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Daoism, humanity, and the Way of Heaven

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 June 2019

IAN JAMES KIDD
IAN JAMES KIDD*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, NG7 2QL, UK
*
e-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

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.

Type
Original Article
Information
Religious Studies , Volume 56 , Special Issue 1: Philosophy of Religions: Cross-Cultural, Multi-Religious Approaches , March 2020 , pp. 111 - 126
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019

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