Lecture 5: Laozi Flashcards
What are the three philosophical meanings of “Dao” in Laozi?
Etymologically, dao 道means “a way to walk on.” Dao also means “to say,” but the function of saying was in negative sense, different from Western philosophy. Philosophically, dao means, first, laws of nature, especially when combined with “heaven” (tiandao heavenly dao 天道) or “heaven and earth”(tiandi zhidao dao of heaven and earth 天地之道). Second, dao means the Origin of all things, that which gave birth to myriad of things. Third, dao means the self-manifesting into the Ultimate Reality.
Explain the meaning of you (being) and wu (non-being) in Laozi.
“The Dao that could be said is not the constant dao; the name that could be named is not the constant name. You 有 names the origin of heaven and earth; Wu 無 names the mother of all things. Therefore, let there always be non-being so we may see their marvelous possibilities; let there always be being so we may see their limited realization… The two have the same origin, but after they are produced, they have different names. They both may be called xuan, which is a black colour, means deep/profound. Xuan and xuan again is the door of all marvelous possibilities.” (ch.1, SB, p.139)
Explain the process of cosmogenesis or creation of the world according to Laozi.
The dao, as the original, self-manifesting ultimate reality, must have a tendency to manifest itself. Laozi said that the dao manifested itself through you and wu. It first manifested itself as possibilities, as nothingness (wu). And then, among all the possibilities, some were realized. At this moment, the dao came into being.You is being and signified the moment of manifestation, realization, actuality, fulfillment, and bodies. Wu is non-being and signified the moment of dissimulation, possibility, potentiality, transcendence, and functionality.
- “The Dao gave birth to the One, the One gave birth to the two and the two gave birth to the three, and the three gave birth to ten thousand things. Ten thousands things carry the yin and embrace the yang, and through the blending of qi (vital force), they achieve harmony.” (Chapter 42, SB, p.160 )
- “Fan 反 (reversal/return) is the movement of Dao; Weakness is the function of Dao. All things under Heaven are produced from being, and being from nonbeing.” (Chapter 40, SB, p. 160)
What are the laws of nature according to Laozi?
Laozi interpreted tian as “nature”, as the locus where all things appear (tiandi), and as the law of nature (tiandao).
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Structural law: all phenomena are constituted of opposing elements, such as being and non-being, yin and yang, movement and rest, long and short…etc.
- Don’t take anything on a superficial level because everything has another side.
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Dynamic law: all phenomena move in a way that when one state of affair comes to maturity and exhaustion, it moves on to the opposite state of affairs. “The heavy is the root of the light; The tranquil is the ruler of the hasty.”
- This is the most important law.
- The idea is movement by opposition, rest causes motion and motion causes rest.
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Law of conversion: All things return to Dao and achieve harmony. “Mysterious virtue is profound and far-reaching. With it all things returns to their original natural state and reach complete harmony. ” (Ch. 65).
- Whether by dying or other means, everything returns to dao because they are finite. Everything is on a long journey returning back to dao.
What is the Daoist concept of “technique”?
- Technique, as application of laws of nature, should take into account the opposite side or the other side of the coin.
- To achieve a certain effect, sometimes it’s better to start with the opposite: “To contract something, first expand it; to weaken something, first strengthen it; to destroy something, first promote it.”
- All technique should apply in the spirit of wuwei 無為 (non-action, letting things be) and allow things to return of their own.
Explain the concept of de (power or virtue) in Laozi and compare it with the Confucian concept of xing (nature).
The concept of de in Laozi replaces Confucian concept of xing 性 (nature), to mean the nature of every being in the universe, including humans. Confucians use the concept of xing to represent only human nature. Unlike ethical virtue, de means the spontaneous creativity inside all things after their being produced by the Dao, that leads all things to return to the Dao. Freedom also means creativity, and creativity is freedom.
De is that which both human and natural beings have inherited from the Dao. It is the presence of the Dao in everything, not like a cause in its effect, but rather like the whole in its parts.
- “When dao was lost there was de; when de was lost there was ren; when ren was lost there was yi; when yi was lost there was li. Li is the wearing thin of loyalty and good faith and the beginning of disorder.”
Compare Laozi’s method of guan (tracing intuition) with Husserl’s “intuition of essence” (Wessenschau) and Heidegger’s “letting be” (Seinslassen).
For Laozi, knowledge is a mode of being, and his method is the original intuition (guan 觀), similar to “intuition of essence” (Wessenschau) in Husserl’s phenomenology, but different from the latter that presupposes a transcendental ego grasping the essence of things, while closer to Heidegger’s Seinslassen, letting things be themselves. Guan is an intuition of the nature of things by letting things be the way they are. It is an epistemological approach to things, to let them be.
Explain the main ideas of Laozi’s political philosophy. What is wuwei?
For Laozi, the art of good governance should follow the dao and unfold the de of all people. An ideal state is, negatively speaking, a state without political domination, and positively, a place where people and things unfold spontaneously their own creativity, thereby enjoy their existence. Rulers should adopt a politics of non-action (wuwei 無為), which means: not ruling without any action, but ruling according to the dao; taking universal action instead of partial action; taking spontaneous action instead of artificial action; it is a politics of non-interventionism. Don’t do things with too much thought, let yourself do things naturally and spontaneously. Laozi thought that there was no need for policing and intervention in order to let people be free and creative.
Explain Laozi’s philosophy of generosity.
What is Fung Yu-lan’s account of Laozi’s attitude toward knowledge and desire?
Laozi believes that people should have little knowledge, as increased knowledge leads to increased desires. Knowledge enables people to know more about the objects of desire and the means to gain these objects. In satisfying their desires, people are seeking for happiness. But when they try to satisfy too many desires, they obtain an opposite result. Knowlege itself is an object of desire. With increasing knowledge, people don’t know how to be content and where to stop.
