Abstract：Foreign language teaching and research in Chinese universities have long presupposed hu- man cognition as the one-dimensional process of knowing the object of learning and even nature. The truth is that if we look at the relationship between nature and the human being in a reverse order, cognition originates in nature, without which there would be no ground for any cognitive activity. How does this reverse cognition unfold between nature and the human being? Can nature, as object, truly possess its own cognition and, if yes, how is this cognition expressed? The present paper, grounded on Natural Subjectivism, addresses these questions by integrating concepts and ideas from I-Ching, philosophies of Laozi and Zhuangzi as well as ecosemiotics. It explicates reverse cognition, a mode of knowing that stresses the cruciality of “returning to the natural” in combating the limitation of human mind, generating knowledge and enhancing mental power.
Key words: reverse cognition; Natural Subjectivism; Cultural semiotics of Jingshen; philosophies of Laozi and Zhuangzi
