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Philosophy

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	The <OpenstaxEm><OpenstaxTerm>dao</OpenstaxTerm></OpenstaxEm> as a philosophical concept or a school of philosophical thought is associated primarily with the texts the <OpenstaxEm><OpenstaxTerm>Daodejing</OpenstaxTerm></OpenstaxEm>, commonly attributed to <OpenstaxTerm>Laozi</OpenstaxTerm> or the “Old Master,” and the <OpenstaxEm><OpenstaxTerm>Zhuangzi</OpenstaxTerm></OpenstaxEm>, attributed to Zhuangzi (c. fourth century BCE). Many contemporary scholars question whether Laozi actually existed. It is likely that both texts are collections of writings from a variety of thinkers who belonged to a common school known as <OpenstaxTerm>Daoism</OpenstaxTerm>. Daoism is a belief system developed in ancient China that encourages the practice of living in accordance with the <OpenstaxEm>dao</OpenstaxEm>, the natural way of the universe and all things. Daoism is associated with a countercultural religious movement in ancient China, contrary to the dominant, traditionalist Confucianism. The religious movement of Daoism varied depending on the region, but the unifying theme among Daoist religions is a focus on a naturalistic, nontheological view of the underlying basis for morality and goodness. Part of the attraction and variability of Daoism is the fact that the <OpenstaxEm>dao</OpenstaxEm> is commonly understood to be empty of content, equally open to interpretation by anyone. This perspective leads to a kind of anarchism, resisting traditional hierarchies and authorities.
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	<OpenstaxTerm>Daoism</OpenstaxTerm> is highly critical of <OpenstaxTerm>Confucianism</OpenstaxTerm>, as can be seen from passages such as the following in the <OpenstaxEm>Doadejing</OpenstaxEm>: “When the Great Dao was discarded, only then came <OpenstaxEm>ren</OpenstaxEm> and right. When wisdom and insight emerged, only then came the Great Artifice. When the six kinship classes fell out of harmony, only then came filiality and parental kindness. When the state is darkened with chaos, only then do the loyal ministers appear” (Eno 2010, p. 15, 18). Here, the author criticizes the five constant virtues of Confucius by suggesting that these emerged only after China had lost its way and been separated from the <OpenstaxEm>dao</OpenstaxEm>. Similarly, the <OpenstaxEm>Daodejing</OpenstaxEm> is highly critical of Confucian benevolence (<OpenstaxEm>ren</OpenstaxEm>) and sagehood. It sees the notions of right, virtue, and goodness as concepts that distract the masses and obscure their awareness of the <OpenstaxEm>dao</OpenstaxEm>. Consequently, it recommends a kind of antisocial tendency to reject the way of the masses and act contrary to conventional wisdom.
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<OpenstaxH3>The Dao as a Metaethical Concept</OpenstaxH3>
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	One of the ways in which Daoism differs from Confucianism and Mohism is that it emphasizes the grounds for moral norms but refrains from offering specific moral guidelines for action. <OpenstaxTerm>Daoism</OpenstaxTerm> starts with a certain conception of the natural world that serves as the basis for an ethical perspective on life, whereas Confucianism largely ignores any description of nature untouched, focusing directly on moral behavior. The <OpenstaxEm><OpenstaxTerm>dao</OpenstaxTerm></OpenstaxEm> itself is understood as a natural force that guides all life: “Men emulate earth; earth emulates heaven (<OpenstaxEm>tian</OpenstaxEm>); heaven emulates the Dao; the Dao emulates spontaneity” (Eno 2010, p. 17, 25). The general moral guidance of Daoism involves becoming aware of the <OpenstaxEm>dao</OpenstaxEm> and ensuring that one’s action doesn’t oppose natural forces.
