About Historical Openness reflection on Chinese Philosophy
Rethinking on Dao De Jing
Introduction It is the purpose of this thesis to show what I see as a strong case for openness in the thought of Dao De Jing and how it has contributed to the advancement of Chinese philosophy. While it may have not been the original intent of the author to develop metaphysics, the content of the Dao De Jing provides a clear metaphysical view of the universe as well as the development of an ontology that I believe has been a happy accident for Chinese philosophy. The content of the Dao De Jing has provided thinkers of other schools in Chinese philosophy, such as Legalism, Buddhism and Neo-Confucianism, with the needed theory to help bolster their own arguments and develop philosophical thought in China. Whenever there has been a period of challenge to Chinese thinkers, It seems the Dao De Jing has helped them to meet these challenges and forge on. I believe that this has been due to the very openness of Dao De Jing. Through examining the text of the Dao De Jing I would like to show how it has developed a perpetual creative nature that contributed metaphysics and ontology to Chinese thought.