385
THE BODY AND PHILOSOPHY IN CHINA: A PHILOSOPHY OF MIND AND
BODY
Jude Godwins
Department of Philosophy, Seat of Wisdom Seminary,
Imo State University, Owerri,
E-mail: judegodwins8@gmail.com
Abstract
Chinese philosophy of mind does seem to show that it is possible to think outside of the box of
Cartesian immaterialism, of the physicalist philosophy of the prevailing model of mind, and
of other thought models constructed on Descartes’ exclusivist bipolar thought trajectory. It
also offers a perculiar brand of anti-Cartesianism. It is partly for this reason that we
undertake this study. In Chinese philosophy of mind, the core notion, xin, is simultaneously
and inseparably heart and mind. To be faithful to this notion we refer to it as the heart-mind.
The Chinese concept of xin shows that there is no distinction between the cognitive and the
affective states. This is informed by a folk psychology that does not discriminate between
cognition, representative ideas, beliefs, reason (cognitive states) and emotion, desires,
motives, feelings (affective states). The concept of heart-mind unity is influenced by Chinese
medicine. Chinese medical practice, with its procedure of acupuncture, accepts that various
parts of the body are intimately connected with the entire body system, forming an undivided
whole. At once going beyond speech and augmentation onto the sphere of the Tao, where all
distinctions evaporate, and remaining within the earthly order, where complete happiness is
realized in this world, Chuang Tzu achieves an immanent transcendence (Jana S. Rošker,
2014) that unifies the internal and the external, the object and the subject, the self and the
world. Again, concurrently discussing the immaterial realm (dreams) and holding on to the
equality of all things (material and immaterial, real and unreal), and by resisting the
temptation to claim clear and distinct knowledge while holding on to the existence of the real
and the unreal, where all there is, is one, Chuang Tzu seems to resolve all estrangements of
self and world, object and subject, mind and body.
Keywords: Bipolar thought trajectory, Cartesian immaterialism, Physicalist philosophy,
Model of mind, Thought models.
Introduction
Embodiment and the Chinese Philosophy of Mind
Chinese scholars say the theory of mind in classical China is akin to the folk psychology in
the Western world in the sense that both reflect their respective basic linguistic outlooks.
Both theories of mind differ in such manners as match the respective folk theories of
language. In Chinese philosophy of mind, the core notion, xin, is at once heart and mind. To
be faithful to it we refer to it as the heart-mind (Hall, David L. and Roger T. Ames, 1998).
The Chinese concept of xin indicates that there is no distinction between the cognitive and the
affective states. This is motivated and informed by a folk psychology that does not
distinguish or discriminate between cognition, representative ideas, beliefs, reason (cognitive
states) and emotion, desires, motives, feelings (affective states). The xin (heart-mind) directs
our actions; it does not, nonetheless, do so through beliefs and desires. Rather, the heart-mind
unity (xin) directs actions in line with the stimuli it receives from the world. This concept of
heart-mind unity (xin), very much in tact in contemporary Chinese philosophy of mind, is
mailto:judegodwins8@gmail.com;
386
influenced by Chinese medicine. Chinese medical practice, with its practice of acupuncture,
accepts that various parts of the body are intimately connected, with the entire body system
forming an undivided whole.
People accumulate, pass on to, and share with one another the conventional guiding
discourses in the community, which are the ways of the community life, referred to as the
dao-s. The Chinese dao (Hansen, Chad 2012) is the ensemble of conventional discourses that
guides life in the community. It is a behavioural signpost indicating the behavioural direction
of the community, a behavioural direction emanating from societal conventional discourses.
The Chinese teach these dao-s to their young ones and address them to one another. When
triggered (for example, by the operations of the sense organs), the heart-mind unity (xin)
carries out or does what is contained in the guiding principles/discourse of the relevant dao
he has learnt. Thus the xin (the heart-mind unity) elicits response to discourse-relevant signals.
