2 26 14 Their reactions indicate their philosophies Kongzi tastes vinegar as spoiled wine whereas Laozi Daoism sees vinegar as tasting just like it should and so looks happy Vinegar Tasters Daoism Two Camps Philisophical Daoism Mostly focused on two texts the Daodejing and the Zhuangzi Focused primarily on the philosophical issues explored within these texts Religious Daoism Goes far beyond the Daoist texts mentioned above to include other books as well as various practices rituals and beliefs This includes talk of deities immortality afterlives alchemy etc For the sake of this class we re going to focus on philosophical Daoism o Sometimes people talk about Daoism as a path of liberation as opposed to a religion Laozi Some history Laozi is usually translated as Old Master but sometimes as Old Boy o According to tradition Laozi is an older contemporary of Kongzi o According to tradition Laozi was conceived when a shooting star passed his mother He was born 60 years later Laozi also supposedly taught Zhunagzi Zhunagzi is like Laozi s apprentice o According to tradition Laozi wrote 5000 characters that became the Daodejing before leaving China on a water buffalo He then taught and or became the Buddha this is believed by Daoist more than Buddhists The problem Almost all of this history of Laozi is almost certainly false o It s not clear that Laozi existed at all We have no indication that Zhuangzi ever knew Laozi Daodejing Translation Dao way De virtue Jing classic o So the title means something like The Classic on the Way and Virtue o Scholars tend to agree it was written sometime between the 6th and 3rd centuries BCE o We don t know if it has a single author Basically we don t know a lot about the sources of Daoism as portrayed in the Daodejing We do know that the Daodejing reached the status of a classic in the Later Han Dynasty Structurally the Daodejing is divided into two books the Dao part Chapters 1 37 and the De part Chapters 38 end But both parts focus on the way and virtue throughout One thing Daoists will agree on is that Confucians are wrong Daoism A First Pass Virtue Confucians think What actually happens according to Daoists This leads to according to Daoists Li Yi Xiao Leads children to be polite and well mannered Appropriate intentions moral righteousness Filial piety Ren Benevolence People are stubborn We tend to rebel Loathing We accuse people of having a holier than thou attitude Resentment Envy looking to other families for comparison Selfishness I want my goodness reciprocated When it s not it leads to Greed Resentment when not reciprocated Confucians are confused says the Daoist if they think you can have ren and not get resentful when your ren isn t reciprocated Daosists aren t saying the virtues never work o The real Daoist claim There is no cookie cutter model for human o It s confused to think everyone will fit into the Confucian mold At best Confucian virtues sometimes help some people At worst they cause a lot flourishing more dysfunction o So we should stop being so concerned with the virtues Stop encouraging them as they only make problems worse The Daosit Problem with Society There s too much of it We need to reduce society starting with the Confucian virtues o The problem with society is that it teaches us to be greedy and to want the things we don t have or that do not jive with who we are o Society forces us to go against our own natures by trying to prescribe one solution for all people 2 28 14 Daoism A First Pass The Failures of Confucianism Virtue What Confucians Hope What actually Happens Stubbornness Rebellion Li Well Mannered Which Leads to Loathing Yi Moral Righteousness Holier than Though Attitude Resentment toward the Holier than Though Xiao Ren Filial Piety Benevolence Envy of other Families Selfishness and Disappointment if Ren isn t Reciprocated Greed Resentment at Lack of Reciprocation A Daoist Explanation of these Failures Basic Explanation there is no cookie cutter model of human flourishing In other words human flourishing can come in many different forms So although the Confucian model of human flourishing might work well for some people it won t work well for others Hence laws or moral development programs meant to apply to all people in the same way will not bring about human flourishing for everyone A Daoist Solution There are two aspects to the Daoist solution one negative and one positive Negative aspect stop encouraging the Confucian virtues For as we saw the Confucian virtues often lead to problems 1 Li Loathing 2 Yi Resentment 3 Xiao Greed 4 Ren Resentment Positive aspect act in accordance with nature More particularly follow your own human nature to get back to actual nature Human nature here does not refer to whether or not people are innately good or bad as it did for some Confucians The term rather refers to an individual s desires and inclinations Actual nature here doesn t merely mean going out into the woods i e leaving society It also means falling into conformity with the universe as a whole rather than conforming to a particular society A Potential Problem and Solution for the Daoist Proposal Problem what if our human nature is to be greedy resentful loathing and so on It seems then that we can potentially fall into the failures of Confucianism Solution human nature is modest when it in accord with actual nature When our human nature conforms to actual nature our desires and inclinations won t be of the greedy resentful loathing etc variety According to the Daoist we are not inherently selfish when we conform to the universe as whole That is to say Daoists are optimistic about human potential Laozi in fact doesn t say much human nature but this reading can be easily gleaned from the texts Daoism and Society Underlying the Daoist explanation of the Confucian failures is a general criticism of societal life The Criticism Daoism claims that the root of societal problems is that there is too much society to begin with Society forces us to go against our natures and therefore creates greed resentment loathing and so forth Daosim thus suggests that society forces us to compromise our human nature So the reason that we experience the negativities of greed and so on is because we are taught greed and so on by society The root cause of our problems is society We can therefore characterize Daoism as anti establishment individualistic against ritual and custom and favoring intuitive individual knowledge over proper methods