Monday, October 24

Midterm exams are due by email before the start of class on Monday.

Reading:  Dao de jing, Reading 2                                                Reference:  Dao de jing

We'll continue discussion of the Dao de jing on Monday.  Because I know you'll be busy with your take-home midterms the reading for today is short.  Our theme on Monday will be identifying the practical lessons of the text - what does it recommend we do in concrete terms, either as individuals seeking sagehood, or as power holders, seeking the seemingly non-Daoist goal of ruling the world.  That the text makes an appeal to power holders, and in some respects seems designed to appeal to their goals of political domination, creates a tension with its more quietist aspects (quietist: stressing meditation or passive living) - that tension will be an issue for us on Monday.