Notes for 11/11/2025

 

11/11/2025

[Philosophy Club every Tuesday at 5:00pm in CAS 436 ("The Cave")]

[Challenge for today: Try to think of (and possibly ask) at least one question.]

Do you believe in any form of “supernormal” powers?

 

Daoism (Taoism) shows up in both lists of Chinese Philosophical traditions and lists of Chinese Religions.

This is a function of what one chooses to emphasize.

 

“Dao” 道 means “way” but has multiple meanings depending on context. The primary meaning is a method, way of doing, procedure, art, guide, path, or road. (= “procedural Dao”)

 

It can also be used as a verb: to follow or execute any of the above.

 

It also has an explanatory sense – that which explains why things behave as they do (the “natural order”), or why some ways of doing things are (in various senses) better than others (“this is the right way to do things”). (= “explanatory Dao”)

 

And it has an ontological (or “metaphysical”) sense – Dao is the basis, ground, source, or foundation of things (the “metaphysical topography” of reality) that imposes limits and lends structure, but that also defines positive and negative possibilities.

 

There are texts treating Dao in this ontological sense as the “Mother” of all things. Other texts identify it with “Heaven” (天) or with “Heaven and Earth” (blurring the boundary between Heaven as totality and as creative source).

 

There may be a connection of some influence with Shangdi (a “personal-ish” supreme deity (“Lord on High”)) (Shangdi -> Tian <-> Dao).

 

What is generally called “Religious Daoism” concerns the development of supernormal accounts of Dao, especially along metaphysical lines.

 

These developments include astrology, alchemy, divination (especially using the Yijing), moral-perfection (mainly self-mastery and compassion), and “body-studies” (herbology, martial arts, breathing, sex arts, qi-regulation, acupuncture).

 

Mastery of such practices is sometimes taken as a route to immortality. The Daoist adept becomes transformed into a supernormal being (perhaps in a supernormal location -- a kind of “heaven”).

 

Individual lives are governed by ming (= “fate” or “natural allotment”). Ming includes one’s natural lifespan, physical and mental capacities, and perhaps prospects of success in various efforts. Ming is “what Dao has given you.” There is an unclear boundary between effort and acceptance here, especially since Daoism prioritizes accomplishment through the efficacy of allowing (wu-wei).

Some Daoist views of immortality depend on a metaphysics that posit supernormal forces or aspects of persons (especially centered on and explanatorily related to life and health). Various practices (such as those listed above) can refine or nurture these.

For example, Daoist medicine may include the creation (or burning and ingestion of) talismans that solicit the intervention of deities or spirits. The Daoist physician must be an “appropriate” intermediary, requiring special relation to the divine (such as through ordination) as well as moral virtue.

 

 

Another view of immortality represents a fusion with Buddhism – Daoist practices facilitate optimal karmic rebirth, including “selection” of heavenly-realms, or Daoist “deification” through meditation, study, and supernormal practices.

 

 

 

Daoist deities and immortals are sometimes taken as real beings. They may be ascended mortals, or embodiments of Daoist virtues or powers. Some Chinese Buddhist schools take a similar approach.

 

 

They may also be taken as purely symbolic.

 

In both Daoism and Buddhism, a distinction is sometimes made between “inner and outer” (internal and external) forms.

“Inner” sometimes connotes esoteric or secret but sometimes refers to what is reserved for those who have gained full acceptance (into a religious order, for example).

 

 

 

 

In some of the symbolic approaches, the “inner” practices of Daoist alchemy are not concerned with the “outer” practices of pharmacology or proto chemistry. On this view, alchemical elements are metaphors for aspects of one’s psyche.

Some Chinese Buddhists adopt this approach as a way of assimilating Daoism. “Immortality” is here treated as synonymous with enlightenment.

 

IF religion is defined in terms of supernormal realities, these are some ways to delineate religious Daoism.

 

 

Daoist epistemologies

 

Supernormal claims are generally justified anecdotally wherever they are found. Daoism is no exception. These consist mainly of alleged supernormal experiences of manifested abilities or revelatory visions.

Examples: Flying/levitation, vanishing & reappearing, or leaving no corpse after death.

 

[How do Swinburne’s principles of Credulity and Testimony fare here?

Are the supernormal claims of Daoism and worse or better than those of any other religious tradition?]

 

 

 

Some claims about procedural Dao appear to be based on observations of history.

 

Claims regarding the ontological Dao may be different. The primary argument here appears to be (implicitly) presuppositional. Several possible reconstructions are plausible.

 

1.          All observed things change.

2.          It is impossible for everything to change.

3.          Therefore, there must be some unobserved and unchanging basis in which all change is grounded.

4.          This is (ontological) Dao.

 

This is similar to some cosmological arguments.

 

1.          Names are applied only to things that have become actual.

2.          There must be some source for things that have become actual.

3.          This source must consist in potentiality and be unnamed.

4.          This is (ontological) Dao.

 

As Daoism develops and adopts meditative practices, there is some indication that the ontological and explanatory Dao can be known through direct meditative insight.

 

Some versions of Daoism (especially in the present-day) eschew the more supernormal elements and instead emphasize concepts like balance, harmony, wu-wei, and accepting and according with Nature (“going with the flow”).