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	In a general sense, the <OpenstaxEm>dao</OpenstaxEm> is considered to be an order governing the universe from its beginnings through the various forces of nature and reaching into human affairs. The human condition sets human beings against the <OpenstaxEm>dao</OpenstaxEm> and places them in opposition to this underlying force, so most of the <OpenstaxEm><OpenstaxTerm>Daodejing</OpenstaxTerm></OpenstaxEm> is focused on attempts to bring human beings back into alignment with the <OpenstaxEm>dao</OpenstaxEm>. The text warns, “As a thing the Dao is shadowed, obscure” (Eno 2010, p. 16, 21b). The problem is that the typical strategies for illuminating and clarifying things further obscure the <OpenstaxEm>dao</OpenstaxEm> because the <OpenstaxEm>dao</OpenstaxEm> itself appears contradictory: “To assent and to object—how different are they? Beauty and ugliness—what is the distinction between them?” (Eno 2010, p. 15, 20).
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	Language and rational concepts pull one away from the <OpenstaxEm><OpenstaxTerm>dao</OpenstaxTerm></OpenstaxEm>, which is either contentless and empty or contradictory: “When the Dao is spoken as words, how thin it is, without taste” (Eno 2010, p. 21, 35). This is why followers of the <OpenstaxEm>dao</OpenstaxEm> should resist attempts to categorize it in a determinative way: “Those who know do not speak; those who speak do not know” (p. 27, 56). Instead, the one who follows the <OpenstaxEm>dao</OpenstaxEm> is capable of embracing contradiction: “One who knows white but preserves black becomes a standard for the world. Such a one never deviates from constant virtue and returns again to being limitless” (p. 18, 28a). Here, it is evident how Daoists draw lessons about the study and mastery of morality from their understanding of metaphysics. If reality is fundamentally contradictory and escapes the human capacity to capture it in language, then the person who wants to remain closest to fundamental reality should refrain from attempting to categorize it and should be willing to live with contradiction.
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	That said, this teaching leads to several tensions. It seems difficult to derive ethical prescriptions from nature when nature itself seems to lack a prescriptive force. The <OpenstaxEm><OpenstaxTerm>dao</OpenstaxTerm></OpenstaxEm> is simply the total forces of nature, neither good nor bad. Yet when Daoists advise one to allow the forces of nature to govern all activity, they themselves must refrain from theorizing. Nevertheless, in order to provide guidance, the Daoist must speak or write. This leaves the reader in a difficult interpretive position (Hansen 2020).
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	<OpenstaxTerm>Skepticism</OpenstaxTerm>, the belief that one can never attain certain knowledge, is entrenched in <OpenstaxTerm>Daoism</OpenstaxTerm>. It’s not clear, however, whether the reason for skepticism is that there is no ultimate answer, that there is an answer but it cannot be known, or that the answer can be known but it cannot be communicated. The <OpenstaxEm>Daodejing</OpenstaxEm> suggests that the best path is to recognize the limits of human knowledge: “To know you do not know is best; not to know that one does not know is to be flawed. / One who sees his flaws as flaws is therefore not flawed” (Eno 2010, p. 32, 71).
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<OpenstaxNote>
	<OpenstaxNoteTitle> Connections </OpenstaxNoteTitle> 
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		The chapter on <a href="./fe58be6f-3b61-4e16-b3b6-db6924f0b2f2@a904be0:97a21c42-24ec-4a8c-85bb-de4bbdd4ef0f.xhtml">epistemology</a> takes a deeper look at Daoism and other forms of skepticism.
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</OpenstaxNote>
<OpenstaxH3>The Ethics of <OpenstaxEm>Wuwei</OpenstaxEm></OpenstaxH3>
