Latest Posts
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Box of Rain
Thinking about an old Grateful Dead song and how it reminds me of the Daodejing. Here are the lyrics to "Box of Rain:" Look out of any windowany morning, any evening, any dayMaybe the sun is shiningbirds are winging orrain… Continue reading
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Learning from Children
I noticed this article in the NYT today: In the view of the primatologist Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, the extraordinary social skills of an infant are at the heart of what makes us human. Through its ability to solicit and secure… Continue reading
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The Tao (or would it be the Te) of “The Wrestler”
Last week I saw the movie "The Wrestler." I liked it – not a great film but good (and I can see how, even though Mickey Rourke was quite good in the lead role, Sean Penn was deserving of this… Continue reading
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Bad “Integrity” in the Daodejing (with one reference to Zhuangzi)
The discussion of the meaning of "de" – 德 – "Integrity" continues. Peony has another nice post up that explores the possibilities of understanding "de" as "virtue." In the comments there the question of whether someone can have a bad… Continue reading
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Listen to the Mothers
The IHT runs this story today: A group representing families of demonstrators killed or maimed in the armed crackdown on the Tiananmen Square protests 20 years ago has urged China to name the dead, denouncing official silence over the anniversary. The… Continue reading
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George Will is not a Sage King
In a rather bizarre WaPo oped today, George Will refers to an article in Policy Review which argues that, morally, food is the new sex. What is meant here is that, since the 1960s (conservatives always blame the 1960s for… Continue reading
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Uselessness: Now More than Ever!
An article in today's NYT bemoans the state of the Humanities in American colleges and universities: …in this new era of lengthening unemployment lines and shrinking university endowments, questions about the importance of the humanities in a complex and technologically… Continue reading
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Han Feizi on the Economic Crisis
A long story at Bloomberg (hat tip CDT) on the vicissitudes of China's billionaire class brought Han Fei Zi to mind. The article chronicles some lurid stories of corruption and shady-dealing that have produced very, very large sums of money… Continue reading
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Mozi Query
So, I read Mo Zi with a student over the past week and a half. She wrote a nice little paper, outlining the key Mohist critiques of Confucianism – i.e the critique of partiality, the critique of elaborate funerals, the… Continue reading
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Obligations to Parents
Peony raises some questions about filial piety to which I would like to respond. I agree that a child's relationship to his or her parents is a fundamental building block of Confucian ethics. Indeed, I think Confucius is a genius… Continue reading
The Useless Tree 