The psychological theory (as with the linguistic theory) does not receive a sentential form.
Scholars say the classical language of China is devoid of any belief grammar; that is to say, it
lacks such forms as T believes that Y... (where T represents a proposition). Classical Chinese
thought is not preoccupied with propositions (as is Western thought) but with the reality of
concrete particulars. Rather than say 'he believes that it is bad,' as in Western grammar, the
classical Chinese would say 'he knows its being bad.' The heart-mind unity (the xin) guides
action in the sense that it allots categories to things; but it is bereft of any linguistic or mental
images of things.
The attitudinal tendency in classical China is one preoccupied with the concrete reality on the
ground. The subject is that which has extra-mental existence; it is in the world, rather than in
the mind. The subject is a concrete, particular, actual thing, not a proposition without any
extra-mental existence. The attitudinal inclination is one of disposition instead of a belief. It
is a disposition to apportion some chunk of reality to a certain category. Scholars say it is a
predicate attitude instead of a propositional one. The faculty required for this predicate
attitude, the heart-mind unity, xin (or the senses, if you like), is the power to distinguish one
thing from the other, a good person from a bad person, for instance.
So it is that the primal place Western folk psychology assigns to ideas is, in Chinese folk
theory of mind, taken up by the learned or innate capacity to distinguish rightly in doing what
is recommended in a dao (the guiding discourse regarding life in the community). In Western
thought, truth is a correspondence between the picture one forms in one’s mind (mental
picture) and the fact/reality on the ground (correspondence theory). In Chinese folk
linguistics, grounding of meaning is the function of the socio-historical tradition, instead of
the individual psychology. The social and historical tradition of the community, rather than
one’s individual subjectivity, provides the ground for meaning. Chinese language does not
hinge on cognition or on private, individual subjectivity. Chinese classical philosophy of
mind applies or, if you will, carries out the recommendations of Chinese theory of language.
Thus the key concept in Chinese classical philosophy of mind would be that of the concrete
reality on the ground, which is an embodied or inner dao, a set of natural or learned
dispositions (Hall, David L. and Roger T. Ames, 1998). When one learns the content of a dao,
it triggers the concrete reality that comes with the guiding discourses or ways that the
Chinese transmit to one another and teach their children. It is the behavioural power, which
has become second nature, to conform to the intended action-pattern or follow the intended
pathway. It is all about making the correct distinctions in doing the content of a dao (guiding
discourse).
387
Confucius (551-479 BC) in some way touches on the philosophy of mind in putting forward
his education theory. His teaching gives a certain form to the moral discourse, greatly
influencing classical notion of xin (the heart-mind unity). The guiding discourse (dao) that
Confucius initiates, to a large extent, gives Chinese classical thought its character, especially
in poetry, history, and ritual. While busy training the heart-mind unity (the xin) to be able to
carry out the proper actions, Confucius considers whether xin (mind-body unity) could ever
interpret texts for appropriate actions in the absence of some earlier interpretative power. He
thus comes up with an intuitive capacity, ren or jen (humanity, humaneness). Ren is, roughly
speaking, an affective concern for the well-being of others. 'Do not do to others what you do
not want them to do to you' (Wong, David, 2018). A Xin (a heart-mind unity) who has ren
(humanity, humaneness) can rightly translate a dao (a guiding discourse on life in the
community) into action.
