|
23392
|
The Dao (Way) first means the road, and comes to mean the right way to live [Norden]
|
|
Full Idea:
The 'Dao' (tr 'Way) has five meanings: 1) path or road, 2) mode of doing something, 3) account of how to do something, 4) the right way to live, and 5) the ultimate metaphysical entity responsible for nature, and how it should be.
|
|
From:
Bryan van Norden (Intro to Classical Chinese Philosophy [2011], 1.III)
|
|
A reaction:
[compressed] So it is essentially metaphorical, just like the English 'way to do a thing'. Number 5 seems a rather large leap from the others, and most discussion seems to centre on number 4. The Chinese hoped for consensus on the Dao.
|
|
13734
|
Modern Quinean metaphysics is about what exists, but Aristotelian metaphysics asks about grounding [Schaffer,J]
|
|
Full Idea:
On the now dominant Quinean view, metaphysics is about what there is (such as properties, meanings and numbers). I will argue for the revival of a more traditional Aristotelian view, on which metaphysics is about what grounds what.
|
|
From:
Jonathan Schaffer (On What Grounds What [2009], Intro)
|
|
A reaction:
I find that an enormously helpful distinction, and support the Aristotelian view. Schaffer's general line is that what exists is fairly uncontroversial and dull, but the interesting truths about the world emerge when we grasp its structure.
|
|
23408
|
The hermeneutic circle is either within the text, or between text and biased reader [Norden]
|
|
Full Idea:
The first type of hermeneutic circle operates inside the text, studying relationships between sentences. …The second type is between the text and the reader, …who brings assumptions about what it means.
|
|
From:
Bryan van Norden (Intro to Classical Chinese Philosophy [2011], App A.I)
|
|
A reaction:
The first kind is an essential aspect of reading well. Readers are biased, but I get very tired of those who do nothing but search for bias, and ignore the truth a text has to offer. If everything is bias, intellectual life is dead.
|