A Meta-Critical Interpretation of the Concept of ‘Shengsheng (生生)’ in the Book of Changes (周易)

This paper is designed to explore the concept of ‘shengsheng(生生)’ in the Book of Changes (周易). First, I pointed out the problem of interpreting one canon by another (以經解經). As you may recall, the “interpreting one canon by another (以經解經)” is an important methodology in the history of cannon. To overcome the limitations of this methodology, I borrowed Deleuze's concept of the ‘image of thought’. This concept is defined by Deleuze as follows. “Thought as something beyond the consciousness of the philosopher, that is, thought as something that can be apprehended differently from what is said, as something that contains more than what is said and is situated before what is said, as something that is apprehended as an image of it.” Ancient Chinese philosophy emphasized direct experience and did not seek reality beyond the phenomenal. With this historical background, I actively deconstructed the concept of ‘shengsheng (生生)’. However, this methodology does not allow me to interpret the concept of ‘novelty (新)’, so I inevitably turn to Whitehead's philosophy. The main concepts used here are Whitehead's ontological principles and concrescene. I interpreted “yi (易)” as an ontological principle and “shengsheng” as a concrescene (合生). Based on these Whiteheadian concepts, we examined how we, as actual entities, can become subjects and thus create newness. I didn't get around to reviewing the subject of ‘concrescene’, which is essential to understanding the Book of Changes and Whitehead's philosophy of process.