Activism via Inaction (Wu Wei): Oscar Wilde's Interpretation and Appropriation of Chuang Tzu

2021 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-120
Author(s):  
Qi Chen
Keyword(s):  
Chuang Tzu ◽  
Wu Wei

Technological Paradigm in Ancient Taoism

2009 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 190-205
Author(s):  
George Teschner ◽  
Alessandro Tomasi ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Alternative Conception ◽  
Chuang Tzu ◽  
Technological Paradigm ◽  
Wu Wei ◽  
Instrumental Values ◽  
Technology Focus ◽  
Aesthetic Values

Heidegger, Winner, and Ellul's critiques of Western technology focus on a notion of efficiency that subordinates to itself all non-instrumental values. An alternative conception of efficiency is proposed based on the Taoist theory of non-action (wu-wei). The ancient Taoist text, The Chuang Tzu, reveals a type of efficiency that is effective, resourceful, and entrepreneurial. It is a form of action which has an intimate rather than alienated relation to technology, and which is sensitive to the ethical and aesthetic values that Heidegger and Ellul claim are excluded from the Western conception of efficiency.

scholarly journals Wu Wei in Chuang Tzu as Life-Systematic

2002 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-77
Author(s):  
Kuang-ming Wu ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Chuang Tzu ◽  
Wu Wei

無為 – On the Eurasian Roots of the Laissez-Faire Doctrine

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Gerlach
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Diffusion Process ◽  
Crystallization Process ◽  
Low Countries ◽  
Commercial Society ◽  
The Core ◽  
Wu Wei ◽  
Master Model ◽  
Laissez Faire

Abstract This paper focuses on the diffusion of 無為/ wu-wei (an ancient Chinese concept of political economy) throughout Europe, between 1648 and 1848. It argues that at the core of this diffusion process were three significant developments; first, the importation and active transmission of wu-wei by the Low Countries during the seventeenth century. It is revealed that the details of Chinese expertise entered Europe via the textual diffusion of Jesuit texts and the visual diffusion of millions of so-called minben-images during the ceramic boom of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Thus, the hypothesis is advanced that the diffusion of wu-wei, co-evolved with the inner-European laissez-faire principle, the Libaniusian model. In the second part, it is shown that the intellectual foundation of Europe’s first economic school, Physiocracy, is a direct replica of the imported Chinese economic, agrarian craftsmanship of wu-wei; subsequently, it is denied that the indigenous European Libaniusian ideology can be considered the intellectual master-model of Physiocracy and his founder Quesnay. Finally, we argue that Switzerland can be identified as the first European paradigm state of wu-wei. The crystallization process of wu-wei inside Europe ultimately ended with the economic-political reorganization of the newly formed Eidgenossenschaft in 1848. The Swiss succeeded in institutionally transforming traditional Chinese agrarian wu-wei into the modern version of European “commercial wu-wei”. In due course, this alpine paradigm enabled the endogenous Libaniusian model to verify and reflect upon its theory of commercial society. Additionally, this third focus also demonstrates that the later development of Europe’s laissez-faire doctrine has to be seen as a Eurasian co-production – without importing China’s wu-wei, Europe’s pro-commercial ideology might never have matured.

A "space" created in psychoanalysis and Eastern thought: a discussion of holding environment, container, and wu-wei

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 102-122
Author(s):  
Li Hanning
Keyword(s):  
Mental State ◽  
Interpersonal Relations ◽  
The Other ◽  
Holding Environment ◽  
True Self ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Psychoanalytic Therapy ◽  
Wu Wei ◽  
State Of Mind

In this article Winnicott, Bion, and Zhuangzi's three metaphorical concepts of psychological space are compared to understand the meaning of their respective use of space and unity, as well as the importance of the unity of space itself. This is carried out against the background of psychoanalysis and Eastern thought. This is not only a state that analysts need to be able to achieve in psychoanalytic therapy, but is also related to the quality of the mental state of each of us in our daily lives. An open and perceptive experience is responsible for the spontaneous presentation and for mental growth, and in Eastern thought, at its core is the wu-wei thought, defined as unconflicted personal harmony, inaction, or free-flowing spontaneity. Although psychoanalysis is a therapeutic method, it is not limited to this function. It is also a preparation for patients to approach their true self or "truth". Freud (1912e) described a way of approaching "an open mind, free from any presupposition" that could be achieved through analysis, and he promoted the development of mature interpersonal relations. Buddhist or Taoist practice, on the other hand, relies on correct breathing to calm oneself. Beyond all doubt, Winnicott, Bion, and the wise men of the East all knew that connecting with emotion or acquiring knowledge must be done in a calm state of mind.

The Way of Chuang Tzu

Books Abroad ◽  
1966 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 358
Author(s):  
John L. Bishop ◽  
Thomas Merton
Keyword(s):  
Chuang Tzu ◽  
The Way
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