee and Ondaatje are highly regarded postmodern authors; perhaps, because of this status critics have minimized the centrality of the transcendental themes I explore. My exegesis is further inspired by Coetzee’s statement in Doubling the Point of the writer’s “duty” to express the “transcendental imperative” (340). Ondaatje's AG directly references Buddhism yet critics primarily focus on the politics of the work -- ignoring the innovative, transcendent view, I argue, Ondaatje initiates. I close with a discussion of ‘Transcendental Postmodernism’ and its relevance to the modern era.

Table of Contents


Introduction: Reflections on Transcendentalism and its Influence on Postmodern Writing............................1

Chapter 1: Transcendentalism, India and the West.........25
1.1 Beginnings: The Problem of Critique andPosition...25
1.2 The Origins of Transcendental Consciousness: East and West..................................................34
1.3 Supporting Transcendental Consciousness and its Implications..............................................43
1.4 Transcendental Literature and Infinity............50
1.5 Transcendental Intuition: Thinking and Samadhi....55
1.6 Thoreau: Principles, Detachment, and Meditation...60

Chapter 2:Life ＆ Times of Michael K: Detachment and Bliss.73

Chapter 3: Anil's Ghost: Justice, Suffering, and Truth...100

Conclusion: Towards Postmodern Transcendentalism.........122

Works Cited.............................................136

Armstrong, D. M. ＆ Malcolm, Norman. Consciousness ＆ Causality. Oxford: Basil Blackwell Publisher Ltd, 1984. Print.

Austin, James H. Zen and the Brain. London: The MIT Press, 1998. Print.

Avalon, Arthur. Tantra of the Great Liberation: Mahanirvana Tantra. New York: Dover Publications, 1972. Print.

Barbour, Brian M., Ed. American Transcendentalism: An Anthology of Critcism. London: University of Notre Dame Press, 1973. Print.

Barnes, Wesley. The Philosophy and Literature of Existentialism. New York: Barron's Educational Series, Inc, 1968. Print.

Best, Stephen and Kellner, Douglas. Postmodern Theory: Critical Interrogations. London: Macmillan Education Ltd, 1991. Print.

Buelens, Gert, and Dominiek Hoens. Above and beneath Classification: Bartleby, Life and Times of Michael K, and Sytagmatic Participation. Diacritics (2007): 157-70. Print.

Burchett, Patton E. The 'Magical' Language of Mantra. Journal of the American Academy of Religion 76.4 (2008): 807-43. Print.

Coetzee, J. M. Meat Country. Granta 52 (1995): 43-52. Print.
---. Doubling the Point: Essays and Interviews. Ed. Atwell, David. London: Harvard University Press, 1992. Print.
---. Life ＆ Times of Michael K. London: Vintage, 1998. Print.
---. White Writing: On the Culture of Letters in South Africa. London: Yale University Press, 1988. Print.

Cooper, David E. The Measure of Things: Humanism, Humility, and Mystery. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007. Print.

Cottingham, John. The Cambridge Companion to Descartes. Ed. Cottingham, John. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Print.

Cuddon, J.A. Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory. London: Penguin Books, 1991. Print.

Derrickson, Teressa. Will the 'Untruth' Set You Free? A Critical Look at Global Human Rights Discourse in Michael Ondaatje's Anil’s Ghost. Literature Interpretation Theory 15 (2004): 131-52. Print.

Dooley, Patrick K. Biocentric, Homocentric, and Theocentric Enviromentalism in O Pioneers, My Antonia, and Death Comes for the Bishop. Cather Studies 5 (2003): 64-76. Print.

Eagleton, Terry. Literary Theory: An Introduction Second Edition. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 1996. Print.

Einstein, Albert. Albert Einstein out of My Later Years: The Scientist, Philosopher and Man Portrayed through His Own Words. New York: Wings Books, 1996. Print.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo. The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Ed. Atkinson, Brooks. New York: The Modern Library, 2000. Print.

Feng, Gia-Fu; English, Jane. Lao Tsu: Tao Te Ching. Trans. Feng, Gia-Fu; English, Jane. Taipei: Caves Books Ltd, 1986. Print.

Flood, Gavin. Ed. The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2003. Print.

Fontana, David. Mystical Experience. The Blackwell Companion to Consciousness. Ed. Velmans, Max; Schneider, Susan,. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2007. 163-71. Print.

Gill, Jerry. Mediated Transcendence: A Postmodern Reflection. Georgia: Mercer University Press, 1989. Print.

Goldman, Marlene. Representations of Buddhism in Ondaatje's Anil’s Ghost. Comparative Literature and Culture 6.3 (2004): 1-9. Print.

Gozzi, Raymond D. Thoreau's Psychology: Eight Essays. New York: University Press of America, 1983. Print.

Grimes, John. A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English. New York: State University of New York Press, 1996. Print.

Head, Dominic. J.M. Coetzee. Cambridge: Cambridge University press, 1997. Print.

Hewson, Kelly. Making the Revolutionary Gesture: Nadine Gordimer, J.M. Coetzee and Some Variations on the Writers Responsibility. Critical Essays on J.M. Coetzee. Ed. Kossew, Sue. Print.

Hochfield, George. An Introduction to Transcendentalism. American Transcendentalism: An Anthology of Criticism. Ed. Barbour, Brian M. London: University of Notre Dame Press, 1973. Print.

