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6 pages/β‰ˆ1650 words
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2 Sources
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APA
Subject:
Social Sciences
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Term Paper
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English (U.S.)
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Topic:

Theme From Zhuangzi And Laozi (Daodejing)

Term Paper Instructions:

you compare and contrast treatments of the same or similar theme from Zhuangzi and Laozi(Daodejing) and you anchor your thesis in at least two passages: one from each text.
The first thing you need to do is start drawing up contextual information for the main and ancillary passages. Contextualize the passage in terms of plot (what led up to the passage, what change the passage records, etc) or—in the case of the Theaetetus—in terms of the argument (what stage of the argument are we at, what is being analyzed, critiqued, etc). Then you need to makes sure you understand your passages in a literal way. You need to know the dictionary meaning of all the words. Are any of the words used ironically or metaphorically? Who is being ironic—the character or the author? You also need to understand your passages on the level of sentences. You need to know what the subject is, what the predicate is, how the dependent clauses depend, etc. Then try to paraphrase your passages, focusing on the relations between parts. Only after you have a literal understanding of your passage can you start thinking about it thematically. What themes collide in your passage? What does the literal meaning of your passage imply about these themes? How do your themes appear in the other passages you chose? What tensions are there between themes in the same passage? What tensions are there in the presentation of the same theme across several passages? 3. Only after you have done all this brainstorming can you design a COMPLEX THESIS SENTENCE. Your thesis should be about relationships among themes in your passages. Your paper should consist of a proof of your thesis. In other words, your paper should be structured as a chain of arguments, supported by textual and logical evidence, demonstrating the truth of your thesis. Before writing, create an outline of your proof, each step of which is a full sentence. After you write the paper, revisit your outline: does your argument now seem different? .

Term Paper Sample Content Preview:

The Theme of Knowledge in Zhuangzi and in Daodejing
Name
Institutional Affiliation
The Theme of KNOWLEDGE in Zhuangzi and in Daodejing
Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 1. Excerpt from Zhuangzi, p. 44
Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 2. Excerpt from Daodejing, p. 32
The Theme of Knowledge in Knowledge Dejing and Zhuangzi
The Chinese Taoist philosophers Zhuangzi and Laozi made significant contributions to the understanding of the Chinese literature and writings. While they may have lived at different times, their works depict Confucius teachings which were mainly about proper living. Their works depict philosophical teachings which can be used in the contemporary understanding of philosophical concepts and principles. While their literature work features different themes, the main theme that is evident in the excerpt above is knowledge. Zhuangzi’s main work focuses on knowledge as the main theme and he seeks to use this theme to undermine human’s understanding of knowledge and the world around them by taking a relativist position. Relativism is a doctrine that every human perception is a formed opinion of their surrounding and is therefore, not true. Laozi takes a similar stand on the theme of knowledge, seeking to ask the reader and the rulers of his time to develop a higher perception when it comes to the search of knowledge. The two philosophers seek to tell the reader that human understanding of knowledge can be misleading, and therefore, there is a need for rethinking before relying on human reasoning.
The theme of knowledge is evident in the two excerpts above. In Zhuangzi (2010), the theme of knowledge appears in the passages appearing before and after the selected excerpt. In the excerpt from Zhuangzi, he starts by stating that man has the desire of looking for knowledge from both heavenly and human perspective. The knowledge that men look for, however, is not reliable as they do not have a natural capability of telling the difference between what they consider to be heavenly and what they consider to be human as human. Zhuangzi asks the question “…How can I know that what I consider Heaven is not actually human and what I consider human is not actually Heavenly?...” (Zhuangzi, 2018, p. 44). He asks this question in his process of attempting to define the attributes of a true man. He goes ahead to state that in the end, one must be a “True Man.” The True Man, according to Zhuagzi, is one that is real, one that is not defined by the confusion of knowledge. This is a position that Zhuangzi believes that one cannot escape, but it is man’s ultimate end. A true man is one that cannot be misled by his self-desires or human knowledge, one that can successfully distinguish the limit of human knowledge and what Zhuangzi calls the wisdom of Dao. The concept of Dao, from the Chinese point of view is that which is endless. By attributing a true man to Dao, Zhuangzi is implying that true knowledge is limitless, yet men end up getting misled by what they have learned.
Just like Zhuangzi, Laozi takes a relativist position to explain the human position in terms of knowledge and Dao. In the excerpt above, Laozi writes that “…Men who were good at following the Dao did ...
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