Daoism: The Natural Way

This paper sympathetically explores Daoism's relevance to environmental philosophy and to the aspiration of people to live in a manner convergent with nature. After discussing the Daoist understanding of nature and the dao (Way), the focus turns to the implications of these notions for our relationship to nature. The popular idea that Daoism encourages a return to a 'primitive' way of life is rejected. Instead, it is shown that the Daoist proposal is one of living more 'spontaneously' than people generally do in the modern, technological world, and of allowing other beings to do so as well. These themes are clarified in a final section, inspired by some Daoist remarks, devoted to the relationship of human beings with animals.

Taoism and Ecology: Ways within a cosmic landscape. Ed. N.J. Girardot, James Miller, Liu Xiaogan, 2001

Classical Daoism is often thought to share modern Western reverence for "nature", referring to the natural world when left to itself untouched by human activities. I argue here that Daoist ideas on this topic are illustrated better in the aesthetics of Japanese gardens, which strive for a "natural" effect produced by a great deal of conscious human planning and effort.

Early Daoism, as articulated in the 'Daodejing' and the 'Zhuangzi', indirectly addresses environmental issues by intimating a nonreductive naturalistic ethics calling on humans to be open and responsive to the specificities and interconnections of the world and environment to which they belong. "'Dao'" is not a substantial immanent or transcendent entity but the lived enactment of the intrinsic worth of the "myriad things" and the natural world occurring through 'how' humans address and are addressed by them. Early Daoism potentially corrects both anthropocentrism and biocentrism in environmental ethics by disclosing the things themselves in the context of the self-cultivation of life. Given increasing environmental devastation and the dominance of views, practices, and institutions reducing nature to a background and/or raw material for human activity, this "ethics of encounter" discloses the life of things as inexhaustibly more than human projects and constructs, extending ethical recognition and responsibility beyond social relations and the social self.

Living in the epoch of Anthropocene, in which human activities have extensive impact on Earth's geology and ecosystem, many scholars begin to search, philosophically, for a healthier relationship between human and nature. Some of them have turned to Daoism, the ancient Chinese philosophy, for answers to our modern-day puzzles. These scholars’ understanding of Daoist texts, however, usually assumes an environmentalist dichotomy of human and nature, which results in inherent contradictions in Daoist view on environment. Why is an environmentalist reading of Daoism problematic? What is the proper way to read Daoist texts, in order to find a meaningful model for contemporary human-nature relationship? This essay, using Morton’s Ecological Thought as a critical frame, focuses on two predominant Daoist texts, Laozi and Zhuangzi, and argues that an ecological reading is needed to truly understand the Daoist view on human-nature relationship, because the Daoist view itself is ecological. By ecologizing the Daoist texts, not only can we understand better what Daoism has to offer for environmental ethics, but also deepen our understanding of Morton’s ecological thought.

2020

paperback: August 2022 cover, table of contents, and introduction. See Routledge website for further details: https://www.routledge.com/Daoism-and-Environmental-Philosophy-Nourishing-Life/Nelson/p/book/9780367025144 Reviews "Daoism and Environmental Philosophy is a timely and stimulating work as we continue to grapple with environmental crises on a global scale, in need of fresh perspectives and new solutions. With a sophisticated textual analysis of both better-known Daoist classics and lesser-known later Daoist texts in the English-speaking world, Nelson counters the perceived opinion that Daoist practice is mystical, irrational, passive, and escapist with robust arguments. He further demonstrates why and how our current environmental crises can benefit from a Daoist-inspired therapeutic ecology, which is cosmological, bio-spiritual, and bio-political all at once. The seemingly contradictory thrusts of anarchical-libertarian individualism, egalitarian democracy, and a weaker version of authoritarianism suggested in Daoist texts in varying degrees may inform a more creative solution to contemporary environment policy and practice."— Ann A. Pang-White, The University of Scranton, Professor of Philosophy and Director of Asian Studies, author of Confucian Four Books for Women and Bloomsbury Research Handbook on Chinese Philosophy and Gender "An accomplished scholar in European Continental philosophy, Chinese philosophy, and inter-cultural philosophical dialogue, Nelson now presents the pioneering and thought-provoking Daoism and Environmental Philosophy to a wide range of readers facing contemporary environmental crises. The book exhibits the author’s mastery of historical sources including the Daodejing, the Zhuangzi and other Daoist texts, his coming to terms with Daoist linguistic-communicative strategies, and his exploration on various cosmological, ethical, political, personal and religious aspects of the Daoist philosophy of nature characterizing a unique way of environmental thinking. Moreover, Nelson’s inquiry into the environmental implications of Daoist bio-spiritual attunement and cultivation, his reevaluation of Daoist anarchic individualism, egalitarianism and the art of ruling in terms of a reconsideration of ecological politics, and his argument for the Daoist contribution to a critical therapeutic ecology, all unveil the originality of the book, and will leave its impact on our future discussion."— Youru Wang, Professor, Department of Philosophy and World Religions, Rowan University, author of Linguistic Strategies in Daoist Zhuangzi and Chan Buddhism: The Other Way of Speaking, and editor of Deconstruction and the Ethical in Asian Thought​ "This is by far the best book I have seen in the field of Daoist environmental philosophy. Through nuanced examinations and interpretations of a variety of classic texts, Nelson presents to readers Daoist concepts, exemplars, models, and transformative strategies in relation to the environment. Insightful, erudite, and articulate, Daoism and Environmental Philosophy makes a substantive contribution on a wide range of topics from the cosmological, ethical, political, and personal, to the religious. I recommend this book to everyone who is interested in learning Daoist philosophy in response to the environmental crisis." – Chenyang Li, Professor of Philosophy, Nanyang Technological University, author of The Tao Encounters the West and The Confucian Philosophy of Harmony

Philosophy East and West, 2022

The concept of 'nature' in the Daode jing 道德經 and the Zhuangzi 莊⼦ and its relevance to today's environmental issues. The inherent harmony and continuity between nature and human beings is an underlying and dominant theme in Daoist studies and Chinese culture as a whole (Lai, 2003: 264). The environment, for Daoists, has functioned as a sacred space (Miller, 2003: 170) used for contemplation and reflection; the mindful attention to the natural environment was and is an edifying experience (Cooper, 2014: 98). Daoist (and Confucian) texts highlight the concept of the energy, qi 氣, that flows through everything-an endless binding force that inspires creativity in the forms of the universe, the songs of the bird, the ink brush to paper, shapes of the mountains and rocks etc (Weller 2011:126). The Daoist ideology is concerned with self-preservation and self-cultivation through observing dao 道, the 'way'; the cosmic pattern and 'course' of the natural world. This happens through meditation and observation of the cosmic energies from the external to the internal. A Daoist aims to reach conformity with the dao through an attitude of 'non-action' (wuwei 無為) and the cultivation of inner potency (dé 德) (Lai, 2007:233). It is not surprising that recent scholars and policy makers have looked in this direction in the hope of finding a counterbalance to the presiding global view of nature as a commodity of sorts, an external entity, ever in service of human-being's perpetual needs and desires. In light of the current global environmental concerns, research by scholars of religion in addressing such urgent contemporary issues may offer another perspective and insight into the problem and solution.

Comparative and Continental Philosophy

My review of Eric Nelson's new work on Daoism and Environmental Philosophy.