Join us for a free one-day workshop for educators at the Japanese American National Museum, hosted by the USC U.S.-China Institute and the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia. This workshop will include a guided tour of the beloved exhibition Common Ground: The Heart of Community, slated to close permanently in January 2025. Following the tour, learn strategies for engaging students in the primary source artifacts, images, and documents found in JANM’s vast collection and discover classroom-ready resources to support teaching and learning about the Japanese American experience.
What is Laozi's Ziran (naturalness): from Ancient text to Modern Implication
Professor Xiaogan Liu of the City University of Hong Kong present a new interpretation on "Naturalness" based on close textual analysis of Laozi.
When:
November 14, 2008 4:00pm to 5:30pm
Where
Xiaogan Liu, Professor, Philosophy, City University of Hong Kong
It is a well-settled that Ziran, (Tzu-jan, or Naturalness as its token in English) is an essential concept in the Laozi or Daoism. However, the meaning of Laozi’s ziran is less clear. Does it refer to the natural world? Or does it characterize the biological world? Is it a description of biophysical nature? Or the Primitivist state? Perhaps it is Thomas Hobbe's“state of nature”? Or is it opposed to human civilization? Or is it useful for improving human social life? Could we accept all of these ideas as an equally “creative” understanding or interpretation of Laozi’s ziran? This lecture tries to present a new interpretation based on close textual analyses of the Laozi, including comparison of the received versions and recently excavated bamboo and silk versions of the text. In addition to textual and historical approaches, the lecture will also discuss its possible implication and application of the concept of Laozi’s ziran in modern society, a world full of value conflicts.
Cost:
Free
Event Website URL:
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