PHIL 104

(ASIAN 104/RELS 104)

San Jose State University

Instructor: Bo Mou
HANDOUT 13

Topic 4
4.1.3

Philosophical Daoism

Lao Zi (Lao Tzu) (2): Morality

How Lao Zi looks at genuine virtue and conventional moral rule (cf., Chapter 38 of the Dao-De-Jing)

Lao Zi stresses and advocates superior virtue (shang-de ), i.e., the high level of spontaneous morality
experienced within, and criticize inferior virtue (xia-de ), i.e., excessive development of deliberate,
disciplined, designed, ruled-oriented morality that would often result in taking fixed and formulated rules as the
final and absolute moral authority, unwanted disagreements, unnecessary self-unsatisfaction, overconscientiousness, or hypocrisy.

Lao Zi rejects fixed and formulated moral rules as the final and absolute moral authority, which is one
representative symptom of inferior virtue, for several reasons. (1) Any attempt to use the fixed and confined
formula to exhaust the Dao would fail. (2) When the fixed moral commands are excessively enforced upon
people without, they are often counter-productive in the way that they might spoil or even destroy those who
have more or less spontaneous moral sensibility within. (3) There is some excessiveness in emphasizing fixed
rules and disciplined cultivation.

Lao Zi's point seems to be to counterbalance the tendency in the opposite direction in his time. [For a general
methodological consideration of Lao Zis, see Chapter 77 (reduce what is excessive, while add what is
insufficient.).]

Lao Zi's points about moral cultivation

Lao Zi's teachings regarding morality, so to speak, focus on two directions of post-deliberation development of
morality: one is to negatively or excessively develop into what he calls 'xia-de' (inferior virtue); the other is to
positively develop into what Lao Zi calls 'shang-de' (superior virtue). He emphasizes the dialectical negationof-negation development of moral cultivation: the spontaneous nature of the initial (infants') spontaneous
morality repeats itself at the higher level of spontaneous morality.

Criterion of moral worth

Lao Zi suggests wu-wei () as his criterion of moral worth:

(1) To take no action that would violate or is contrary to Nature or the Dao;
(2) To act without acting.

How Lao Zi looks at the moral nature of human beings

Unlike those almost contemporary Confucians like Mencius and Xun Zi, Lao Zi never explicitly claims that
human nature is born good or bad. He just repeatedly refer people to the virtuous state of infants. Lao Zi's way
in this regard is insightful. When claiming that human nature is originally good or bad, one might have a preset pattern of good or bad and then uses it as a ready-made criterion of moral worth to measure the original
nature of human beings. Consider Mencius's case: it is those pre-set normative values per se that make the
natural traits under his consideration have moral value, rather than the contrary. Lao Zi's point is this: when one
conceptualizes certain natural traits into a moral appraisal system, one would be at the risk of formulating them
into some imposed doctrine and forgetting the genuine Dao. He thus alerts us: "When the great Dao declines,
the doctrine of humanity and righteousness arose. When formulated knowledge and wisdom appeared, there
emerged great hypocrisy." (Chapter 18).

4.1.4

Lao Zi (Lao Tzu) (3): Wu-Wei

Wu-wei (non-action) is a seemingly paradoxical slogan in Lao Zis Dao-De-Jing the literal sense of
which is non-action. The apparent paradox arises because conforming to wu-wei is a kind of action weiing. The term wu-wei means one, or combined more than one, of the following depending on context and
situation (especially Chapters 2, 3, 10, 18, 25, 37, 40, 43, 48, 63, 64).
Do not do those things that are against being natural;
One should restrict one's activities to what is natural (or what is naturally needed);
Do not do those things that go beyond natural limitation; for when a thing reaches one extreme, it
reverts from it;
Act in a natural way (which can be eventually developed into a highly-naturaleffortless or
spontaneousway);
Act without pretentious acting;
Avoid doing unnecessary things in achieving something;
Avoid actions based just on socialized values or desires such as status, fame, or rank.
What is at issue is what counts as being natural, what is naturally needed, or the natural limitation of a
thing. Their identities are context-sensitive.
Cf., Chinese Philosophy A-Z: entries de, virtue, wu-wei, nature.
Questions to Think About
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(1) What are 'superior virtue' and inferior virtue according to Lao Zi?
(2) Why does Lao Zi criticize 'inferior virtue'?
(3) What is a reasonable relation between superior virtue, as advocated by Lao Zi, and disciplined morality, as
emphasized by Confucius?
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