China’s first critical philosopher, Mo Tzu (about 479 BC), for whom moral character is
elastic, argues that ren is acquired through learning. Ren receives its shape through human
communication, particularly through the inclination toward emulating superiors. His
philosophy is known as mohism. Unlike in Hobbes, where man is by nature wolf to man, in
mohism individuals naturally tend to do what is right. Violent social disorder does not
emanate from the pursuit of self-interest by individuals in conditions of scarcity, but from
disagreements on values. We cultivate our behavioural tendencies by observing/seeing our
social role models talk about, carry out, act on, and fashion their behaviours in line with what
is recommended in a social discourse. Mo Tzu teaches that social role models also influence
the way we interpret the social discourse. Interpretation takes the form of reacting favorably
to shi (do this, it is right, assent to it) or reacting against fei (do not do this, it is wrong,
dissent from it). The teachings and life of Mo Tzu show that we take care of behaviour by
training the heart-mind (xin) to make proper distinctions that guide its choices. Mo Tzu
teaches a universal love akin to the Christian love of neighbor. His 'universal love and mutual
benefit', though, is not motivated by selflessness or the desire to go to heaven, as in
Christianity; it is instead a normative theory grounded in equal and impartial love for the
welfare of all for its beneficial results; it is as utilitarian as it is religious. Whereas Confucius
promotes benefits as the results of good deeds, Mo Tzu promotes beneficial results as
motivation for good deeds and righteousness (Fraser, Chris, 2015).
The cultivation of the xin (the heart-mind) is also a major concern of Mencius, a confucianist
born between 371-372 BC. Mencius postulates a xin (heart-mind unity) consisting of four
natural moral propensities. These natural tendencies grow in much the same way as seeds
grow into plants. The natural virtues of benevolence, knowledge, morality and ritual proceed
from them. In Mencius, the ren intuition (an affective concern for the well-being of others) is
not learned from a social dao (a community’s guiding discourse). It is instead the concrete
reality on the ground that indicates a natural dao. This standpoint enables Mencius to uphold
the Confucian teaching on rituals, against the criticism of Mo Tzu that it rests on some
optional and unsteady framework.
The implication of the theory of Mencius is that moral virtue does not require any education.
It does not need the linguistic dao. Attempting to shape the heart-mind (xin) through
language could distort as much as it could reinforce the natural flowering and maturation of
its moral dispositions. Mencius posits that the shi (do this, it is right, assent to it) and the fei
(do not do this, it is not right, dissent from it) dispositions necessary for sage-like moral
behaviour develops naturally and should be allowed to unfold. Mencius does not mean,
however, that one knows moral theories at birth; he means rather that knowledge of these
develop and blossom as the physical body does and in response to everyday moral situations.
388
The xin (heart-mind unity) operates by given appropriate directives regarding that which is
right and that which is not right in any given concrete situation. It does not busy itself with
ethical theories or hypothetical choices. Its concern is to do the right thing here and now. In
Mencius, the intuitions of xin (heart-mind) are as situational as they are in harmony with
nature. The morality Mencius advocates is independent of religion; and his major doctrine is
the original goodness of human nature.
Lao Tzu (between 600 and 300 BC), a Taoist and a prominent advocate of natural spontaneity,
takes the psychology of socialization to a rather different level (Lee, Y.-T., Chen, W., &
Chan, S. X., 2013). Taoism comes from the word Tao, the Way. Lao Tzu postulates that to
learn names is to admit of training designed to make one indulge in attitudinal
discriminations as well as to desire that which society considers proper. The discriminations
as well as the desires, he holds, are only right given the conventions of the related linguistic
community. To learn a certain language is not merely to lose one’s natural spontaneity but
also to let one be controlled by a socio-historical perspective. In this way, we let society
govern our legitimate desires. Lao Tzu teaches that one should instead refrain from actions
driven by 'socialized desires' of this sort, that is to say, to refuse to take any action that is
contrary to nature (wu-wei). We arrive at this negating attitude by abandoning society-driven
discriminations and differentiations, simply put, by overlooking or ignoring language (Lee,
Y.-T., Chen, W., & Chan, S. X., 2013).
Expressing skepticism of the neutrality of alleged natural heart-mind states (xin states), later
mohists doubt whether all claims to natural behaviour could indeed be natural, as even
robbers lay claim to some naturalness for their sordid behaviour. Watering down Mo Tzu’s
conventionalism, they appeal to dissimilarities and similarities in nature that people
objectively access. They hold that language should echo these similarities. For them, the
primary role of the xin (heart-mind) is the ability to discriminate the intention of language.
