European Parallels of Chinese Philosophy

Course description:
Many surprising parallels can be found between European literature and philosophy - from Jacob Böhme's "Aurora" and Shakespeare's "Midsummer Night's Dream" to Franz von Baader and Goethe ? and Chinese philosophy taken in the broad sense (philosophy, poetry, divination methods and texts) and in the more specific sense of I Ching (Book of Changes) and Tao Te Ching. We are not speaking of a history of influences here, but instead, of archetypal structures. By examining these through structures of drawing, language of poetry, the misconception of an irresolvable opposition between the "East" and the "West" can be corrected, on the one hand, and we can gain insight into the human condition and thus the ecological and artistic problematic, on the other. The instances of identical wording in the Tao Te Ching and the gospels are so called "accidents" - but what exactly does this mean?) This method, the parallel itself, is where we arrive by drawing the parallels. The objective is neither to see what is common to both realms, nor to name similarities within the differences. Instead, moving past these comparisons, we are to see the shining through of the intellect and form. Existential morpohology ? texts are examined in themselves even when setting up parallels, as it is not our aim to decide which texts are true or truer; the greatness of a thought shines forth as it stands on its own as directly relevant for our lives, in spite of (or perhaps because of) the above.