Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations Introduction Cross-Cultural Philosophy and Critical Animality Studies A. Intersectional Critiques of Dualistic Thinking B. Seeking a Savior in "Monistic" Philosophies C. Why Compare? Critical Mimesis and New Areas of Inquiry D. Roadmap PART I Reading Spinoza with the Zhuangzi: Conversations and Toolkits Chapter One Contexts and Means for Interpreting the Zhuangzi 1.1 Inching out of Animality: Early Chinese Recipes for Power and Teachings for Humanity 1.2 Loitering Idly with Zhuangzi''s Big but "Useless" Words Chapter Two Contexts and Means for Interpreting Spinoza 2.1 Lifting Up and Placing Down Man into the Machine-World: Contested Routes to Knowledge and Salvation 2.
2 Seeking True Philosophy, in the Proper Order, with Spinoza Conclusion Strange Companions: Thinking about Animals with Spinoza and the Zhuangzi A. Form, Context, and Function B. Hermeneutical Challenges and Opportunities PART II Portrayals of Human Distinctiveness Chapter Three Rich in Complexity: Spinoza''s Portrayal of Human Distinctiveness 3.1 "That eternal and infinite being we call God or Nature" 3.2 Eliminating the Anthropomorphic God and the Theomorphic Man 3.3 What Distinguishes a Man from an Ass 3.4 A Ladder of Complexity: From Blood Worm to Man Chapter Four Pinnacles of Versatility: Portrayals of Human Distinctiveness in the Zhuangzi 4.1 The Ten Thousand Things under Heaven 4.
2 Dethroning the Heart 4.3 Finding the Pivot of All Daos 4.4 What Distinguishes People from Turtles and Fish Conclusion Contrasting Gestures of Undermining and Admiring Humanity A. Like a Worm, Like a Tree B. Finding Empowerment in Univocal versus Multivocal World C. Certainty with a Bias, Humility without an Agenda PART III Animal Affects as Curiosities versus Threats Chapter Five Zhuangzi and the Happy Fish: Animal Affects as Curiosities 5.1 Wandering with the Fish, Zhuangzi, and Huizi 5.2 Effective and Affective Communication in the Zhuangzi 5.
3 Bonding through Banter and Laughter Chapter Six Spinoza''s Serpentine Worries: Animal Affects as Threats 6.1 Making Use of Beasts as We Please 6.2 Choosing Eve over the Serpent 6.3 On Misanthropic Melancholy and Fraternal Cheer Conclusion Affects Vis-à-Vis Solidarity and Power A. The Cementing and Loosening of Human Bonds B. The Power to Include and Exclude PART IV The Orderly and the Chaotic Chapter Seven From Nature''s Order to Civil Order: Onto-Political Determinations in Spinoza 7.1 Individuation and Identity in an Orderly World 7.2 Uniting as One Mind and Body 7.
3 Big Fish Eat Small Fish Chapter Eight Unmanaging the Personal and the Political Body in the Zhuangzi 8.1 From Unity to Fragmentation: Undermining the Heart of the Personal and Political Body 8.2 Transforming into a Rat''s Liver or a Butterfly''s Dream 8.3 Muddying the Waters: Reimagining Hundun and Antiquity Conclusion The State of the World: The Topsy-Turvy and The Ship-Shape A. Tales of Identity and Disintegration B. In the Absence of Civil Order PART V Humans'' Animality: Textual Traces and Absences Chapter Nine Thinking against Bestial Traces in the Zhuangzi 9.1 The Zhuangzi on Distant Lands, Humble Professions, and Unruly Minds 9.2 The Zhuangzi''s Gender Trouble Chapter Ten Animalized Others in Spinoza''s "Imagination" 10.
1 On "Turks" and Common People 10.2 On Women, the Infantile, and the Sub-rational Conclusion Our Kind A. Those "We" Uplift or Leave Behind B. The Limits of What "We" Can Imagine "Us" to Be Epilogue Bibliography Index.