A comparative study of cosmology and its dynamics in Zhang Zai and Max Scheler

Abstract

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.

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. Zhang Zai emphasizes self-cultivation as alignment with an already meaningful cosmic order, whereas Scheler stresses the creative responsibility of persons to realize values within an unfinished world.

The dissertation argues that these views represent two coherent yet competing paradigms for grounding ethics in a dynamic ontology. By articulating non-anthropocentric perspectives, the study contributes to contemporary debates on disenchantment and ecological crisis, rethinking human responsibility within an interconnected cosmos.