The essay considers the relevance of Daoism to thinking about the place of human beings in the world in the light of global climate change.

Jiren (畸人), literally translated as irregular (Ji) person (ren), is a critical concept in the classical Daoist text the Zhuangzi (5th–3rd century BC.).1 The concept refers to individuals with atypical body shapes. Some of them lack body parts of the standard human body, like a leg or toes. Some others have an atypical anatomy, like having a chin stuck down their navel; and some of them are, by social standards of the time, considered to be extremely (...) ugly.1 These individuals are described as incredibly virtuous. The description of Jiren individuals as virtuous does not simply aim to show there may be hidden virtues that social conventions blur. The point is not to show that we should also care for those with atypical bodies who have a hidden virtue. Rather, the point is to show that all human beings have an unconditional intrinsic value and moral worth. So, Jiren prescribes that an atypical body shape does not reflect inferiority. The variation of body anatomies should be understood as how the world is, not a value hierarchy. The concept of Jiren encourages, therefore, to consider one’s own and others’ value beyond their physical appearance. What’s more, Jiren encourages individuals to resist social pressures to fit a standard and to search inward for who they really are and accept it. This ethical groundwork set by the Jiren aims at freeing people from existing physical and mental boundaries to their well-being and helping them rethink …. (shrink)

Laozi says, “The reason why I have great trouble is that I have a body.” Zhuangzi also asks us to forget the body. These seem to suggest that Daoism holds a negative view on the body. However, I will argue for a positive understanding of the Daoist doctrine of the body. In The Visible and the Invisible, the later Merleau‐Ponty aims to introduce an ontology of the flesh. With the help of his concept of the (...) flesh of the world, one can clarify and justify the positive relation between the Dao and the body from a phenomenological standpoint. (shrink)

With In Good Company, Bede Benjamin Bidlack derives a theory of the body from the French Jesuit Pierre Teilhard de Chardin using his own, first-time translation of the thought of Daoist Xiao Yingsou.

This paper examines the elusive concept of Xu in Zhuangzi’s philosophy to find out how specifically Xu addresses relationality through its distinct cultivation of ambiguity in this Daoist philosopher’s theory. The paper chooses liubai and body as two examples to unravel the ways in which the concept of Xu is manifested. Embedded in the meanings of blandness and lack of substance, Xu enlivens change, transformation and process. Evident in liubai, Xu creates a unique ecological space of metamorphosis that (...) nourishes mutual becoming. For Zhuangzi, body is neither understood as the object to be acquired nor as the means to acquire knowledge. Rather, body is a void to become. The political implication of Xu suggests a politics of indeterminacy – an alienation from preordained power structures and a reconstruction of power relations. (shrink)

Daoism and Environmental Philosophy explores ethics and the philosophy of nature in the Daodejing, the Zhuangzi, and related texts to elucidate their potential significance in our contemporary environmental crisis. This book traces early Daoist depictions of practices of embodied emptying and forgetting and communicative strategies of undoing the fixations of words, things, and the embodied self. These are aspects of an ethics of embracing plainness and simplicity, nourishing the asymmetrically differentiated yet shared elemental body of life of the (...) myriad things, and being responsively attuned in encountering and responding to things. These critical and transformative dimensions of early Daoism provide exemplary models and insights for cultivating a more expansive ecological ethos, environmental culture of nature, and progressive political ecology. This work will be of interest to students and scholars interested in philosophy, environmental ethics and philosophy, religious studies, and intellectual history. (shrink)

Ideas found in the early Daoist texts can inform current debates about disability, since the latter often involve assumptions about personhood and agency that Daoist texts do not share. The two canonical texts of classical Daoism, the Daodejing and the Zhuangzi, do not explicitly discuss disability as an object of theory or offer a model of it. They do, however, provide conceptual resources that can enrich contemporary discussions of disability. Two particular ideas are discussed here. Classical Daoist (...) thinking about the body undermines normative assumptions about it that attributions of ‘disabled’ often depend upon; and Daoism vividly problematises the common inferential leap from perceived and pronounced incapacity to a more general judgment of “useless”. In conclusion, I suggest that Daoism’s skepticism and particularistic approach to experience suggest caution about the value of appealing to theoretical models of disability. (shrink)