Hodder, Alan. Asian Influences. The Oxford Handbook of Transcendentalism. Ed. Myerson, Joel; Petrulions, Sandra Harbert; Walls, Laura Dassow. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010. Print.

The Human Consciousness Projectsm. Nour Foundation. n.d. Web. 7 Jul 2010. ＜http://www.nourfoundation.com/events/Beyond-the-Mind-Body-Problem/The-Human-Consciousness-Project.html＞.

Inayatullah, Sohail. Situating Sarkar: Tantra, Macrohistory and Alternative Futures. Queensland: Gurukula Press, 1999. Print.

Johnson, Lawrence E. Focusing on Truth. New York: Routledge, 1992. Print.

Johnston, Adrian. ?i?ek's Ontology: A Transcendentalist Materialist Theory of Subjectivity. Illinois: Northwestern University Press, 2008. Print.

Kasturi, Lakshmi V. Transcendentalism: India's Contribution to the East and West Spiritual Emerson and Vedic Literature (an Informational, Analytical, and Explicatory Approach). Dissertation. University of Louisiana, 2002. Print.

Kingsley, Peter. Reality. Inverness: The Golden Sufi Center, 2005. Print.

Kossew, Sue. Ed. Critical Essays on J.M. Coetzee. New York: G.K. Hall ＆ Co., 1998. Print.

Kyser, Kristina. Seeing Everything in a Different Light: Vision and Revelation in Michael Ondaatje's the English Patient. University of Toronto Quarterly 70.4 (2001): 889-901. Print.

Merchant, Carolyn. The Death of Nature. San Fransisco: Harper, 1983. Print.

Meyer, Werner, Cora Moore, and Henning Viljoen. Personology: From Individual to Ecosystem. Sandown: Heinemann, 2003. Print.

Miller, Perry, ed. The Transcendentalists: An Anthology. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1978. Print.

Miri, Mrinal. Identity and the Moral Life. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2003. Print.

Mish, Frederick C., Ed. Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary: Tenth Edition. Springfield: Merriam-Webster, 1996. Print.

Mullins, Greg. Labors of Literature and of Human Rights. Peace Review: A Journal of Social Justice 20: 4-12. Print.

Norris, Christopher. The Truth About Postmodernism. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1993. Print.

Ondaatje, Michael. Anil's Ghost. New York: Vintage Books, 2001. Print.

Parker, Kenneth. J.M. Coetzee: The Post Modern and the Postcolonial. Critical Perspectives on J.M. Coetzee. Ed. Huggan, Graham; Watson, Stephen: MacMillan Press Ltd, 1996. Print.

Patri, Umesh. Hindu Scriptures and American Transcendentalists. 1st ed. New Delhi, India: Intellectual Pub. House, 1987. Print.

Phillips, John. Contested Knowledge: A Guide to Critical Theory. New York: St Martin's Press, 2000. Print.

Pietrantonio, Rosanne Di. Where the Waters Meet: Walden and the Bhagavat Geeta. California State University, 2007. Print.

Radhakrishnan, S. The Bhagavadgita. New Delhi: HarperCollins Publishers, 2004. Print.

Robinson, David M. The Free Religion Movement. The Oxford Handbook of Transcendentalism. Ed. Myerson, Joel; Petrulions, Sandra Harbert; Walls, Laura Dassow. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010. Print.

Rosen, Stanley. Essential Hinduism. Westport: Praeger Publishers, 2006. Print.

Said, Edward W. Culture and Imperialism. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1994. Print.

Santina, Peter D. Fundamentals of Buddhism. Singapore: Buddha Dharma Education Association. Print.

Sarkar, PR. Discourses on Tantra Volume One [a Compilation]. Calcutta: Ananda Marga Publications, 1993. Print.

Sarup, Madan. Jacques Lacan. New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1992. Print.

Scanlan, Margaret. Anil’s Ghost and Terrorism's Time. Studies in the Novel 36.3 (2004): 302-17. Print.

Schelling, F.W.J. System of Transcendental Idealism (1800). Trans. Heath, Peter. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1993. Print.

Simmons, Jon. From Kant to L?vi Strauss: The Background to Contemporary Critical Theory. Ed. Simmons, Jon. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press Ltd, 2002. Print.

Staels, Hilde. A Poetic Encounter with Otherness: The Ethics of Effect in Michael Ondaatje's Anil’s Ghost. University of Toronto Quarterly 76.3 (2007): 977-89. Print.

Steele, Jeffrey. Literary Criticism. The Oxford Handbook of Transcendentalism. Ed. Myerson, Joel; Petrulions, Sandra Harbert; Walls, Laura Dassow. New York: Oxford University press, 2010. Print.

Thoreau, Henry D. Walden Civil Disobedience and Other Writings. Ed. Rossi, William. New York: W.W Norton ＆ company, 2008. Print.

Vertosick, Frank T, JR., MD. Why We Hurt: The Natural History of Pain. New York: Harcourt Inc, 2000. Print.

Vital, Anthony. Toward an African Ecocriticism: Post Colonialism, Ecology and Life ＆ Times of Michael K. Research in African Literatures 39.1 (2008): 88-109. Print.

Von Memerty, Joan Elizabeth. Distance and Clarity in Selected Works of Michael Ondaatje. University of South Africa, 2007. Print.

Wright, Derek. Black Earth, White Myth: Coetzee's Michael K. Modern Fiction Studies (1992): 435-44. Print.

Zukav, Gary. The Dancing Wu Li Masters. London: Random House, 1979. Print.