Qi

Attempts to describe qi in English-language literature have inevitably been thin, focussing primarily on the ways in which it speaks to perceived mind-body dualism in Anglophone culture. The following discussion touches upon the broad diversity of epistemes in which qi has been entangled, and a f...

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Main Author: Stanley-Baker, Michael
Other Authors: School of Humanities
Format: Conference Paper
Language:English
Published: 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/179420
https://www.academia.edu/39695488/Qi_in_Critical_Terms_for_Religious_Studies
https://www.polyu.edu.hk/tc/events/2019/6/critical-terms-for-chinese-religious-studies/
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author Stanley-Baker, Michael
author2 School of Humanities
author_facet School of Humanities
Stanley-Baker, Michael
author_sort Stanley-Baker, Michael
collection NTU
description Attempts to describe qi in English-language literature have inevitably been thin, focussing primarily on the ways in which it speaks to perceived mind-body dualism in Anglophone culture. The following discussion touches upon the broad diversity of epistemes in which qi has been entangled, and a few ways in which it has acted as a touch-stone for comparing Chinese culture with Western modernity. It then considers three different ways for approaching qi as a topic – rather than attempting to define qi itself as a critical term, or attempting to define it, I experiment with three different modes of reading about and thinking with qi. Beginning with paleography, I introduce an uncommon narrative about qi and fire. I then discuss genealogical/period-based approach versus one of epistemological comparison. Finally, the paper takes a departure from textual based studies to consider an informal discussion of the constraints of individualist notions of subject formation, and how qi plays an important role in informing intersubjectivity, mourning rites and social continuity. The paper then concludes by suggesting two terms as useful for thinking about qi: coherence, and consubstantiality.
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spelling ntu-10356/1794202024-08-03T16:56:33Z Qi Stanley-Baker, Michael School of Humanities Critical Terms for Chinese Religious Studies Arts and Humanities History of Religion History of Medicine Attempts to describe qi in English-language literature have inevitably been thin, focussing primarily on the ways in which it speaks to perceived mind-body dualism in Anglophone culture. The following discussion touches upon the broad diversity of epistemes in which qi has been entangled, and a few ways in which it has acted as a touch-stone for comparing Chinese culture with Western modernity. It then considers three different ways for approaching qi as a topic – rather than attempting to define qi itself as a critical term, or attempting to define it, I experiment with three different modes of reading about and thinking with qi. Beginning with paleography, I introduce an uncommon narrative about qi and fire. I then discuss genealogical/period-based approach versus one of epistemological comparison. Finally, the paper takes a departure from textual based studies to consider an informal discussion of the constraints of individualist notions of subject formation, and how qi plays an important role in informing intersubjectivity, mourning rites and social continuity. The paper then concludes by suggesting two terms as useful for thinking about qi: coherence, and consubstantiality. Submitted/Accepted version 2024-07-31T05:52:26Z 2024-07-31T05:52:26Z 2019 Conference Paper Stanley-Baker, M. (2019). Qi. Critical Terms for Chinese Religious Studies. https://hdl.handle.net/10356/179420 https://www.academia.edu/39695488/Qi_in_Critical_Terms_for_Religious_Studies https://www.polyu.edu.hk/tc/events/2019/6/critical-terms-for-chinese-religious-studies/ en © 2019 The Author. All rights reserved. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the copyright holder. application/pdf
spellingShingle Arts and Humanities
History of Religion
History of Medicine
Stanley-Baker, Michael
Qi
title Qi
title_full Qi
title_fullStr Qi
title_full_unstemmed Qi
title_short Qi
title_sort qi
topic Arts and Humanities
History of Religion
History of Medicine
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/179420
https://www.academia.edu/39695488/Qi_in_Critical_Terms_for_Religious_Studies
https://www.polyu.edu.hk/tc/events/2019/6/critical-terms-for-chinese-religious-studies/
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