This comprehensive collection introduces the rich and deep textual and philosophical ideas related to the received Daodejing. Readers will find out, for example, why Daodejing continues to greatly influence our ways of thinking and living worldwide. How can ancient Chinese philosophy respond to contemporary cultural concerns and interests? How can we develop a philosophy of the Daodejing while critically engaging with textual resources? And finally, how can future research benefit and develop from current debates?
This volume has eight parts, collecting 41 chapters. Part 1 discusses textual and historical issues of excavated texts and received versions of the Daodejing, its linguistic features in these different versions, and influential translations. Part 2 examines key ideas in the Daodejing. Part 3 asks how other early Chinese texts debate with, and develop the Daodejing-related texts. Part 4 introduces several influential commentaries on the Daodejing. Part 5 highlights ancient intellectual and religious interactions with the Daodejing that are overlooked in contemporary philosophical inquiry. Part 6 brings new questions to the ancient texts, and explores how they can respond to contemporary concerns on the basis of textual studies. Part 7 turns to modern perspectives on the Daodejing. Part 8 presents comparative studies of the Daodejing.
Table of Contents:.- Acknowledgment.- Introduction: Daodejing as
Contemporary World Philosophy.- Part
1. Textual and Historical Issues.-
1.
Excavated Manuscripts of the Laozi.-
2. From Bamboo Slips to Received
Versions: Common Features in the Transformation of the Laozi.-
3.
Revisiting the Date of Daodejing in Light of the Guodian Manuscript.-
4.
Western Translations of the Daodejing.- Part
2. Key Concepts and Ideas.-
1.
Dao in the Daodejing.-
6. Acting Naturally: A Case Study of Applied Wuwei
.-
7. De in the Daodejing.-
8. Tian in the Laozi.- 9Prioritizing the
Shengren in the Laozi.-
10. Cosmic and Human Agency in the Daodejing.-
11.
The Notion of Wu or Nonbeing as the Root of the Universe and a Guide for
Life in the Daodejing.-
12. The Philosophical Concept of Peace: Thinking
through the Laozis Daoist Thought.-
13. Yi in the Daodejing.- Part
3.
Daodejing and Related Texts.-
14. The Yin Method: Strategic Leadership in
Sunzis Art of Warfare in View of the Laozis Art of Governance.-
15. The
Daodejing and the Lüshi Chunqiu: Huang-Lao Cosmic and Political Order.-
16.
The Laozi and HAN Feizi through the Lens of the Jie Lao.-
17. The
Origins of the Legend of Master Wen: The Relation Between the Laozi and the
Wenzi.-
18. LIEZI Said: Interpretations on the Daodejings Unwinding
Thread of Dao.- Part
4. Influential Commentaries to the Daodejing.-
19.
Undying Chaos: YAN Zuns Purport of the Laozi and the Guiding Points of His
Thought.-
20. The Heshang Gong Companion to the Laozi.-
21. The
Innovation of Daoist Hermeneutics for Daoist Philosophy: An Analysis of WANG
Bis Interpretation of the Laozi.-
22. Monarchical Interpretations of the
Laozi: Four Emperors Commentaries.- Part
5. Intellectual and Religious
Interactions with the Daodejing.-
23. The Daodejing in Daoist Practice.-
24. The Daodejings Philosophy of Alignment: Interpreting Heshang Gong.-
25. A Philosophical Defense of Wang Fuzhis Harsh Critique of Laozi,- Part
6. Logical and Linguistic Approaches to the Daodejing.-
26. A Logical
Perspective on Dao in the Daodejing.-
27. Dao Pursuit, Language
Engagement, Semantic-Truth Approach.-
28. Metaphors in the Laozi.-
29.
Silence and Rhetorical Questions in the Daodejing.- Part
7. Modern
Perspectives on the Daodejing.-
30. Wuwei and Ziran: The Daodejing and
Environmental Philosophy.-
31. Reconsidering the Feminine: Insights from
the Daodejing.-
32. The Daodejing and Political Philosophy.-
33.
Convergence of the Daodejing and Thoreaus Political Writing in Nineteenth
Century America.- Part
8. Comparative Studies of the Daodejing.-
34. The
Virtuous Person and the Sage: The Nicomachean Ethics and the Laozi as Virtue
Ethics.-
35. The Centaur and the Dragon: Flexibility, Emptiness, and
Survival in the Daodejing and the Philosophy of Machiavelli.-
36. Laozis
and Hegels Political Thoughts: A Comparison.-
37. Life in Digitigrade: A
Cautionary Tale about Human Hubris and Cosmic Humility.-
38. Overcoming
the Heideggerian Laozi: Revisiting Heidegger and the Daodejing.-
39.
All-Embracing: A Laozian Version of Toleration.-
40. Great Authority
in the Daodejing as Framed by Hannah Arendt.-
41. Levinas and the
Daodejing: On the Primordiality of the Feminine/Ci .
Dr. LIU Xiaogan has retired as professor and director of the International Graduate Programme at the School of Philosophy, Beijing Normal University, and professor of the philosophy department, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. He also taught and conducted research at Peking University, NUS, Harvard, and Princeton. He has received numerous awards and prizes for excellence in research and teaching in Beijing, Singapore and Hong Kong. Dr. YUAN Ai is an associate professor at the Department of Philosophy, School of Humanities, Tsinghua University. Her research has received several awards and questions why we should care about nonverbal communication in early China, how we can understand intentions, emotions and relations nonverbally, and how ideas are created through communication.
