Abstract
This paper considers Daoism from the perspective of teaching Chinese philosophy in a Western setting: To what extent can we think of the Dao as a single unifying principle that organizes the whole field of experience? And is the Dao an absolute foundation—like God—which is meant to be a metaphysical ultimate? To answer these questions, I compare Daoism with monotheism in the Western tradition, and I argue that the Dao is an immanent principle of wholeness rather than a transcendent ideal. I discuss some of the difficulties of teaching the Dao De Jing and The Book of Zhuang Zi in a Western setting; but at the same time, I suggest that Daoism is an important philosophy for anyone who is concerned about the natural world and the increasing threat of environmental disaster. Finally, while Western philosophy seems to prioritize theory over practice, in Daoism practice is given priority over theory, and this is why Daoism is still appealing as a form of spiritual life. For the sake of consistency, I use Pinyin for Chinese philosophers’ names and some of their texts throughout.
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Notes
See Pierre Hadot’s groundbreaking work, Philosophy as a Way of Life (Hadot and Davidson 1995).
See Hegel’s Lectures on the History of Philosophy, p. 117. In the first paragraph of his discussion of “Oriental” or Chinese and Indian philosophy, Hegel comments: “The first Philosophy in order is the so-called Oriental, which, however, does not enter into the substance or range of our subject as represented here. Its position is preliminary, and we only deal with it at all in order to account for not treating of it at greater length, and to show in what relation it stands to Thought and to true Philosophy” (Hegel and Haldane 1995) My italics.
Plato uses this formulation in The Republic, 509b line 8. In Allan Bloom’s translation, Socrates says: “although the good isn’t being but is still beyond being, exceeding it in dignity and power.”.
Nietzsche’s comment is from The Antichrist, “Reason in Philosophy” s.5 in The Portable Nietzsche (Nietzsche and Kaufmann 1971, p. 485).
See for example Derrida’s essay: “Structure, Sign and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences” in Derrida, Writing and Difference (Derrida and Bass 2017, pp. 278–294).
Jan Assmann’s discussion of monotheism runs from Akhnaton to Freud and beyond. In his work, he defends the idea of the “Mosaic distinction” which helped to establish the idea of the one true religion: “What seems crucial to me is not the distinction between the One God and many gods but the distinction between truth and falsehood in religion, between the true god and false gods, true doctrine and false doctrine, knowledge and ignorance, belief and unbelief.” In The Price of Monotheism (Assmann 2008, p. 2).
For a brief account of religious mysticism and especially the work of Pseudo-Dionysius and Meister Eckhart, see Hick (2013, pp. 85–96).
Both this and the previous point are taken from editorial comments in The Bible of the World (Ballou 1939).
See the discussion by David Hall and Roger Ames in their book, Thinking from the Han: Self, Truth and Transcendence in Chinese and Western Culture, especially Chapter Nine on “Tian and Dao as “Nontranscendent Fields” (Hall and Ames 1997, pp. 219–252).
Here and elsewhere, I follow D.C. Lau’s translation, Tao Te Ching, although I use “Dao” instead of “way” at different points.
See for example, Sally McFague’s work, and especially her book Models of God (McFague 1987).
Buber published one of the first German editions of the Chuang Tzu in 1910. He also included his own commentary with this collection, and both are now translated into English by Jonathan Herman in his book, I and Tao (Buber 1970).
From Buber’s commentary in Herman, I and Tao (Buber 1970, p. 85).
See Herman’s own discussion of the relationship between Buber and Daoism in Herman, I and Tao (Buber 1970, pp. 103–120).
For more on skillful mastery in The Book of Chuang Tzu, see Karyn Lai and Wai Wai Chiu (eds.),Skill and Mastery: Philosophical Stories from the Zhuangzi.
This is a zen koan, frequently referenced. It is usually attributed to the ninth century Buddhist sage Lin Chi.
See the discussion by Peter Heehs in his book Spirituality without God (Heehs 2018, pp. 25–31).
See for example, the Introduction to my book: Spiritual Philosophers: from Schopenhauer to Irigaray, pp. 1–15. (White 2020).
For a discussion of Daoism as a religion, see Spirituality without God (Heehs 2018, pp. 107–108).
Nietzsche uses this term in The Antichrist, “Reason in Philosophy” s.2 in The Portable Nietzsche (Nietzsche and Kaufmann 1971, p. 480).
References
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White, R.J. Teaching the Dao: monotheism, transcendence, and intercultural philosophy. Int. Commun. Chin. Cult 8, 271–287 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40636-021-00225-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40636-021-00225-1