An Introduction to Zoeontology

Abstract

Zoeontology, or the study of living, is a philosophical system the author is constructing in the spirit of traditional Chinese philosophy. We see living as the central philosophical inquiry in the Chinese tradition, rather than being as in Western philosophy. Being is supposed to be eternal and death is a negation of being, but living consists of birth, growing, aging, and death. Hence in zoeontology, we see time as the rhythm of living, and space as the orientation in a living community. As a time-space system, a living subject interacts with the world from the perspective of the ego. Zoeontology is also a kind of subjective philosophy. Different living subjects interact with each other if their living rhythms parallel or overlap with each other. A child’s living process is internal to the parents’ living process, and hence there must be intimate and profound interactions between them. This is the beginning of a civil community. There is a dialectical relationship between civilization and nature. The purpose of human civilization is to civilize a natural living community, but it must obey the rules of nature. Human civilization is not meant to change nature, but to fulfil it.