Loa Tzu – China
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Bryan Gensits
Professor Unger
Intro to Philosophy
March 16th, 2012
Lao Tzu
Lao Tzu was born around the 6th Century B.C. in China and he lived around the same time as Plato and Socrates. His name can be translated into “Old Master” and not a lot is know about his life except for second-hand accounts, some speculate that he never existed and that he is merely a legend. This makes it nearly imposable to know his influences and anything said about them is purely speculation. The most notable account of Lao Tzu was by Confucius (another extremely notable Chinese philosopher of the same time period). Confucius had heard about Lao Tzus wisdom and insight and he set out to find him. After searching for Lao Tzu for years he finally found him, Confucius (placing a heavy emphasis on rituals and traditions) asked him what he thought of such customs. Lao Tzu responded that, “The bones of the people you are talking about have long since turned to dust! Only their words linger on. If a mans time comes, he will be successful; if not, he will not be successful. A successful merchant hides his wealth and a noble person of character will feign foolishness. Therefore, you should give up your proud airs, your desires, vanity and extravagant claims! They are useless to you.” Confucius then left him and he returned to his students. Upon arrival he said, “Birds can fly, Fish can swim, Animals can run, So they can all be snared or trapped. But Lao Tzu is like a flying Dragon, un-trappable”. Lao Tzu later became the keeper of the Imperial Library in his hometown of Luoyang, China. After being this for many years he saw the futility of Chinas affairs and he decided to leave it forever. Legend has it that on his trip out of China he came to the guarded Han Gu Pass where a soldier told him that since he was leaving forever he should write down some of his wisdom before departure so he might be remembered. Then, Lao Tzu wrote the Tao Te Ching at the pass, upon completion he left and was never heard from again.
Lao Tzus epistemology had a large foundation of the mind of an infant. He taught that infants were the only people who could see truth and things for what they actually are. Once people start growing they know less of what actually is because they have contact with humans and loose touch with the truth they once knew. This is because man-made concepts cloud how they view reality. In the Tao Te Ching Lao Tzu asserted that, “He who is filled with Virtue is like a newborn child” (Tao Te Ching 55). Lao Tzu would agree that once you have aged and experienced the world it is very difficult, if not imposable to experience true reality again. The only way to re-experience this truth is to undo