Question 1

Is it more important to be just or to appear just? In answering this question, be sure to indicate clearly whether and when you mean to be speaking of justice by physis and when of justice by nomos.

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Question 2

Facilitate discussion about the similarities and differences between Mozi's description of universal caring and utilitarianism or Enlightenment-inspired liberalism. Ultimately, even though the Mozi argues for the logical coherence of universal love (or perhaps humaneness is more accurate), it is not at the expense of unique and particular relationships.

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Question 3

The Zhuangzi can be used to problematize discussions about contemporary environmentalism and activism. What would characterize a natural and wúwéi response to such unnatural changes as increased pollution?

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Question 4

The Chinese philosophical debates about logic and language are never far from political and moral concerns. They recognized the importance of being precise with words as well as, for the Daoists, inconsistency and vagueness of words. Bring in Chad Hansen's discussion on the philosophy of language in the Zhuangzi and the Laozi to facilitate comparison with early Wittgenstein and the logical positivists. Chad Hansen, A Daoist Theory of Chinese Thought: A Philosophical Interpretation, Oxford University Press (1992). Alternatively, this is a good opportunity to discuss propaganda and rhetoric as ways to facilitate (or dissolve) moral and societal cohesion.

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Question 5

Discussion of wúwéi benefits from the idea of "being in the zone" in the sense that one can in a way see what is going to happen before it does. This prescience is essential to acting without artifice. For example, Cook Ding describing his experience of the ox already being in pieces as soon as it is brought to him.

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Quiz 4: The Sophists: Rhetoric and Relativism in Athens

Is it more important to be just or to appear just? In answering this question, be sure to indicate clearly whether and when you mean to be speaking of justice by physis and when of justice by nomos.

The Zhuangzi can be used to problematize discussions about contemporary environmentalism and activism. What would characterize a natural and wúwéi response to such unnatural changes as increased pollution?