Daoism: A Contemporary Philosophical Investigationexplores philosophy of religion from a Daoist perspective. Philosophy of religion is a thriving field today, increasingly expanding from its traditional theistic, Christian roots into more cosmologically oriented Asian religions. This book raises a number of different issues on the three levels of cosmos, individual, and society, and addresses key questions like: What are the distinctive characteristics of Daoist thought and cosmology? How does it approach problems of creation, body, mind, and society? What, (...) ultimately, is Dao? How does it manifest and play a role in the world? What are the key features of Daoist communities and ethics? What role does the body play in Daoism? What do Daoists think is the relationship between language and reality? What is Daoist immortality? How do Daoists envision the perfect life on earth? The volume delves into philosophical subject matter in a way that is accessible to those approaching the topic for this first time, while also making an original contribution to Daoist philosophy of religion. This volume is suitable for use by undergraduate and graduate students studying Chinese religion and philosophy, as well as more general introductory courses on Daoism. (shrink)

This paper presents the thesis that Neo-Confucianism and Neo-Daoism have shared basic unity concerning the following three themes: the inner logic of the life world, spiritual world and personality ideal; the intrinsic logic of the learning of body and mind; and the inner logic of textual interpretation methods. This is a deepening process from historical phenomena to philosophy and to the interpretation of classics.

This paper examines the creation of Daoism in its earliest, pre-Eastern Han period. After an examination of the critical terms "scholar/master" and "author/ school", I argue that, given the paucity of evidence, Sima Tan and Liu Xin should be credited with creating this tradition. The body of this article considers the definitions of Daoism given by these two scholars and all of the extant texts that Liu Xin classified as "Daoist." Based on these texts, I then suggest an (...) amended definition of Daoism. In the conclusion, I address the recent claim that the daojia /daijiao dichotomy is false, speculating that disagreement over this claim arises from the context in which Daoism is considered: among the other pre-Qin "schools of thought" or among other world religion. (shrink)

In this expansive and highly original two-volume work, Jim Behuniak reformulates John Dewey's late-period "Cultural turn" and proposes that its next logical step is an "intra-Cultural philosophy" that goes beyond what is commonly known as "comparative philosophy." Each volume models itself on this new approach, arguing that early Chinese thought is poised to join forces with Dewey in meeting an urgent cultural need: namely, helping the Western tradition to correct its outdated Greek-medieval assumptions, especially where these result in pre-Darwinian inferences (...) about the world. Relying on the latest findings in Chinese philosophy, these volumes establish "specific philosophical relationships" between Dewey's ideas and early Chinese thought for this purpose, showing how together they can assist us in getting our thinking "back in gear" with the world as it is currently known through the biological, physical, and cognitive sciences. Volume One: Dao and Nature engages Dewey with themes generally associated with "Daoism," and includes discussion of the organization of organic form, teleology, cosmology, knowledge, the body, and technology. Volume One thus works to establish "Chinese natural philosophy" as an empirical framework in which to consider the cultural-level phenomena examined in Volume Two: Dao and Culture. (shrink)

From the modern point of view, the Daoist regimen culture in China is actually a kind of oriental bionomy. Although it is less developed than the Western life sciences in terms of details and techniques, it has unique advantages in terms of its comprehensive grasp and dynamic observation of life, as well as its emphasis on the development of life potentiality and on the self adjustment and improvement of living bodies. Chen Yingning reestablished a Daoist bionomy through Xianxue (...) 仙学 (Philosophy of Immortals) which involves religious faith, philosophy and sciences, leaving us a valuable legacy. To establish a new bionomy system required by the modern society through learning from the Daoist bionomy, the academic circle has to seriously explore the four issues: (1) at the level of faith, to turn the Daoist faith in deities and gods into a pursuit of ideal personality; (2) with respect to the principles of regimen, to extend the dual cultivation into a kind of universal concept; (3) as with the way of regimen, to learn from the regimen thought of Daoism and combine the inner cultivation with the outer one, and static exercise with dynamic exercise; and (4) with regard to the ways of treatment of diseases, to combine the Daoist medicine with the Western medicine. (shrink)

