Daoism and Environmental Philosophy: Nourishing Life (Routledge Explorations in Environmental Studies)

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. Cover Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents Acknowledgments Chapter 1: Introduction: early Daoist ethics and the philosophy of nature What is Daoism? An Initial Overview “Dao” and “Daoism” Transmissions of the dao between Religion and Philosophy Daoism as philosophy Philosophy as an examined way of life Daoist exemplars, models, and transformative strategies Daoism, environmental philosophy, and political ecology Daoist models and their ecological significance Toward a critical therapeutic ecology Notes Chapter 2: Nourishing life, cultivating nature, and environmental philosophy Damaged life and nourishing life The problem of nourishing life: an overview Controversies over nourishing and augmenting life Early Daoist models of nourishing life Historical and philosophical considerations The ecological ethos of nourishing life in the Daodejing The paradox of nourishing life in the Zhuangzi Nourishing bodily form Reimagining a new Daoist ecological ethos Nourishing life and acknowledging death Daoism as ecological ethos and praxis The shared body of life in Neo- Confucianism Notes Chapter 3: Wuwei, responsive attunement, and generative nature Figuring out how not to act Introduction Ruist conceptions of “non-action” Non-action and non-engagement as Legalist biopolitical strategies Encountering nature and caring for the myriad things Dao follows ziran Daoist ziran as a contemporary ecological example and model On the indifference and cruelty of nature The Daodejing: from morality to nurturing care Wuwei, responsive attunement, and a new Daoist ecology Non-action, non-engagement, and responsive attunement Wang Bi's Laozi: is the sage indifferent or responsive? An ethos and culture of ecological responsive attunement Conclusion Notes Chapter 4: Emptying ecology: nothingness, language, and encountering things Enacting emptiness and simplicity to encounter nature Introduction The enactment of emptiness and responsiveness to things Fasting, forgetting, and becoming genuine in the Zhuangzi Undoing fixations and the freedom of nature in the Zhuangzi Unsaying the said with Zhuangzi Wandering amidst things beyond being and use Free and ecological roaming in the immanence of natural occurrence The joy of fish Wang Bi and the deconstruction of concepts, images, and words Emptying fixations and the generative functioning of nothingness Wang Bi and the functioning of language Ways of speaking and wandering in the limitless beyond language Conclusion: reimagining ecology with Zhuangzi and Wang Bi Notes Chapter 5: Early Daoist biopolitics and a new Daoist political ecology Early Daoist biopolitics in context Introduction Legalist and Daoist biopolitical models of the sage-kings The biopolitics of Agrarian simplicity Yang Zhu and the biopolitical primacy of bodily being Sage-kings and self-organizing communities Emptying and simplifying the political in the Daodejing The anarchic politics of anti-politics in the Zhuangzi and Liezi The politics of nothingness in Zhuangzi and Wang Bi Equalizing and singularizing things Early Daoist biopolitics and a new Daoist ecopolitics Emptiness, simplicity, and ecopolitics The anarchy of dao and ecological self-organizing democracy Toward a new Daoist political ecology Conclusion Notes Chapter 6: Epilogue: emptying ecology and Chan Buddhism The question of Chan Buddhism Introduction: the trouble with Zen Killing the Buddha Antinomianism and the Chan Buddhist dao The question of antinomianism Zongmi and Jeong Dojeon: two critiques of Chan Buddhism Beyond nomos and antinomos: ordinary mind as the way Toward a Chan Buddhist environmental ethos Undoing perfectionism: Chan ethics and moral theory An ecological ethos of emptiness and encounter Undoing the barriers between things with dharma and dao Conclusion Notes Afterword Index "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 bodily 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 political ecology. This work will be of interest to students and scholars interested in philosophy, environmental ethics and philosophy, and religious studies, and intellectual history"-- Provided by publisher This book explores ethics and the philosophy of nature in the Daodejing, the Zhuangzi, and related texts to elucidate their significance in our contemporary environmental crisis. The author explores early Daoism to provide insights for cultivating an expansive ecological ethos and environmental culture of nature.