CHAI, David

Associate Professor

Ph.D. (University of Toronto)
Rm 422
3943 7066
davidchai@cuhk.edu.hk

Brief Biography

Professor Chai’s principal area of research is Ancient and Early-Medieval Chinese Philosophy with an emphasis on Daoism. Secondary areas of research include modern Western philosophy (esp. metaphysics, phenomenology and hermeneutics), Comparative Philosophy, Philosophy of Nature, Philosophical Aesthetics, and Philosophy of Music. Professor Chai’s current research projects all revolve around the philosophy of nothingness and the continued advancement of what he calls “Daoist meontology.”

Research Interests

  1. Chinese Philosophy
  2. Comparative Philosophy
  3. Metaphysics
  4. Phenomenology
  5. Hermeneutics

Selected Publications

  1. “Habermas and Zhuangzi against Liberal Eugenics” International Journal of Chinese and Comparative Philosophy of Medicine 中外醫學哲學 (Dec. Issue 2016): 97-112.
  2. “On Pillowing One’s Skull: Zhuangzi and Heidegger on Death” Frontiers of Philosophy in China, 11.3 (Sept. 2016): 483-500.
  3. “Daoism and wu 無” Philosophy Compass (Chinese Comparative Philosophy section), 9.10 (Oct. 2014): 663-671.
  4. “Zhuangzi’s Meontological Temporality” Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy, 13.3 (Sept. 2014): 361-377.
  5. “Meontological Generativity: A Daoist Reading of the Thing” Philosophy East and West, 64.2 (April 2014): 303-318.
  6. “Nothingness and the Clearing: Heidegger, Daoism and the Quest for Primal Clarity” Review of Metaphysics, 67.3 (March 2014): 583-601.
  7. “Meontology in Early Xuanxue 玄學 Thought” Journal of Chinese Philosophy, 37.1 (March 2010): 91–102.
  8. “Musical Naturalism in the Thought of Ji Kang” Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy, 8.2 (June 2009): 151-171.