Chuang Tzu goes further than Lao Tzu in theorizing about emotions. He deliberates on
passions and emotions that provide raw and pre-social inputs from reality. In a somewhat
pragmatic sense he states that though one may not know what purposes the passions and
emotions serve, there would not be any reference for the subjective ego, “I,” if one does not
have them. In turn, one would neither choose nor have any objects of choice in the absence of
the “I.” In a manner reminiscent of Hume, he argues that whereas one gets such input and
feels that some “true ruler” could be somewhere organizing these signals, one incidentally
does not receive input (quin) from such an imaginary “ruler.” One only has the stimuli or
inputs themselves, namely, exasperation, sadness, gladness, pleasure, satisfaction, pain
etcetera. We cannot rightly associate the physical heart with such a “true ruler,” given that it
is as natural an organ as other organs and joints of the body. Chuang Tzu thus postulates that
the judgments of the heart-mind (Xin) are invariably conditioned by training and historical
antecedents. In the final analysis, the shi-fei (this-not this) of Mencius also consists in the
inputs to the xin (the heart-mind unity). They are introduced to us by our experience
following our contexts and previous assumptions. They are, therefore, neither objective nor
neutral judgments in any sense. The main thrust of Chuang Tzu’s philosophy is his position
that to discriminate is to construct, and that to construct is to destroy (since it involves
deconstruction). And that yet, for things as a whole, there is nether construction nor
destruction, for, all things dissolve into unity and become one.
389
The Body, the Natural, and Chuang Tzu
Chuang Tzu (also called Zhuang Zi), living between 369 and 286 BC, lends Chinese Taoism
much of its present day character and form (Boker, John, Jun 27 2018). For Lao Tzu, a
defining figure in Taoism, and for Taoism in general, behind the world’s material things and
all its change lies a primary and universal principle, the way or Tao. This principle gives rise
to all existence and governs everything; all change and all life. Tao requires living life in a
non-striving manner and letting things work out naturally (Encyclopedia.com, May 14 2018)
Chuang Tzu declines a prime ministership offer from the king of Chu so as to give his
undivided attention to the philosophical enquiry. His numerous write-ups evolve into a
compilation, explaining Taoist doctrines. His dialogues and writings run counter to
Confucianism and mohism. Chuang Tzu is as transcendental as he is engrossed in life’s (daily)
mundane affairs. He is as “quietistic” as he is busy (in a manner akin to a “galloping horse”)
moving his way through the world. His legacy for philosophy is a dialogical and analogical
method that is as mystical as it is rational and fascinating. Broad-mindedness, spontaneity,
and impartiality are his trademarks.
In Chuang Tzu the dissimilarities between Confucianism and Taoism become more distinct.
Confucianism advocates that one develops one’s nature, fulfills one’s destiny, and actively
participates in nature’s creative craftsmanship. Chuang Tzu, for his part, proposes that one
nourishes nature, abides by nature’s purposes, and delights in nature (Duignan, Brian, 13 Jul.
2018).
In Confucianism, one transforms oneself through education. In the Taoism of Chuang Tzu,
one transforms oneself through things in themselves. Chuang Tzu travels in the
transcendental world, doing nothing unnatural. Confucius travels in the mundane world,
occasionally doing what Chuang Tzu would consider unnatural (Riegel, Jeffrey. 2013).
Chuang Tzu (Boker, John, Jun 27 2018) takes the Taoist notions of Tao and Te to the
transcendental realms. Tao is real and we see evidence of it, but it has no physical form and is
not associated with unnatural action. It admits of transmission but eludes reception. We may
obtain it though we cannot see it. Existing by itself for all eternity, heaven and earth owe their
creation to him, and Spirits and rulers owe their spiritual powers to it. Though above, it is not
high; and though beneath, it is not low. Although it pre-exists heaven and hearth, it is still not
old. Chuang Tzu’s Tao is simply real, it defies definition and transcends language and logic.
