Researcher, Institute of Philosophy, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; Major research fields: Daoism, Daoist philosophy, and Religious Studies; Selected book: A Study of Daoist Morality Manuals (1999) [Chinese].

  Speech Abstract

                     The Way and Things are Indivisible:

The Way and the Myriad Things’ Dialectic Relationship of Precedence and Co-existence

 In pre-Qin Daoism, the “Way” is the metaphysical Being that covers everything, is self-generating, is self-transforming, is eternal, and is the origin of all things. “Things” are existent phenomena that have form, are mutable, are particular, and are varied. The Way that creates all things also exists in every thing. However, it is not a substitute for the rules that guide the subsistence and development of things. The indivisible relationship between the “Way” and “things” cannot be sufficiently explained by absolute monism or relative dualism. This paper employs this view of the Way and things as indivisible to offer a new interpretation of the relationship between the “Way” and “things” in regard to logic, existentialism, and epistemology.