Daoism Concepts in Kristeva’s “Chora”

Abstract

Kristeva, in her publication Revolution In Poetic Language, refers to the concept of “chora” to reconstruct the demolition of emotionality and rationality in humankind. “Chora” is a space constituted of the Semiotic and the Symbolic for the preparation to generate humanity. I noticed that Kristeva’s “chora” functions not only in a semiotic way but also interpenetrates into the thoughts of Chinese Daoism. I believe this discovery is beneficial for us to understand Kristeva’s psychoanalysis in a different way with some cultural exchanges; in addition, we can come up with a new perspective on the traditional discussion of Daoism from western theories. I first reanalyzed Kristeva’s “chora” in a semiotic way. Then I argued that “chora” assimilates Chinese Daoism in two pieces of evidence: “Chora” can be valued as a Daoist matrix where drives or motivations are generated. More, “chora” shares the common features of Laozi’s potentiality and Zhuangzi’s obscurity.