Daoism, humanity, and the Way of Heaven
This article argues for a cross-culturally pluralistic conception of spiritual exemplarity. Three main modes of exemplarity are identified, distinguished by their underlying aspirations, which I label ‘allegiance’, ‘enlightened insight’, and ‘emulation’. After challenging some attempts to privilege...
| Subtitles: | Special Issue: Philosophy of Religions: Cross-Cultural, Multi-Religious Approaches |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Cambridge Univ. Press
[2020]
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| In: |
Religious studies
Year: 2020, Volume: 56, Issue: 1, Pages: 111-126 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Religious pluralism
/ Comparative philosophy
/ Zhuangzi 365 BC-290 BC
/ Taoism
/ Emulation
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| IxTheo Classification: | AB Philosophy of religion; criticism of religion; atheism AX Inter-religious relations BM Chinese universism; Confucianism; Taoism VA Philosophy |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | This article argues for a cross-culturally pluralistic conception of spiritual exemplarity. Three main modes of exemplarity are identified, distinguished by their underlying aspirations, which I label ‘allegiance’, ‘enlightened insight’, and ‘emulation’. After challenging some attempts to privilege the modes of exemplarity characteristic of theistic religions, I argue that perhaps the fullest example of the aspiration to emulation is the form of Daoism presented in The Book of Zhuāngzǐ. I conclude that what one finds across different cultures and traditions is a plurality of modes of spiritual exemplarity that should be acknowledge and explored, rather than given more reductive analyses that narrow our sense of the variety of ways of living a spiritual life. |
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| ISSN: | 1469-901X |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Religious studies
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1017/S0034412519000313 |