Tao and Method: A Reasoned Approach to the Tao Te Ching

Tao and Method: A Reasoned Approach to the Tao Te Ching
ISBN-10
0791416011
ISBN-13
9780791416013
Category
Religion
Pages
664
Language
English
Published
1994-01-01
Publisher
SUNY Press
Authors
Laozi, Michael LaFargue

Description

While the Tao Te Ching has been translated and commented on countless times, interpretations are seldom based on systematic theoretical treatment of the problems of interpretive method posed by this enigmatic classic. Beginning with a critical discussion of modern hermeneutics including treatments of Hirsch, Gadamer, and Derrida, this book applies methods developed in biblical studies to the Tao Te Ching. The following chapters discuss systematically four areas necessary to recovering the Tao Te Ching 's original meaning: its social background; the semantic structure of the brief aphorisms contained in the book; the concrete background of the more cosmic sayings; and the origin and genre of the 81 chapters of the Tao Te Ching. These essays propose relatively new theories in each of these areas, leading to a new approach to the interpretation of the text. This approach is illustrated in the translation and the detailed commentary on each chapter.

Other editions

Similar books