PHIL 1100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Tao Te Ching, Laozi, Wu Wei
Document Summary
History of lao tzu and taoism: lao tzu (old master) is the legendary sage-author of the work known as the tao te. It"s not clear when lao tzu lived: some time before 200 bce, is the latest date, for that is the date that the version of the tao te ching that we have was finalized. Some scholars doubt that there was even one person who authored the entire tao te ching. Ching15, 28) which has to do with being natural, and also pure potential. Its opposite is associated with the idea of refinement. The tao: the central concept of taoism is that of the tao. It is the ultimate reality and the origin of all: the taoists thought that the ultimate governing principle is normative. The wind will simply bend one, but it will crack the other (tao te ching 76).
