Proceedings of the XXII World Congress of Philosophy

Volume 51, 2008

Taoist Philosophy

Comparing the Interpretation of the Inconceivable in Gnostic and Daoist Teachings

By comparing the interpretations of the inconceivable in the two teachings of two different cultures, the author is trying to understand the prerequisites of one of the most mysterious and incomprehensible phenomenon of human culture: the ability of a human consciousness to extend beyond its own boundaries basing on the inconceivable as something absolutely incomprehensible in principle. This paradox constitutes the basis to the majority of total acts of rethinking the whole conceptual field, the world all-at-once. Realizing that everything can be comprehended except for the very act of comprehension that is happening here-and-now, the author is comparing the two methods in order to understand not “what” but “how” this can be accomplished.