Constraint and li, work and qi: Deacon and Zhu Xi

Abstract

Abstract In this article, I bring together the famous American semiotician Terrence Deacon and the most famous proponent of Neo-Confucianism, Zhu Xi 朱熹 (1130–1200). I focus on two of Deacon’s central concepts, constraints and work. All systems are constrained in some way, i.e. they behave in certain ways, but not in all ways. And “work” means that in their existence they make some difference: a gas in thermal equilibrium does not produce work. I bring these notions together with Zhu Xi’s concepts of li 理 and qi 氣. Li can be understood as internal articulation of a system or an event, its “veins.” And qi is the power of existence of a system or an event, its “energy.” In this light, I discuss the topics of the priority of li, the coagulation of qi, the normativity implied in the li, and self-cultivation. A connection to Deacon can give us new tools to make sense of those ancient topics of Chinese philosophy, and a connection to Zhu Xi can give semiotics in general and Deacon’s theory in particular an extension to certain fields that have been underdeveloped in Western thought, for instance self-cultivation.