‘Following the Way of Heaven’: Exemplarism, Emulation, and Daoism

Journal of the American Philosophical Association 6 (1):1-15 (2020)
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Abstract

Many ancient traditions recognise certain people as exemplars of virtue. I argue that some of these traditions incorporate a 'cosmic' mode of emulation, where certain of the qualities or aspects of the grounds or source of the world manifest, in human form, as virtues. If so, the ultimate objection of emulation is not a human being. I illustrate this with the forms of Daoist exemplarity found in the Book of Zhuangzi, and end by considering the charge that the aspiration to cosmic emulation is inhumane.

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Ian James Kidd
Nottingham University

Citations of this work

Moral Exemplarism as a Powerful Indoctrinating Tool.Alkis Kotsonis - 2023 - Journal of Value Inquiry 57 (4):593-605.

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References found in this work

Adversity, Wisdom, and Exemplarism.Ian James Kidd - 2018 - Journal of Value Inquiry 52 (4):379-393.
Wandering at Ease in the Zhuangzi.Paul Rakita Goldin & Roger T. Ames - 2000 - Journal of the American Oriental Society 120 (3):474.

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