The article deals with the problem of death and certainty as reflected in Daoism and Japanese Buddhist philosophy. In the Buddhist context, the Japanese Pure Land theory is discussed. The Buddhist theories are illustrated with the quotations of Daoist philosophers, Zhuang Zi and Lao Zi {Dan dejing), which illuminate the problem of certainty related to the theory of body and its transformations through the mental and physical techniques used in visualizations that were used on the Buddhist path to (...) truth and certainty. (shrink)

This chapter examines the sculptural aesthetics of Johann Herder and Chinese Daoism. Herder’s thesis that sculpture presents “forms in which the living soul animates the entire body” might have changed the way Europeans viewed the plastic arts, but Daoism had already discovered this “truth” two millennia earlier. What is common to both Herder and Daoism is the argument that sight inherently falls short when it comes to knowing the possibility of human experience. As sight lacks the tactile sensation of (...) touch, and sculpture is an artform created by the hands, it falls to spirit to convey what our eyes cannot feel and our hands cannot see. What the sculptor shapes is thus not the human imagination but the spirit of Nature, a shaping that in reality never departs from the hidden ground of the soul. (shrink)

The Zhuangzi is one of the richest early Chinese sources for exploring conceptualizations of the visceral human form. Zhuangzi presents the human frame as a corpus of flesh, organs, limbs, and bone; he dissects it before the reader's eyes, turning it inside out and joyfully displaying its fragmented joints, sundered limbs, and beautifully monstrous mutations. This body is a site of immolation and fragmentation that ultimately evokes a larger wholeness and completeness. Drawing and quartering the body, Zhuangzi paradoxically (...) frees it from ordinary mortality. -/- Sommer explores the fields of meaning of different terms for the human body found in the Zhuangzi: the body might appear there as a gong body 躬, a sanctimonious ritualized body; as a shen body 身, a site of familial and social personhood; or as a ti body 體, a complex, multilayered corpus of multiple parts, each of which is consubstantial with the whole. Most commonly, however, the body in the Zhuangzi is the xing 形, an elemental or structural form. Zhuangzi enlivens and develops the xing form in ways that are not seen in other early Chinese texts. He mutilates and mutates it such that boundaries between form and formlessness disappear, and the physical frame becomes incorporated into a larger common body that includes all of life and death. (shrink)

In this paper, we attempt to de-naturalize the prevailing economistic imaginary of work that Max Weber and later commentators described as ‘protestant work ethic,’ epitomized in the figure of homo economicus. We do so by contrasting it with the imaginary of skillful work that can be found in vignettes about artisans in the Zhuangzi. We argue that there are interesting contrasts between these views concerning 1) direct goal achievement vs. indirect goal achievement through the cultivation of skills; 2) the hierarchization (...) of mental versus physical dimensions of work; 3) the crafting of non-dominating relationships between the working subject, their object, and their instruments of work, which leads to questions about the sustainability of these relationships; and 4) the relationship between work and well-being, which the Daoist texts conceptualize in a much more holistic, but also more presentist way than Western economic rationality. We conclude by pointing out the relevance of these differences for several contemporary debates about work, by denaturalizing a dominant imaginary of work, by distinguishing different forms of work, by suggesting a different relation between work and nature, and by raising questions about the desirability of the automation of work. (shrink)

Introduction -- Historical background : schools and politics -- Major representatives : Daoists of the Liang and Tang -- The sources : commentaries and scriptures -- Key concepts : mystery, Dao, and the greater cosmos -- Salvation : Dao-nature and the sage -- The teaching : mysticism, cultivation, and integration -- Changes in the Pantheon : Laozi and the heavenly deities -- The body of the sage : the three-in-one and the three- -- Fold body of the Buddha.

Taiji – sport, meditation, martial art , health preservation, way of enlightenment and philosophy of life – is one the best-known signs for recognizing Chinese Daoism. The following article wishes to explain the influence of classical philosophical Taoism notions such as dao , qi and wuwei and their application on Taiji principles practiced today world wide. Arising from tradition of an early Daoism those notions are the core of its fundamental books and forming material of Daoistic philosophy, which has managed, (...) despite its exposure to great historical changes and religious influences during the thousands of years, to preserve its autonomy owing to the application of those axioms. Regularly practicing Taiji with the aim of mens sana in corpore sano and appreciating the rules of principles dao, qi and wuwei directly result in suppleness, strength and composure of body and spirit and carries us to higher levels of consciousness in which we are able to achieve the unity of physical and mental perfection. In this manner Taiji as ”sport” gains its complete, transcendent dimension. (shrink)

