Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching

Preface: Recall that philosophy is the critical analysis and justification of beliefs, so the goals of reading the Tao Te Ching are to formulate the main ideas that it expresses and to then justify or give reasons for thinking the ideas are true or false. Formulating ideas involves more than just stating the idea in a preliminary way. Refining expression and revising in light of further passages are necessary for accuracy and clarity. A reason or justification is the support that can be marshalled for the idea. It might be weak or strong, and it may depend on claims about the world or conceptual claims. We will have examples of each from the Tao Te Ching.

"No one can hope to understand Chinese philosophy, religion, government, art, medicine - or even cooking - without an appreciation of the profound philosophy taught in this little book. It is true that, while Confucianism emphasizes social order and an active life, Taoism concentrates on individual life and tranquility, thus suggesting that Taoism plays a secondary role. But, in reality, by opposing Confucian conformity with non-conformity and Confucian worldliness with a transcendental spirit, Taoism is a severe critic of Confucianism. In its doctrines on government, on cultivating and preserving life, and on handling things, Taoism is the equal on Confucianism."

In Taoism, the Tao means "the One, which is natural, eternal, spontaneous, nameless and indescribable. It is at once the beginning of all things and the way in which all things pursue their course. When this Tao is possessed by individual things, it becomes its character or virtue (te). The ideal life for the individual, the ideal order for society, and the ideal type of government are all based on it and guided by it. As the way of life, it denotes simplicity, spontaneity, tranquility, weakness, and most important of all, non-action (wu-wei). By the latter is not meant literally "inactivity" but rather "taking no action that is contrary to Nature" - in other words, letting Nature take its course." (Chan, 136)

While the Tao is real, it is not a thing. Instead, it is a positive emptiness, a emptiness (like the hollow of a bowl) that makes being (the usefulness of a bowl) possible. This conception of emptiness is contrary to the Western notion of nothing as absolute nothingness or a totally negative void. This lead many Western philosophers to regard "Something can't come from nothing" as a knowable, necessary truth about reality. For a Taoist, the real (Tao) is beyond the existent (being) and the non-existent (non-being).

Taoism, a process ontology, emphasizes change and becoming as fundamentally real. A substance ontology, by contrast, emphasizes permanence and unchanging being as fundamentally real. Plato's theory of forms is the classic example of a substance ontology.

Links to a number of introductions to Taoism. One article on Taoism that is particularly useful is by Berling and Dalhousie University has a site with a good article on Lao Tzu. Arne Morkin has a general site on Taoism and its relation to Tai chi.

Confucius has a contrasting interpretation of certain philosophic concepts.