1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910953497403321

Autore

Michael Thomas <1966->

Titolo

The pristine Dao : metaphysics in early Daoist discourse / / Thomas Michael

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Albany, : State University of New York Press, c2005

ISBN

9780791483176

0791483177

9781423747628

1423747623

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (183 p.)

Collana

SUNY series in Chinese philosophy and culture

Disciplina

181/.114

Soggetti

Cosmogony, Ancient

Taoism

Taoist philosophy

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. 163-166) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front Matter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Note on the Texts -- Early Daoism and Metaphysics -- Early Daoism and Cosmogony -- Early Daoism and Cosmology -- Early Daoism and Ontology -- Early Daoism and Soteriology -- Early Daoism and Modernity -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

The Laozi (Daodejing) and the Zhuangzi have long been familiar to Western readers and have served as basic sources of knowledge about early Chinese Daoism. Modern translations and studies of these works have encouraged a perception of Daoism as a mystical philosophy heavy with political implications that advises kings to become one with the Dao. Breaking with this standard approach, The Pristine Dao argues that the Laozi and the Zhuangzi participated in a much wider tradition of metaphysical discourse that included a larger corpus of early Chinese writings.This book demonstrates that early Daoist discourse possessed a distinct, textually constituted coherence and a religious sensibility that starkly differed from the intellectual background of all other traditions of early China, including Confucianism. The author argues that this discourse is best analyzed through its emergence from



the mythological imagination of early China, and that it was unified by a set of notions about the Dao that was shared by all of its participants. The author introduces certain categories from the Western religious and philosophical traditions in order to bring out the distinctive qualities constituting this discourse and to encourage its comparison with other religious and philosophical traditions.