Settings Predication and Opposition in Dào Dé Jing Thought Experimental Analyses of (e.g.) dao ke dao fei chang dao (III) Global Cross-cultural and Religious Aspects

Abstract

In this contribution we apply methodologies of semantics of thought experiments (TE) to Dào Dé Jing (DDJ). Like all TE research, the research is not foremost about explanation of the contents of DDJ, although some indications may be given, but it is intended as a manual how to read and understand DDJ, e.g., how to handle the many oppositions (pairs of opposites, linguistically speaking, antonyms), how to understand the many aphoristic conundrums, like the first line  dào ke dào fei cháng dào. Dào ke dào … may be analyzed and interpreted as modus ponens instantiation, whereby relevant aspect is derived as major from information in same chapter or elsewhere in DDJ, in this case, e.g., chapter 35, as in accordance with hermeneutic principle that interpretation of single parts may be derived from other parts or whole of the text, and vice versa (hermeneutic circle). Wúwéi  and its aphorisms could be analyzed as (double) negation resulting in seeming contradictions (paradoxes) and univocal tautologies—as in Donia Zhang (2022) on translation of ‘non-action contrary to nature’—instead of mystifying adagial advices. In the first part of Interpretations we touch upon Wittgenstein’s ‘noticing of an aspect’ (1953, # xi), Da Costa’s and Beziau’s paraconsistent situation, optical illusions, yin-yáng diagram (Ch. 32), Huàtóus, Koans etc. Hofstadter (1979/1999) proposed a global cross-cultural hypothesis that feedback loops (as we know from present-day IT and AI) may represent the core of cognition, seat of consciousness. We show that logical analyses of spiritual thought experiments (STE), like Huàtóus and Koans, are well-possible without denying possibly beneficial effects of meditation. Lastly, in Interpretations, we try to explain enigmatic nature of many aphorisms from an antithetical attitude towards views and practices of contemporary ruling government, as by putting the generic statements back into their particular context.