Diversifying The Single Path: The Existential Dilemmas of the Taiwanese Student Elite

Abstract: In this thesis I set out to investigate how Taiwanese elite students experienced their upbringing. I do so by developing my own concept, Single Path, and use Susanne Bregnbaek’s utilization of the concept Aporia. I apply them in order to answer how Taiwanese elite students negotiate their self-cultivation process in relation to the single path. I found that one of their most prominent existential dilemmas spring from the aporia of extensive self-sacrifice in order to follow the single path. When facing the dilemma, they either (1) embraced (2) endure through or (3) rejected the single path. When they were younger they seemed more prone to choose number one, but two and three seemed to have become more common when they reached the university. I conclude that the way they see their self-cultivation right now is more diversified and more individual.