The Image of the Plant and Self-Cultivation

10.7065/MRPC.200910.0005

馮士瓦•伏拉歐(François Flahault)

Self development ； Life Force ； Popular Tales ； Open-mindedness ； Serendipity ； Western Thought ； Chinese Thought

哲學與文化

36卷10期（2009 / 10 / 01）

5 - 20

英文

This paper is an anthropological investigation into the plant and its cultivation as an image of self-development. I examine the different ways this image is used in three domains: the Western tradition, popular tales and, briefly, in China. In Western thought, the metaphor of the plant was promoted by Plato in order to define the soul. Since the nineteenth century, it has been associated with the dictum ”Be yourself!” The self is supposed to be an innate kernel that we can develop through our own efforts. The image of the plant has quite different implications in popular tales: the plant represents life, which is transmitted from the parents to the child, from the dead to the living. The girl or boy who receives this gift must turn it to good account, and, to this end, has to interact with his environment in an outgoing and adequate way. There are obvious affinities between the implicit wisdom of tales and certain Chinese stories which illustrate the right way of ”feeding one's life”. For these stories also underline the need for adequate interaction with the world. Whereas Western thought contrasts with the oral tradition, Chinese literate culture seems to have kept in touch with popular stories. The English text is translated by Rodney Coward from the French original entitled ”L'image de la plante et la culture de soi”.