Transcendental Time and Empirical Time: Two Types of Time and Their Internal Connection in the Laozi
The concept of time in Laozi’s philosophy is more complicated than it appears. Its complexity stems from the fact that there are two distinct concepts of time: the temporality of empirical things, which is constructed as a finitely continuous temporal succession that is perceptible, and the temporal...
| Published in: | Religions |
|---|---|
| Authors: | ; |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
MDPI
2023
|
| In: |
Religions
Year: 2023, Volume: 14, Issue: 5 |
| Further subjects: | B
dao
B transcendental time B finite B heng B continuous B Infinite B empirical time |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | The concept of time in Laozi’s philosophy is more complicated than it appears. Its complexity stems from the fact that there are two distinct concepts of time: the temporality of empirical things, which is constructed as a finitely continuous temporal succession that is perceptible, and the temporality of the shapeless dao 道, which is conceived of as a transcendental and infinitely continuous temporal succession that is imperceptible. Referring to the excavated Laozi texts, we find that most of the heng 恆 characters were replaced by the character chang 常 in the transmitted versions of the text. In addition, inspired by the excavated text Hengxian 恆先, the concept of heng in Spring and Autumn period philosophy has become an important subject of study. These two factors collectively lay a thought-provoking foundation for understanding Laozi’s ideas about the continuous, large-scale temporal eternality of dao. This article argues that both the daoheng 道恆 and hengdao 恆道 are used in the Laozi to describe the temporality of dao but that the latter has long been forgotten and overlooked by modern scholars. In the compound word hengdao, the character heng is a noun that acts as an attribute; whereas in the compound word hengdao, the character heng is a noun that acts as the predicate. This article argues that Laozi introduced the theory of “dao is eternal” (dao yongheng 道永恆) as evidenced by the use of heng and several time concepts such as “it seems to have even preceded the first ancestors” (xiangdi zhi xian 象帝之先), “the spirit of the valley never dies” (gushen busi谷神不死), “he who lives out his days has had a long life” (si er buwang 死而不亡), “the way … by which one lives to see many days” (changsheng jiushi 長生久視). The temporality of material things originates from the temporality of dao. Moreover, things can possess and expand their own time if they act in accordance with the universal law of dao. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 2077-1444 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Religions
|
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.3390/rel14050656 |