Between Cosmology and Politics

Explores the cosmopolitical philosophy of early Daoism.

Between Cosmology and Politics explores the cosmopolitical philosophy of early Daoism, tracing the development from Laozi's thought to Huang-Lao Daoism. Offering sinologically and philosophically sound interpretations of early Daoist cosmopolitical philosophy, the book discusses topics such as the relationship between dao and the ten thousand things, ultimate origins, the art of rulership, and cosmic and political order, which are developed through careful readings of both transmitted and unearthed texts such as the Laozi 老子, the Zhuangzi 莊子, the Guanzi 管子, the Huangdi sijing 黃帝四經, the Taiyi sheng shui 太一生水, and the Heng xian 恆先. It provides textually grounded and philosophically insightful analyses of key concepts like fan 反 (returning), yi (one), and heng 恆 (enduring). Demonstrating that Huang-Lao Daoist political philosophy is far from one of noninterventionist anti-intellectualism, the book underscores and brings to light the striking insights and penetrating discussions that constituted Huang-Lao discourse to argue that Daoist cosmopolitics is both theoretically robust and practically involved.