In this article, the author examines the work of the Neo-Confucian thinker Zhou Dunyi , particularly his seminal essay, "Explanation of the Diagram of the Great Ultimate" , as a key articulation of the anthropocosmic vision that underlies the traditional Chinese practice of taijiquan. Although often associated with Daoism, the art of taiji actually draws on cosmological principles widely shared by followers of all Chinese schools of thought. Through a careful reading of Zhou's essay, it becomes apparent that Zhou is (...) deeply versed in this very ancient pan-Chinese cosmic vision, giving his essay a decidedly mystical air. However, Zhou also takes pains to give his essay a distinctive Confucian flavor by stressing the necessity of human moral action in establishing proper cosmic balance. This marriage of the more mystical and practical/ moral suggests that Zhou himself may have been a practitioner of some form of taijiquan, as that are functions by combining both aspects of Chinese philosophy. Whether this suggestion is true or not, however, Zhou's "Explanation" stands as perhaps the best articulation of the "essence" of taiji found in traditional sources. (shrink)

In this article, I re-examine political subjectivity by way of looking at the canonical text of Chinese Daoist philosophy – Zhuangzi. I trace the course of how the body is conceived in Zhuangzi and discuss its relation with the unmaking of personhood. I then look into ways in which the body–self nexus in Zhuangzi gives rise to new conceptualization of political relations. I argue that, in Zhuangzi, the body is conceived as spontaneous and dispossessed. The (...) class='Hi'>body as such foregrounds the condition for unsettling subjectivity. In staging ambivalent subjectivities, Zhuangzi describes a mode of politics where political relations thrive on indeterminacy and uncertainty. I submit that the authors of Zhuangzi propose a depoliticizing approach to politics whereby ‘effortless action’ replaces established processes in reinventing new relations and subjects. (shrink)

At the intersections of social anthropology, philosophy, and Asian studies, my paper explores the body ecologic through a phenomenological frame in the context of Chinese culture engaging both theory and method. How can qì cultivation experiences transporting bodies and persons in movement, within the world and their “life‐world,” be interpreted through a phenomenology of perception? Based on ethnographic study data collected mainly in South China (Guangzhou) and in Taiwan (1990s–2000s), this exploration is situated within qìgōng experiences (training, cultivating and (...) mastering the qì). Anchored in martial, religious, and healing arts and their meanings, qìgōng’s myriad of forms and infinite variations invite journeys into religious Daoist and Buddhist practice, Chinese thought, and politico‐religious issues of past and present Chinese society. The qìgōng world, paths of knowledge transmission, healing horizons, claimed affiliations, and views of practitioners unveil an ontology and a cosmology grounded in religious (Daoist and Buddhist) lore. (shrink)

After describing the three European strategies focused on social control, this essay will first demonstrate that the first two strategies try less to protect societies than to enforce efficient tools of governance. Additionally, they reinforce stereotypes harming Muslim immigrants. I show that diverse approaches in policing can make a difference in the communities where police forces operate. The third strategy, that of prevention requiring the cooperation of the citizens, may be more sustainable in the long term as it facilitates communication (...) among local politicians and involved actors. Finally, I point out that the interplay of interests, ideas and institutions matter a great deal to the comparison. (shrink)

I would first like to congratulate Dr Seale for producing a thought-provoking piece of research that has captured the imagination of the nation's media. 1 I would also like to point out an interesting discordance that I have noted with regard to the findings of this important research, which ought to stimulate further discussion. Although religious doctors were significantly less likely than their non-religious colleagues to provide continuous or deep sedation until death or to provide treatment with at least ….

