Ethics Lecture Ten

Ethics Lecture Ten 30/11/05

Today I would like to continue our discussion of Chuang Tzu and ethics.

Chuang Tzu offers itself to many different understandings – today I would like to offer you just three – they are not the only ways to read this work.

The purpose of the Chuang Tzu is self-transformation – but it is not what is usually thought of self-transformation – what self-transformation usually means is a big change in what one is – instead – we are to assume that the author (Chuang Tzu) has already been transformed – is already changed.

For the reader – for us – the Chuang Tzu presents to us styles of life that are meant to be attractive to us – styles of life of which we have no experience.

At the same time the style of life which we are living now is subtly shown to be foolish – and the spontaneous and free life is presented as a real possibility.

The word “approximate” is important here.

Approximate – almost correct, but not exact.

Chuang Tzu does not suggest that there is only one kind very good life to be followed.

Spiritual power can be expressed in a lot of different styles of life and a variety of physical forms.

Also: what Chuang Tzu is suggesting is a wonderful style of life – cannot be describe exactly.

Many times through the Chuang Tzu – he says: maybe this is what I mean – maybe it’s not – Chuang Tzu is always suggesting other meanings for what is written – this is why much of the Chuang Tzu has a lot of humor and jokiness though it.

Another reason that Chuang Tzu does this is because of the way in which he hopes to transform the reader – not by giving them a formula to follow – but in a very different way.

Chuang Tzu’s main emphasis is on: spontaneity and freedom.

Non-Moral Improvement

The transformation at the heart of the Chuang Tzu cannot be understood just in terms of moral improvement.

The movement to the style of life that Chuang Tzu is suggesting may not included becoming a more ethical person – but it does involve having a better life.

To begin to understand this we might a basic difference between:

(quote 1)

(1) Ethics (good and bad)

(2) A life that is better or worse. (style of life)

“I should be able to live my life exactly as I please – as long as it is not hurting anyone else”

In Western ethics the idea of good or bad has usually be limited to those things that might harm another person (J.S Mill, On Liberty) – and in modern Western society it is important that there should be a private part of life not subject to control by others.

There has been a strong tendency in Western ethics to limit ethics to the first category – what harms people – and to NOT include the second category in ethics.

These two are much closer together in Eastern ethical philosophy.

In fact, in Western ethics there has been a strong focus on (1) has led to ethical theory dividing itself into two areas:

(quote 2)

Western ethics has focused on:

(1) Society’s control of the individual (legal, political, ethical)

(2) The individual’s right to independence.

Aristotle: ‘the contemplative life is best for the human being.’

G.E. Moore (1873-1958) Principia Ethica (1903)

This makes it very hard for some Western ethical philosophers to understand what meant by style of life ethics, such as we find in the Chuang Tzu.

There have been some exceptions - such as Aristotle – who we have mentioned – who suggests that the contemplative life is best for the human being – but we cannot say that it is unethical – bad – to live a life that is not contemplative.

We also would not understand the last chapter of Principia Ethica – where Moore talks about those things that are the greatest goods for us to associate with – personal affections and aesthetic enjoyments.

The Chuang Tzu is NOT about ethics – in the (1) sense. There are no rules offered that you should keep or not keep.

The transformation in is not primarily an ethical change – but a change in how one thinks and feels – and in the new behavior that expresses this change.

One of the key insights – one of the things that the Chuang Tzu says is: a person can be ethically good and still have a very unsatisfying life (in other words, not achieve the goal of ethics which is to have a happy and satisfying life) – of course, someone could be ethically bad and have an unsatisfying life as well.

Becoming Spontaneous

(quote 3)

emotions

motivation and conduct

What is spontaneity?

spontaneity is the is part of all thought and action

some people are more spontaneous than others

The transformation in the Chuang Tzu is between one’s emotions and motivation and conduct.

We can look at this connection between emotions and motivation and conduct by looking again at this idea of spontaneity.

The main idea is: we are not creating our thoughts – they are appearing spontaneously – you do not know what you are going to think next.

Mozart: “I do not know from where my musical ideas come from – they do not feel like they are mine”

This idea of thoughts coming from some unknown place is right through the Chuang Tzu:

(quote 4)

“Pleasure in things and anger against them, sadness and joy, forethought and regret, change and immobility, idle influences that initiate our gestures – music coming out of emptiness … no one knows from what soil they spring” – Chuang Tzu, No. 50

These spontaneous thoughts can undermine our sense of who we are – or who we think we are.

But I need NOT ACT on my spontaneous thoughts or desires – remember: this is Kant’s notion of “duty” – but in the Chuang Tzu the point is to see this at the beginning of a chain of thought not at the end.

The Chuang Tzu is suggesting, at the very least, that we lessen the urgency of our desires – and to act in the knowledge of our inherent freedom – our always already free state from desire – is to act, by definition, spontaneously.

(quote 5)

“where desires and cravings are deep, the impulse which is from Heaven is shallow” – Chuang Tzu, No. 84

“[it is best that a person] does not inwardly wound his person by likes and dislikes, the he constantly goes by the spontaneous and does not add anything to the process of life” – Chuang Tzu, No. 82

No effort – what is put in it place – re-cognition – recognition not intention.

That were we might say it is the overcoming of desire that leads to freedom – the Chuang Tzi – and Daoism more generally points to the idea that we are always already free of desire – if we can but just recognize it – and from that freedom from desire flows that spontaneous free energy and creativity that expresses itself as the skillful means of spontaneous ethical action.

It is through this re-cognition that deeper regions of the mind are accessed.

Fluidity and Character

The self is fluid and multilayered.

Chuang Tzu says that there are benefits to staying in touch – in connection with these deeper layers – that energy and creativity can be released and help to change one’s thought and behaviour.

What about the negatives of this idea of a fluid self: the inability to take responsibility and to maintain a consistent character.

But is there a deeper responsibility – to take responsibility for that which takes responsibility.

What most strongly comes under pressure is the idea of character – it requires constancy.

(quote 6)

“What constancy requires is a high level of predictability in decisions involving trust and responsibility or core requirements of morality, and a degree of stability in one’s basic attitudes and feelings toward others” – Joel J. Kupperman, Learning from Asian Philosophy.

“Constancy and sincerity do not require that a person never change their mind, but they do require that changes not be abrupt and capricious” ” – Joel J. Kupperman, Learning from Asian Philosophy.