Tao is one, everywhere, and transforming. It gives things that obtain it and come into
existence their individual character and physical form. It generates all there are through
movement and rest. Reality is ever changing, developing from the simpler to the more
complex forms. From the smallest organisms that crop up on receiving water to the horses
that evolve into humans, all things come from nature’s generative process and return to it.
Tao operates in them all (Hansen, Chad, 2014).
Te, on the other hand, is the individualization of Tao in the various things there are. It is that
which makes things what they are. It is their nature. Having influenced developments in Zen
Buddhism, much of the doctrines of the Taoist philosophy are akin to Zen Buddhism.
Conceiving Te as the nature of things leads to an accentuation of nature and the life of man,
which leads in turn to putting the accent on the individual and his happiness. Nature is
spontaneous and in constant transformation. It is the universal process binding all there are
into one and making all things and opinions equal (Hansen, Chad, 2014). It is a leveling
principle. Everything delights in and values its nature. Each ought to wholly and without any
390
inhibition take on its natural potentials. This is simply the way of the Tao. The big and the
tiny birds have dissimilar natural powers or potentials, yet each is as satisfied as, and shares
equal happiness with, the other as they freely exercise that with which nature has endowed
them. Again, since man’s Te is that which makes him what he is, man’s happiness consists in
the optimal and free exercise of his Te or nature or natural powers. That which is of nature is
internal; whereas that which is of man is external. That dogs have four legs is of nature; but
that they have chains put around their necks is of man. Man ought not harm that which is of
nature with that which is of man.
Chuang Tzu’s epistemology (Chad Hansen, 2014) postulates the equality of all things . He
stresses the ephemeral nature of the phenomenal world and the folly of man’s inordinate
quest for external knowledge and personal aggrandizement, which distract one from
perceiving and understanding the world as it is and contemplating its meaning. If the sun and
the moon and all other heavenly bodies do not “contend for their positions” why should we
be making discriminatory and destructive distinctions, he would seem to ask. After all,
nothing we say is final. As with the frog in the well that sees but a tiny fraction of the sky and
so supposes that the sky is that big, our views are lopsided and incomplete; the distinctions
we make, deficient. “Great knowledge,” as with a great mind, is “all-embracing and
extensive,” while “small knowledge,” as with a small-minded person, is “partial and
discriminative” (Chan, 1963, 180).
Bias obscures Tao. The sage does not go by partitioning the world into right and wrong; he
rather sheds light on issues in terms of that which is of nature. He synthesizes opposites; for
things are not only relative but also identical, implying one another. Rather than using one’s
own individual judgment, the wise person employs a common principle that identifies all
things as one, harmonizing seemingly opposing and contrasting halves, and thus
simultaneously following two courses. In this way his judgment is in the light of nature.
Commentators say that the doctrine of following two courses in Chuang Tzu is not an
isolated case in Chinese philosophy, as basically all schools in Chinese philosophy tend to
this mean doctrine. The understanding here is that many courses may be followed without
conflict. The result is that most Chinese simultaneously adopt Confucianist, Buddhist and
Taoist principles, taking multiple approaches to issues.
Chuang Tzu seems to make the point that man is not a rational animal after all. Life is a
dream, he holds. One knows one has dreamt only when one wakes up. The stupid person,
though, convinces himself that he is awake all the time and believes he has distinct and clear
knowledge of it. Chuang Tzu denies the object-subject divide and questions the real-unreal
dichotomy in a story where he talks about dreaming and feeling he is a butterfly and being
happy being one. But he wakes and realizes he is Chuang Tzu. He wonders whose dream it is,
his or that of the butterfly; but sees in this how things melt into one another and become one
with one another. Transcending all materialistic inclinations (for instance, not sacrificing
one’s name for gains) and yet operating within the realm of the natural, being at peace with
nature (letting nature run its course) eliminates the subject-object dichotomy and unifies all
things. In this way we eliminate discriminations of all sorts, and begin to appraise success
and failure, sickness and health, life and death as one, since they all form part of the natural
order of transformation, with one end inaugurating another beginning. We are thus enabled to
respond to external realities in natural and faithful ways, without any scheming or any
manipulations.