As study of knowledge, epistemology attempts at identifying its necessary and sufficient conditions and defining its sources, structure and limits. From this pointof view, until present, there are no applied approaches to the Romanian archaeology. Consequently, my present paper presents an attempt to explore the structural characteristics of the knowledge creation process through the analysis of the results of a series of interviews conducted on Romanian archaeologists. The interviews followed a qualitative approach built upon a semi-structured frame. Apparent data saturation (...) was reached after four interviews within initial target group (senior researchers with institutional authority). Under these conditions a decision was made to continue the interviews within a secondary control group (young doctoral or post-doc researchers guided by members of the initial target group) in order to both verify the observed data saturation and to assess the impact of the attitude of senior researchers towards scientific research on the younger generation. The preliminary results allow to assert that Romanian archaeology is still caught in a highly conservative and intradisciplinarian manner of knowledge production with a negative effect on both new knowledgeproduction and future specialists’ education. (shrink)

As part of a research conducted in the field of professional didactics for the design of video-based training for saddlers, we mobilize an iterative and collaborative analysis protocol with professionals. We compare the effects produced during a debate between experts mediated by the researcher, based sometimes on a confrontation with video traces of the activity, sometimes on the temporary diagrams of a conceptual structure of the situation. Using the argumentative trilogue analysis framework, we show how these methodologies are able to (...) foster the expression of a process of conceptualization depending on whether professionals are confronted with lived images or concep-tualizations produced by the researcher. (shrink)

IntroductionThe world pandemic of the virus SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19 infection was announced by the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020. Due to the restrictions that were introduced in order to minimize the spread of the virus, people more often suffer from stress, depression, anxiety, and sleep disorders. The aim of this study was evaluation of the stress levels and sleep disorders among nursing students during the pandemic SARS-CoV-2.Materials and Study MethodsThis is a cross-sectional study conducted among 397 nursing (...) students on March 2020. The research tools used were original questionnaires, Perceived Stress Scale, and the Athenian Insomnia Scale, as well as Coping with Stress Inventory.ResultsRespondents felt a high level of stress, which occurred in 68.8% of interviewees regarding whether there was a danger of contracting COVID-19. Respondents experienced 84% stress levels when a family member suffered from COVID-19. Sleep disorders were determined mainly by the fear of infection and contact with someone who might be infected with the virus. Nursing students who felt a high level of stress often suffered from sleep disorders more frequently than students who felt a low or average stress level. The respondents decided to cope with stress by denial, taking psychoactive substances, ceasing action, or blaming themselves. The greater the intensity of stress experienced by students, the more often they undertook avoidance behaviors or showed helplessness.ConclusionDuring the pandemic, students experienced severe stress, which resulted in sleep disorders and avoidance behaviors. (shrink)

Globalization leads to cross-border business transactions between societies with very different norms and regulations regarding bribery. Bribery in international business transactions can be seen as a function of not only the demand for such bribes in different countries, but the supply, or willingness to provide bribes by multinational firms and their representatives. This study addresses the propensity of firms from 30 different countries to engage in international bribery. The study incorporates both domestic (economic development, culture, and domestic corruption in the (...) supplying country) and international factors (those countries’ patterns of trade and involvement in international accords) in explaining the willingness to bribe abroad. The propensity to provide bribes was the lowest when corruption was not tolerated in the multinational firms’ home countries, when the firms’ countries were signatories of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) anti-bribery convention, and when those countries traded heavily with wealthier nations. Further, these findings are maintained when controlling for levels of economic development and cultural values in the supplying country. In terms of culture, firms from high power distance countries showed a somewhat greater propensity for providing bribes in transactions with less-developed nations. (shrink)

In Chinese body culture, the construct of qi 氣—literally translated as breath or energy—is at the heart of several programs of self‐cultivation, as well as other domains of bodily knowledge related to the subjective and inter‐subjective realm of everyday life. Also, among Chinese societies and communities, discourses on qi have assumed social significance in the milieus of politics, religion, and popular culture. Therefore, it appears to be the case that a concern for the qi experience is significant to both (...) the Chinese sensorium and its sociocultural context. However, while this category is ubiquitous, we are still left with the question of how people learn, elaborate, and make sense of it. By drawing from an in‐depth ethnographic study of a group of neidan qigong 內丹氣功 practitioners in Taipei, Taiwan, the aim of this article is twofold. To a greater extent, it investigates what role qigong, a mind‐body practice to cultivate and balance the vital energy, plays in the individual learning, elaboration, and understanding of the qi sensory experience. To a lesser extent, it considers this case study in the broader sociocultural context, in order to demonstrate that a first‐person approach to the qi experience can contribute to understanding the dynamics between embodied learning, consciousness, and society. (shrink)