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	Daoist texts teach readers to adopt a stance that is typically called <OpenstaxEm><OpenstaxTerm>wuwei</OpenstaxTerm></OpenstaxEm>, meaning nonaction, softness, or adaptiveness to the circumstances at hand. <OpenstaxEm>Wuwei</OpenstaxEm> is contrasted with action, assertion, and control. In the <OpenstaxEm><OpenstaxTerm>Zhuangzi</OpenstaxTerm></OpenstaxEm>, followers of the <OpenstaxEm><OpenstaxTerm>dao</OpenstaxTerm></OpenstaxEm> are characterized in a way that resembles the psychological state known as flow, where they find themselves completely absorbed in their task, losing awareness of themselves as a distinct ego and becoming completely receptive to the task at hand. The <OpenstaxEm>Zhuangzi</OpenstaxEm> tells the story of Cook Ding, a butcher who was so skillful that he had used the same knife without sharpening it for 19 years. He never dulled the blade by striking bone or tendon. Instead, he was able to find the gaps in the joints and cut through with the thin edge of his blade, no matter how small the gaps. He explains, “At the beginning, when I first began carving up oxen, all I could see was the whole carcass. After three years I could no longer see the carcass whole, and now I meet it with my spirit and don’t look with my eyes” (Eno 2019, p. 23, 3.2). The metaphor of flow also resembles descriptions of <OpenstaxEm>wuwei</OpenstaxEm> that compare it to water: “Nothing in the world is more weak and soft than water, yet nothing surpasses it in conquering the hard and strong—there is nothing that can compare” (Eno 2010, p. 34, 78).
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	Moreover, being in a state of nonaction, softness, and flow allows one to be spontaneous and reactive to circumstances. Spontaneity is another characteristic of someone who follows the <OpenstaxEm><OpenstaxTerm>dao</OpenstaxTerm></OpenstaxEm>: “To be sparse in speech is to be spontaneous” (Eno 2010, p. 17, 23). Here, speech seems to be associated with control. This may be because speech exercises a certain control over the world by placing names on things and identifying them as similar to or different from other things, grouping them in categories, and assembling these categories and things into chains of reason. For the Daoists, this puts a distance between humanity and the fundamental forces of nature. The <OpenstaxEm><OpenstaxTerm>Zhuangzi</OpenstaxTerm></OpenstaxEm> states, “The Dao has never begun to possess boundaries and words have never yet begun to possess constancy” (Eno 2019, p. 23, 2.13). The attempt to use language to provide distinctions in the <OpenstaxEm>dao</OpenstaxEm> obscures the <OpenstaxEm>dao</OpenstaxEm>. This is a function of the nature of words to be true or false, allowable or unallowable. The implication is that these distinctions are foreign to the nature of the <OpenstaxEm>dao</OpenstaxEm>. In another section, the <OpenstaxEm>Zhuangzi</OpenstaxEm> reiterates this principle with the slogan “A this is a that; a that is a this” (Eno 2019, p. 16, 2.7). The point is that anything that can be designated as a “this” could also be designated as a “that,” which the author takes to imply that language is relative to the perspective of the speaker.
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	As a result, the Daoists instruct one to surrender their attempts to understand and control nature: “The wish to grasp the world and control it—I see its futility. The world is a spiritlike vessel; it cannot be controlled. One who would control it would ruin it; one who would grasp it would lose it” (Eno 2010, p. 19, 29a). Inaction and the lack of a desire to grasp or comprehend the nature of the world are characteristic of <OpenstaxEm><OpenstaxTerm>wuwei</OpenstaxTerm></OpenstaxEm>: “He who acts, fails; he who grasps, loses. / Therefore the sage takes no action (<OpenstaxEm>wuwei</OpenstaxEm>) and hence has no failure, does no grasping and hence takes no loss” (p. 30, 64c). In contrast with Confucius, the Daoists link inaction and the lack of reason (spontaneity) with virtue: “The highest virtue does not act (<OpenstaxEm>wuwei</OpenstaxEm>) and has no reason to act; the lowest virtue acts and has reason to act” (p. 21, 38).
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<OpenstaxNote>
	<OpenstaxNoteTitle> Write Like a Philosopher </OpenstaxNoteTitle> 
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		Philosophers from around the world believe in the human ability to use reason to create both individual and social flourishing. Describe the qualities an individual has to possess to achieve ethical well-being in Aztec, Confucian, and Daoist thought. Then discuss what qualities you personally believe an individual needs to accomplish this goal.
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3.3.3 Daoism

