Ziran in Early Daoist Thinking: Spontaneous Nature – 1st Edition
By Jing Liu. Copyright 2027. 166 Pages, 7 B/W Illustrations. by Routledge. Also available as eBook on Taylor & Francis eBooks (Institutional Purchase).
From the publisher: This book offers a different understanding of nature by investigating the concept of ziran 自然 in the early Daoist texts, aiming to lay a metaphysical foundation for Daoism, Daoist environmentalism, and ecofeminism.
Revealing Daoist ziran as a peaceful, harmonious way of living and a source of profound wisdom for humans, who are now deep in the modern crisis, the book examines ziran in early Daoist texts from a comparative perspective. It elaborates the meaning of Daoist ziran from the dimensions of dao, things, and humans, covering important philosophical topics such as being and non-being, the spontaneity or nature of things, freedom, and so on. Drawing on extensive resources—from pre-Socratic philosophers, Plato, Kant, Heidegger, to environmentalism, feminism, and ecofeminism—it explores Daoist ziran and promotes comparative philosophy at both theoretical and practical levels.
As an original analysis of the relationship between humans and nature, this book will be a valuable resource for international scholars and researchers in Daoism, Asian philosophy, comparative philosophy, environmentalism, ecofeminism, and for those interested in the concept of nature.
Table of Contents:
1. Introduction
2. The Ziran of Dao: The Root-Source Meaning of Dao in Light of Being (you 有) and Non-being (wu 無)
3. The Ziran of Dao: The Practice of Dao
4. The Ziran of the Myriad Things: The Spontaneity of Things
5. The Ziran of Humans – On Human Freedom
6. Daoist Ecofeminism as a New Democracy
7. Conclusion: A Daoist Response to the Climate Crisis
Author Biography: Jing Liu earned her PhD from the Department of Philosophy at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa and is currently an Associate Professor at the School of Philosophy and Social Development at Shandong University, China.
Book Link：https://www.routledge.com/Ziran-in-Early-Daoist-Thinking-Spontaneous-Nature/Liu/p/book/9781032883779
