Papers Published
- Wong, D, Attachment and Detachment in Daoism, Buddhism, and Stoicism,
Dao, vol. V no. 2
(June, 2006),
pp. 207-219.
(last updated on 2024/03/28)
Abstract: Both Buddhism and Stoicism would appear to
recommend the complete elimination of
emotional attachment to others. The promise
is release from the suffering that arises
from loss or anticipated loss of others dear
to the self, as emphasized by Buddhism, and
tranquility and release from the tumult of
wrenching passion as emphasized by Stoicism.
Yet it is not so clear what kind of
detachment Buddhism and Stoicism recommend.
For example, on Martha Nussbaum’s
interpretation, Stoicism bids us to extirpate
special feeling for others. On Lawrence
Becker’s interpretation, Stoicism bids us to
cultivate resilience, to “encapsulate”
special feeling so that the loss of its
object has a limited effect on our lives.
In this essay I argue that detachment as
resilience is more desirable than detachment
as extirpation. The cost of eliminating
special feeling for others simply deprives
too much value from human life, and arguably
deprives life of much of its humanness. We
would be better off preserving special
feeling while achieving a kind of equilibrium
that is not destroyed by loss. It is a
challenge, however, to conceive how this
could be possible. How could one continue to
hold others close to one’s heart without
making oneself extremely vulnerable to their
loss? Can the strong and deep feelings we
have for particular others really be
encapsulated in the way Becker suggests? I
suggest that the Zhuangzi, which also
recommends a kind of detachment, has the most
promising suggestions as to what attachment
conducive to resilience would feel like in a
genuinely human life.
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