1 Introduction to Philosophy

1.1 What Is Philosophy?

1.1.1 Historical Origins of Philosophy

1.1.2 How It All Hangs Together

1.2 How Do Philosophers Arrive at Truth?

1.2.1 Sources of Evidence

1.2.2 Logic

1.2.3 Conceptual Analysis

1.2.4 Trade-offs

1.3 Socrates as a Paradigmatic Historical Philosopher

1.3.1 “The Life Which Is Unexamined Is Not Worth Living”

1.3.2 Human Wisdom Is Worth Little or Nothing

1.3.3 The Importance of Doing No Harm

1.4 An Overview of Contemporary Philosophy

1.4.1 What Can You Do with a Philosophy Major?

1.4.2 An Overview of Your Philosophy Textbook

2 Critical Thinking, Research, Reading, and Writing

2.1 The Brain Is an Inference Machine

2.1.1 The Brain’s Adaptive Ability to Plan Ahead

2.1.2 The Evolutionary Advantage of Shortcuts

2.2 Overcoming Cognitive Biases and Engaging in Critical Reflection

2.2.1 Critical Reflection and Metacognition

2.2.2 Cognitive Biases

2.3 Developing Good Habits of Mind

2.3.1 Strive for Objectivity

2.3.2 Adopt Epistemic Humility

2.4 Gathering Information, Evaluating Sources, and Understanding Evidence

2.4.1 Start with a Strong Foundation

2.4.2 The SIFT Method (Four Moves for Student Fact Checkers)

2.5 Reading Philosophy

2.5.1 Prepare to Read

2.5.2 Engaging with Philosophical Texts

2.5.3 Pre-reading

2.5.4 First Read

2.5.5 Close Read

2.6 Writing Philosophy Papers

2.6.1 Identify Claims

2.6.2 Collect Evidence and Build Your Case

2.6.3 Organize Your Paper

3 The Early History of Philosophy around the World

3.1 Indigenous Philosophy

3.1.1 Challenges in Researching Indigenous Philosophy

3.1.2 Indigenous African Philosophy

3.1.3 Indigenous North American Philosophical Thought

3.1.4 Mesoamerican Philosophy

3.2 Classical Indian Philosophy

3.2.1 The Vedic Tradition

3.2.2 Classical Indian Darshanas

3.3 Classical Chinese Philosophy

3.3.1 Early Chinese Philosophical Thought prior to Confucius

3.3.2 Confucianism

3.3.4 Mohism

4 The Emergence of Classical Philosophy

4.1 Historiography and the History of Philosophy

4.1.1 Presentist Approach

4.1.2 Contextualist Approach

4.1.3 Hermeneutic Approach

4.2 Classical Philosophy

4.2.1 Egyptian Origins of Classical Philosophy

4.2.2 Ancient Greek Philosophy

4.2.3 The Presocratics

4.2.4 Socrates and Plato

4.2.5 Aristotle

4.2.6 Epicureans

4.2.7 Roman Philosophy

4.3 Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Philosophy

4.3.1 Defining Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Philosophy

4.3.2 Early Jewish Philosophy

4.3.3 Early Christian Philosophy

4.3.4 Islamic Philosophy

4.3.5 Late Medieval Philosophy in Christian Europe

4.3.6 Jewish Philosophers in the Christian and Islamic Worlds

4.3.7 The Rise of Reason in the Early Modern Era

5 Logic and Reasoning

5.1 Philosophical Methods for Discovering Truth

5.1.1 Dialectics and Philosophical Argumentation

5.1.2 The Use of Reason to Discover Truth

5.1.3 Testing Hypotheses

5.1.4 Laws of Logic

5.1.5 Normativity in Logic

5.2 Logical Statements

5.2.1 Conditionals

5.2.2 Universal Statements

5.3 Arguments

5.3.1 Getting to the Premises

5.3.2 The Difference between Truth and Logic

5.4 Types of Inferences

5.4.1 Deductive Reasoning

5.4.2 Inductive Inferences

5.4.3 Abductive Reasoning

5.5 Informal Fallacies

5.5.1 Fallacies of Relevance

5.5.2 Fallacies of Weak Induction

5.5.3 Fallacies of Unwarranted Assumption

5.5.4 Fallacies of Diversion

6 Metaphysics

6.1 Substance

6.1.1 Fundamentality: The One and the Many

6.1.2 Ontological Perspectives on Substance

Question	Answer
a belief system developed in ancient China that encourages the practice of living in accordance with the dao, the natural way of the universe and all things.	Daoism
a philosophical position that claims people do not know things they ordinarily think they know.	Skepticism
a natural way of acting that is spontaneous or immediate, in which a person’s actions are in harmony with the flow of nature or existence.	Wuwei