Synthesized answer
The passages state that Brook Ziporyn's interrogation of the concept of Li reveals the "unsuspected range of human thinking on these most fundamental categories of ontology, metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics" [1, 2]. The book examines the implications of Li as they develop in Neo-Daoist metaphysics and Chinese Buddhism, and how they become foundational to Song and Ming dynasty Neo-Confucianism [2].
The passages indicate that a grasp of the "strange history of this term and its seemingly conflicting implications" raises questions about the "most basic building blocks of our thinking" [2]. However, the passages do not explicitly detail what these practical implications are beyond their foundational role in various Chinese intellectual traditions and their impact on fundamental categories of thought.
Synthesized from the book passages below. Chat with the book on Feynman for follow-up.
From the book
Ziporyn's interrogation goes beyond analysis to reveal the unsuspected range of human thinking on these most fundamental categories of ontology, metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics. Categories: Philosophy Pages: 434 Snippet: In the present volume, Brook Ziporyn goes on to examine the implications of Li as they develop in Neo-Daoist metaphysics and in Chinese Buddhism, ultimately becoming foundational to Song and Ming dynasty Neo-Confucianism, the orthodox ...
Title: Beyond Oneness and Difference by Brook Ziporyn Description: Beyond Oneness and Difference considers the development of one of the key concepts of Chinese intellectual history, Li. A grasp of the strange history of this term and its seemingly conflicting implications—as oneness and differentiation, as the knowable and as what transcends knowledge, as the good and as the transcendence of good and bad, as order and as omnipresence—raises questions about the most basic building blocks of our thinking. This exploration began in the book's companion volume, Ironies of Oneness and…