Abstract:In Daoist philosophy, the self is understood as an individual interdependent with others, and situated within a broader environment. Within this framework, the concept ziran is frequently understood in terms of naturalness or nature while wuwei is explained in terms of non-oppressive government. In many existing accounts, little is done to connect these two key Daoist concepts. Here, I suggest that wuwei and ziran are correlated, ethical, concepts. Together, they provide a unifying ethical framework for unders… Show more
“…Aesthetic leaders are attentive to how much of a certain action or communication is necessary according to the context (Ladkin, 2008), which is what yi and li advocate as preserving harmony. Meanwhile, yi assembles and organizes the relevant contextual elements (aesthetics), rather than prescribing the rationale to be followed (rule-based reasoning) (Lai, 2007).…”
“…Aesthetic leaders are attentive to how much of a certain action or communication is necessary according to the context (Ladkin, 2008), which is what yi and li advocate as preserving harmony. Meanwhile, yi assembles and organizes the relevant contextual elements (aesthetics), rather than prescribing the rationale to be followed (rule-based reasoning) (Lai, 2007).…”
“…Some scholars (Chan, 1963;Lau, 1963;Schwartz, 1985) hold a naturalistic interpretation in the sense that ziran is read as a single-morpheme word that means "nature". On the contrary, Lai (2007) noted that ziran "derives, in part, from a literal combination of its two terms, 'zi' and 'ran'" (Lai, 2007: p. 330).…”
Section: Literal Meaning Of Ziranmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Syntactically, wo (we) is the nominal subject of the sentence wo zi ran, which implies that ziran is best not understood indiscriminately as "nature", because the syntactic configuration of "noun plus noun" is unacceptable in Chinese language. Even though the term ziran is interpreted as nature, as determined by Lai (2007), "we need to explain how we might interpret 'nature'" (Lai, 2007: p. 329).…”
Section: Literal Meaning Of Ziranmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Some researchers (e.g. Chan, 1963;Lai, 2007) hold that the common people are the target readers of the DDJ because anyone reading the text of the DDJ can be inspired. Others (Heilbrunn, 2009;Moeller, 2006) hold the opinion that the core of the theme in the DDJ is leadership qualities, meaning the rulers are the target readers.…”
The core value and moral codes in Laoist politics are the essential factors that mold the political ethics in the Eastern Asia. In this study, the notion of "ziran" (self-thus-ness) was explored from four perspectives: its literal meaning, its five uses, the position of ziran in Laozi's political thoughts, and the perspective of the target readers of the Dao De Jing (DDJ). We argue that ziran is a highly regarded value in Laoist politics. More precisely, the maintenance of the common people in their self-thus-ness should be the ultimate goal of rulers. Based on this, we asked how this core value can be realized in the process of governing a state. To respond to this question, we applied content analysis and expound the four moral codes that the rulers ought to embrace.
“…If ziran is understood as spontaneity and we are to foster it, we must, in simple terms, refrain from interference: allowing for the spontaneity of an individual requires us not to impose unnecessary constraints on this individual … In other words, it is to practice wuwei . (Lai 2007, 332) 18 .…”
Section: Self and Other: Responsiveness As Responsibilitymentioning
Traditionally, metaphysical notions of self and other presuppose a dualism that underlies much of Western philosophy. This dualism is opposed by accounts of self and other in recent continental philosophy and classical Chinese philosophy, which I compare. I argue that the self is seen in continental and Chinese thought as embedded in (ethical) relations and language, and not as transcendent or prior in the metaphysical sense to them. I argue for this by focussing on three themes: self and language, self as relational and embedded in the world or contextual environment, and self and the particular other. These three themes show that the complexity and dynamic of the self‐other relation is much more realistically conveyed by continental and classical Chinese thought than by the traditional metaphysical account.
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