Those Who Act Ruin It: A Daoist Account of Moral Attunement (SUNY series in Chinese Philosophy and Culture)

Contents Acknowledgments Introduction Lao-Zhuang Daoism The Daodejing: An Introduction to Its Complexity Daoism as beyond Objectivism and Relativism “Those Who Act Ruin It”: The Daoist Alternative to Moral Fundamentalism Daoism as a Solution to Moral Fundamentalism Those Who Act Ruin It: Chapter Summary Chapter One An Embodied Account of Experience and Meaning in Daoist Philosophy Daoism and Embodied Experience Hansen on Zhuangzi and Language Daoism and the Nature of Experience Meaning and Intelligibility in Daoist Philosophy Conclusion Chapter Two “Without Action” Wuwei in Daoist Philosophy Nonegoistic Conduct (無為) in the Daodejing “Nonegoistic Conduct” and Spontaneity in the Zhuangzi Daoist Irony as a Functional Equivalent to Morality Institutionalized Morality and Metaphysics as Self-Undermining Philosophical Irony, Dewey, Rorty, and Lao-Zhuang Daoism Conclusion Chapter Three On Being “Without Desire” in Lao-Zhuang Daoism The Problem of Desire Desire and Misperception: The Daoist Critique of Desire Animal Fitness, the “Center,” and “Ontological Relativity” Zhuangzi on the “Genuine Person” “Without Desire” as Sticking to Need and the Daoist Egalitarian Society The Daoist Account of Being “without Self-Interest” Conclusion Chapter Four The “Nonnaturalistic Fallacy” in Lao-Zhuang Daoism A Daoist Account of Values Dewey’s “Philosophical Fallacy”: Daoism’s “Nonnaturalistic Fallacy” Daoist Philosophy: On Values and Valuing Valuing without “Intrinsic Value” in Daoist Philosophy “Intrinsic Value” Is Not Possible to Value “Intrinsic Value” and the Metaphysics of (Racial) Oppression An “End-in-Itself” in Coordinating Means and Ends Is Oppressive Conclusion Chapter Five Alienation and Attunement in the Zhuangzi The Zhuangzi on the “Sages” and “Robbers” Ontological Relativism and the “Muddy Confusion” (Hundun) Carving Up Nature: “Webbed Toes” and “Extra Fingers” The Zhuangzi on the Capacity for “Self-Seeing” (自見) Conclusion: Alienation as Ignorance Chapter Six The Daoist Critique of Moral Bigotry The Daoist Sage: “Without Heart/Mind” Daoism and the Interdependent Self Criminals and the Daoist Critique of the “Moralists” The Daoist Solution: Seeing the Oneness of All Things Conclusion Conclusion A Daoist Alternative to the “Sages” Challenging Western Moral Metaphysics Those Who Act Ruin It Notes Works Cited Index