391
In Chuang Tzu all dualism evaporates. He shows how we can do away with all of life’s
polarizations and their seeming indications of dualism. Observing nature operate and noting
how it conciliates and harmonizes its bipolar elements and situations, Chuang Tzu sees the
way to the Tao where all dualism melts into unity. In the Tao, as with nature where the sun
and the moon, rather than contend for their positions, contribute to the harmony of the natural
processes, all bipolarities dissolve into unity. Approached from this rather higher-order
thinking, all things are equal to one another.
In Chuang Tzu discrimination is synonymous with destruction. To discriminate between
things is to construct. But then to construct is to destruct. Yet, things dissolve into unity and
become one, ruling out all construction and destruction. Heaven, the cosmos and one came
into being together; and “all things with me are one.” Aiming at being one with all things and
at coexisting with heaven and earth, the Taoist and Chuang Tzu enlarge their world to include
the entire universe. For, Tao has no limitation; and speech, no finality.
Chuang Tzu’s unity of the world and the self resembles the concept of unity of the self and
the world in Confucianism. Nonetheless, while the Confucian doctrine aims at showing how
the self and the world share common concerns, joys and sorrows, the concept of the unity of
the self and the world in Chuang Tzu aims at unearthing how the self and the world are
intimately linked.
It is unnatural and only artificial to attempt to utilize language and its argumentations to
resolve issues bordering on notions of right and wrong. Since our arguments proceed from
relative, individual and finite perspectives, they are inadequate. Whoever wins in an
argument is not necessarily right, and whoever loses is not of necessity wrong. And no one
can be brought in to decide between them because none is free from taking sides; none is
exempt from bias. The truth, which is the knowledge of Tao, lies in giving up argumentations,
speech and language on arriving at the sameness and oneness of all there are.
Passions and other things that engage the mind preclude us from attaining the truth. We need
to empty the mind of all egocentric tendencies that give us the impression of being the
world’s arbiters. He who knows to apply the brakes in the face of what he does not know is
knowledgeable. Nature’s store, which embraces all, is neither full to the brim when more
things are added nor empty when some are subtracted. The sage bends all there are into a
harmonious whole, knowing that things involve one another. When the duke of Chin first
brought Li Chi to his palace, she wept bitterly. But after sharing with the duke the beautiful
things of the palace, she regretted having wept initially. How do we know that the dead will
not regret having ever wished to live. Only after waking up do we realize we ever dreamt
(Chan, 1963, 189). Completeness or wholeness, thus, lies in harmonizing things and letting
them flow in line with the natural flow of things and the revolving processes of nature.
Life and death, beginning and end all are one, given that each end marks a new beginning.
Having a natural demeanor means appreciating this fact of nature. The Taoists and many
philosophical schools at the time of Chuang Tzu held this view. The constant succession of
life and death, day and night belong of necessity to the nature of things, revealing the way
things should be evaluated. The sage knows this and fits himself into these natural processes
of transformation that rely on the Tao. The natural order obtained Tao and without complaint
conforms to (as with the sun and the moon) natural configurations and their transforming,
unifying and leveling up processes. When we obtain Tao, we see the One and abolish all
distinctions and become nature’s companions. We begin to realize that existence is but a
natural transformation, and in this natural transformation all is good and all is one. This type
392
of harmonization of activity and tranquility represents the height of virtue and the Tao. It
leads to an all-encompassing and an all-embracing attitude to existence that makes dualism
unnecessary because it would not do anything unnatural.
