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More from Lin / Wisdom of Laotse
Nov. 20th, 2013 05:55 pmInteresting "prolegomena", apparently Chapter 33 of the Zhuangzi, which is a survey of schools of thought at the time. I'd not heard of a lot of them, and the conception I had for a few seem different from the description.
Mozi - Mohists, the "ascetics". My concept of them was a rational-empiricist school. But portrayal here is more like the Cynics of Diogenes' mold.
Song Jian / Yin Wen - tolerance, let go of your material possessions, consideration and forgiveness--very Christian (or Cynic in the pattern of Crates of Thebes)
Peng Meng, Tian Pian and Shen Dao ("Temple of the God of Grain group") - detachment, resignation to inevitability, rejection of control over life by reason: live in a state of nature and transcend morality ("P'eng Meng's teacher used to say, 'Al the ancient followers of Tao tried to do was to reach the state beyond praise or blame.") and pretty close to the popular misconception of Laoist thought with a touch of noble savage. Zhuangzi says they only partially understand Dao.
Laozi & Guan Yin - big contrast in the Laozi wuwei vs the Temple of the God of Grain "return to nature". Note that Guan Yin is the officer who persuaded Laozi to write his book, not Guanyin the Bodhisattva of mercy. Instead of "reject humanness, be an animal" we have "appear like clear water", movement in a state of rest. A great deal harder to understand.
Zhuangzi - constant change, lots of questions, radical skepticism!
Hui Shi and the "Sophists" - Why this borrowed term in the translation? Subtlety probably lost on more modern readers, who oversimplify "sophist" as "fake philosopher". Anyway: context dependence of verbal logic, relativity of time and space. Zhuangzi thinks these exercises just amount to playing around with words, no matter how impressed the logicians seem. Later Wittgenstein (according to the summary of others; I've never read the guy) would probably agree with Zhuangzi. Hui Shi really likes to talk, likes to blow other peoples' minds with words, revels too much in the material. But Zhuangzi thought of him as a good friend and a worthy mind.
Mozi - Mohists, the "ascetics". My concept of them was a rational-empiricist school. But portrayal here is more like the Cynics of Diogenes' mold.
Song Jian / Yin Wen - tolerance, let go of your material possessions, consideration and forgiveness--very Christian (or Cynic in the pattern of Crates of Thebes)
Peng Meng, Tian Pian and Shen Dao ("Temple of the God of Grain group") - detachment, resignation to inevitability, rejection of control over life by reason: live in a state of nature and transcend morality ("P'eng Meng's teacher used to say, 'Al the ancient followers of Tao tried to do was to reach the state beyond praise or blame.") and pretty close to the popular misconception of Laoist thought with a touch of noble savage. Zhuangzi says they only partially understand Dao.
Laozi & Guan Yin - big contrast in the Laozi wuwei vs the Temple of the God of Grain "return to nature". Note that Guan Yin is the officer who persuaded Laozi to write his book, not Guanyin the Bodhisattva of mercy. Instead of "reject humanness, be an animal" we have "appear like clear water", movement in a state of rest. A great deal harder to understand.
Zhuangzi - constant change, lots of questions, radical skepticism!
Hui Shi and the "Sophists" - Why this borrowed term in the translation? Subtlety probably lost on more modern readers, who oversimplify "sophist" as "fake philosopher". Anyway: context dependence of verbal logic, relativity of time and space. Zhuangzi thinks these exercises just amount to playing around with words, no matter how impressed the logicians seem. Later Wittgenstein (according to the summary of others; I've never read the guy) would probably agree with Zhuangzi. Hui Shi really likes to talk, likes to blow other peoples' minds with words, revels too much in the material. But Zhuangzi thought of him as a good friend and a worthy mind.
