Logos and Dao revisited: A non-metaphysical interpretation

• Main Author: BURIK, Steven
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2018
• Subjects: Metaphysics; Philosophy
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/3009; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soss_research/article/4266/viewcontent/Logos_Dao_revisited_pv.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Why another article on logos and dao ? Is it not the case that enough scholars have looked into the similarities between the term logos and the notion of dao? Although it may seem so, I will argue that when another perspective is employed, logos and dao might fruitfully be compared on a different level from the one used by most of these comparisons. In this essay I will argue first that in many instances the approach of some of the scholars who have compared logos and dao has been one-sided and has mostly consisted in a comparison of these two key notions that has sought to portray both notions as denoting some kind of metaphysical principle underlying the processes that make up our world. Second, I will provide an alternative to this approach to logos, and consequently to dao, using Heidegger's interpretations of logos. I will then show that the Daoists' intentions for the term dao compare well with Heidegger's views, and argue that such a non-metaphysical interpretation is much closer to both Heidegger and Daoism. I end by arguing that reinterpretations of classical notions such as offered here can provide a valuable resource to comparative philosophy, in the sense that Heidegger's way of reading Heraclitus, and Heidegger's work in general, offer a viable alternative approach to comparative thinking that does not succumb to the metaphysical inclinations inherent in so much of the Western tradition, and as such could coalesce with the largely non-metaphysical tradition of classical Chinese thought and provide avenues for further comparisons.