Midterm Synthesis Paper Three(3)

What is philosophy as demonstrated in Ancient Chinese Philosophy by Lao Tzu in the way he characterizes the sage?

Namelessness is philosophy as demonstrated in Ancient Chinese Philosophy by Lao Tzu in the way he characterizes the sage.

We can see in the Tao Te Ching 72 the character or namelessness, especially in the line “Therefore the sage knows himself but makes no show, has self-respect but is not arrogant.” In this part the character of namelessness is really visible or noticeable. It is said in this part that the sage knows himself but makes no show, it means that the sage knows many things but he make no show because he don’t want to have fame or he really don’t want to be known because the sage is humble and don’t want to be notice or recognize. ‘He has self-respect but is not arrogant’, this part also shows that the sage is also humble and not arrogant. He knew himself well and knew good things about himself but he doesn’t brag about it and boast about it because as I have said, the sage don’t want to be noticed or don’t want to be recognized.

It is also seen or noticed in the Tao Te Ching 2, especially in the part that is said that ‘Therefore the sage goes about doing nothing, teaching no-talking. Creating, yet possessing. Working, yet not taking credit.’ In this part we can see that the sage don’t do a thing to be credited for something because the sage don’t want to be credited or don’t want fame. When one teach, it means that he/she sees himself as something because he/she thinks that he has the capacity to teach and it made him/her bragging about himself that he know something or know many things.

We can notice that the sage don’t want to become something or to be credited with something he has done because the sage wants to be nameless and the character of the sage is namelessness. The sage doesn’t teach because when he teaches, it means that he is something because he has the capability to teach and he doesn’t want to become something. And when he works, he does not want to be credited for it or notice for it because it is his character the character of not to be know.

It is also shown in the Tao Te Ching 64, especially in the part that is said that ‘The sage does not act, and so is not defeated. He does not grasp and therefore does not lose.’ When one does something, it means that the things that he has done have a result, and the result is not known. And when the result is not known, you will not know whether you lose or you win therefore the sage does not act so there will be no bad result. And the sage does not grasp because when grasping, it has the result of falling therefore the sage don’t do a thing.

Therefore, namelessness is philosophy as demonstrated in Ancient Chinese Philosophy by Lao Tzu in the way he characterizes the sage.