When the Ancient Greek thinkers were experiencing a paradigm shift in the understanding of the world from the 6th century BC onwards, another intellectual force was rising at the same time in the East. The dawn of Chinese Philosophy appeared in the Spring and Autumn Period, and continued with an intense and diverse development throughout the Warring States Period. The Pre-Qin Philosophy (先秦哲學), which encompassed a number of competing schools of philosophy, laid the intellectual foundations of the most important values of Chinese culture, be it in Literature, Theater, Calligraphy and Painting. Having a strong fascination in Chinese Literature and Philosophy, I would like to share about some ideas of a fascinating school of thought of Chinese Philosophy – the Daoist school (道家), as advocated by the philosopher Lao Zi (老子) and his famous successor, Zhuang Zi (莊子).
The Daoist philosophy is idiosyncratic when compared to the other schools of Chinese philosophy, not only because of its apparently passive outlook of life, but also because of its more metaphysical worldview. The pre-Qin philosophy was all pragmatic and humanistic – each school wished to advocate for beliefs that would impact the human life and society in general. The Daoist outlook, by contrast, was more inclined towards nature, and that was quite similar to the natural philosophers of the Pre-Socratic period. Indeed, in the later Classical Greek era, natural philosophy has been perceived as a pointless inquiry for human existence and the thinkers placed their focus on more humanistic issues such as ethics, politics and rhetoric. That is why Daoist philosophy was considered unique and has attracted its fair share of detractors, who pointed out that the philosophy itself was not useful for any reforms on social and political issues. As we will see, Daoist philosophy is often capable of surprise and it may turn out to be useful for the human world.
‘Dao’ (道), which is translated as ‘way’ or ‘path’ in English, is the ontological entity of the universe, and it is the central component of the cosmology proposed by the Daoists. Dao leads to the genesis of all things in the world. Reminiscent of the ontological reality proposed by certain Presocratic philosophers, Dao is everlasting and it neither has a beginning or an end. There is no notion of life and death in this reality, so the whole system is harmonized and does not have any dialectical or opposite relations at all.
While I do not think that the nature perceived by the Daoist necessarily means ‘natural science’ in the modern sense of the term, it is quite evident that Dao encompasses everything from nature – including humans. Thus in Daoist doctrines, the meaning of ‘Zi Ran’ (自然, translated as ‘nature’ in English) can be compared to ‘physis’ from Greek philosophy, which excludes anything that originates from humans. The whole enterprise of Daoist philosophy is to inspire the followers to appreciate the genuine nature of things, and to retreat from the human influences – that have led to a lot of unnecessary conflicts and arguments – and live one’s life by getting closer to the way of ‘Dao’.
An important attribute of ‘Dao’, which is relevant as that serves as a contrast to other competing Pre-Qin philosophy, is the namelessness of Dao. ‘Dao’, immanent in the natural world, is abstract and it cannot be represented by language or ‘names’. In a sense, one cannot easily comprehend the nature of Dao and describe it in words how that looks like and what it is about. This is in stark contrast to the other schools of philosophy, as they often attempt to give opinions on human nature and hence how one should behave to fit in. A key example is the Confucian school (儒家).
Confucius (孔子), the founder of the school, maintained that ‘Ren’ (仁, kindness) was important because, when a person has disciplined himself through the observation of this moral requirement, that would facilitate a positive interpersonal relationship with others, leading to a stable social order at large. Confucius observed that language, one of the most important vehicles of human interactions, would impact human relationships and also the social hierarchy. Thus he proposed the need for ‘rectification of names’ (正名, Zheng Ming), the requirement that a person’s behaviour should be in accord to his title, the ‘name’. By expressing a meaning and correspondence unambiguously, the correct ideas can be conveyed through the verbal or written means and that would lead to less conflicts and a more harmonious social order. The notion was not very different from Greek philosophy, like when Socrates pushed for clear definitions of terms when someone gave an ambiguous statement; or the sophist Prodicus who stressed on precise distinctions between similar terms.
The Confucian moral order is therefore rational and hierarchal, working through a rational stage-by-stage approach. Mencius (孟子), the successor of the school of thought, advocated that one should start a moral outlook from an individual perspective, and then influenced his family and finally the society at large (推己及人).
The Daoist philosophers, however, disagreed with this perspective of looking at life. Lao Zi, the founder of the school, has made the famous statement that:
‘The Dao that can be told of is not the eternal Dao.’ (道可道非常道)
and
‘The Nameless is the origin of Heaven and Earth.’ (無名萬物之始)
The philosopher has stated the two most unique doctrines regarding Dao: it cannot be spoken of or stated in words. To put it in another word, if that is an alleged ‘Dao’ which can be stated in words – it is not the real thing, it is a hoax. That is why ‘wu ming’ (無名, namelessness) is Dao’s most important attribute, and it is the origin of all things in nature. If the Confucian thinkers attempted to place names on everything they experienced in life, their actions were against nature, as nature has already organized everything in unity, and the Confucians were trying to disrupt the order of nature. Lao Zi has provided a lot of metaphysical background for Daoist philosophy, but that was Zhuang Zi, his successor, who has engaged with the detractors of his era and expressed a more systematic exposition of Daoist ideas in the book that bore his name.
(End of Part 1)
by Ed Law
Conatus Classics