Conclusion
Going beyond the limitations of material conditions (egotism and self-aggrandizement) on
which our so-called happiness is built, gives us real happiness. The spirit then gains its
freedom and starts to move without restriction at that very point where perception and
understanding end and one embraces the equality of all things. One then begins to see how
things are interwoven and harmoniously blended with one another, mutually involving one
another. Making attempts at, for instance, elongating the legs of the duck or shortening those
of the horse would only militate against this natural freedom and the oneness and natural flow
of things. Chuang Tzu believes we have no access to the subjective experience of others. We
do not know about the happiness (or sadness) of the white fish or of the brown fish.
At once going beyond speech and augmentations onto the sphere of the Tao, where all
distinctions evaporate, and remaining within the earthly order, where complete happiness is
realized in this world, Chuang Tzu achieves an immanent transcendence (Limei Jiang, 2019)
that unifies the internal and the external, the object and the subject, the self and the world.
Again, at the same time (concurrently) discussing the immaterial realm (or is it the unreal?),
dreams, and holding on to the equality of all things (material and immaterial, real and unreal);
and by resisting the temptation to claim clear and distinct knowledge while holding on to the
existence of the real and the unreal, where all there is, is one, Chuang Tzu seems to resolve
all estrangements of self and world, object and subject, mind and body.
References
Boker, John, Jun 27 2018, Chuang-Tzu, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions
Chan, W., 1963, A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy, New Jersey, Princeton University
Press.
Duignan, Brian. "What is the Difference Between Daoism and Confucianism?". Encyclopedia
Britannica, 13 Jul. 2018, https://www.britannica.com/story/what-is-the-difference-
between-daoism-and-confucianism.
Encyclopedia.com, Chuang Tzu, May 14 2018
(https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/philosophy-and-religion/buddhism-
biographies/chuang-tzu).
Fraser, Chris, "Mohism", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2015 Edition),
Edward N. Zalta & Uri Nodelman (eds.), URL =
.
Hall, David L. and Roger T. Ames. Xin (heart-and-mind), 1998,
doi:10.4324/9780415249126-G021-1. Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Taylor
and Francis, https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/thematic/xin-heart-and-mind/v-1.
Hall, David L. and Roger T. Ames. Philosophical Daoism. Chinese philosophy, 1998,
doi:10.4324/9780415249126-G001-1. Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Taylor
and Francis, https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/overview/chinese-philosophy/v-
1/sections/philosophical-daoism.
393
Hansen, Chad (2012). "Taoism". In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). Stanford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy.
Hansen, Chad, "Zhuangzi", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2014 Edition),
Edward N. Zalta & Uri Nodelman (eds.),
https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2014/entries/zhuangzi/
Lee, Y.-T., Chen, W., & Chan, S. X. (2013). Daoism and altruism: A China-USA perspective.
In D. A. Vakoch (Ed.), Altruism in cross-cultural perspective (pp. 85–100). Springer
Science + Business Media. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6952-0_7
Limei Jiang, 2019, The Big and the Great: A Reconstruction of Zhuangzi’s Philosophy on
Transcendence, 10(1):30
(https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330152760_The_Big_and_the_Great_A_Re
construction_of_Zhuangzi's_Philosophy_on_Transcendence).
Riegel, Jeffrey. 2013. "Confucius". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. The Metaphysics
Research Lab, Stanford University.
Rošker, Jana S., 2014, The Subject’s New Clothes: Immanent Transcendence and the Moral
Self in the Modern Confucian Discourses, An International Journal of the
Philosophical Traditions of the East, Volume 24, Issue 4, Pages 346-362,
( https://doi.org/10.1080/09552367.2014.986933).
Wong, David, "Chinese Ethics", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2018
Edition), Edward N. Zalta & Uri Nodelman (eds.), forthcoming URL =
.