Daoist-Legalist Socialism:
One with real Chinese characteristics
EDITOR’S NOTES:
Mr. Sherwin Lu’s forthcoming book in Chinese (《中华大道与社会主义》) is a systematic explanation of a renovated theory which combines the reasonable core of Marx’s “scientific socialism” -- final emancipation of mankind by eliminating exploitation and oppression of man by man -- into the philosophical context of traditional Chinese Daoist-Legalism. Hence the English translation of the title as Daoist-Legalist Socialism: One with real Chinese Characteristics.
Though socialism in the Marxist sense has suffered serious setbacks, it is still a new and vibrant thing if viewed in the macro-historical perspective. It’s practice over half the world for almost a whole century has left behind a rich treasury of both positive experiences and negative lessons. When the wisdom from such newest human experiences is combined with that from the long-standing tradition of the only one surviving ancient civilization, the spiritual power thus produced, one can imagine, must be world-shaking and long-lasting. Therefore, as more and more people over the globe are looking for ways different from liberal capitalism for running human affairs, what this book presents will surely provide much needed food for thought, to say the least.
As no translation of the whole book seems possible in the near future whereas most of the major ideas expressed in the book have already been presented on this website in the many separate articles by the same author, this editor will post the following table of contents of the book with links to such “source articles” as would match individual chapters or sections respectively. Readers may need to copy the words in the link for use after clicking the link to find the corresponding section in a long article. (In case no such “source articles” are available for certain sections of the book, outlines or explanations or clues leading to the ideas in such sections are provided in brackets.)
The editor will also re-post such “source articles” afterwards in bi-monthly installments in the order as listed in this table of contents.
Any comment will be welcome and appreciated.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Part One Metaphysics
Chap 1 What is Dao?
§I-1(1) Transcending mind-matter split
“Infinite Number of Possible Worlds”
§I-1(2) Infinite potentialities
“A Thought Experiment”
§I-1(3) The Dao from which comes the one
“The Indescribable Transcendental Chaos”
§I-1(4) Beyond the Ultimate (Taiji)
“Coming about of the Human-Perceived World”
§I-1(5) Multi-dimensional dynamically-balanced whole: Ultimate sense of rationality in Daoist faith
“Human-perceived world as contingent emergence in multi-dimensional balance out of ultimate intangibility”
Chap 2 Daoism as Ontology and Epistemology
§I-2(1) Is “Dao” another name for the “noumenon” ?
(Yes, but Dao is formless and intangible.)
§I-2(2) Does Daoist philosophy lack epistemological theory (as some Western-educated scholars allege)？
(No. -- No translation nor perfectly matching source essay available, but China’s 5000 years of uninterrupted history of world-leading prosperity tells everything. See for references:
“Multi-dimensional wholeness and dynamic balance of the human-perceived world: Basic principle of ultimate rationality” ,
“Classical Chinese Philosophy: Basic Categories(3): Name and Substance”,
“Eastern Wisdom Can Help Solve Today’s Global Problems -- A Study of the ’Dynamically-Balanced Multi-Dimensional Whole’ World View”.)
Chap 3 Why Daoism is Closest to Maturity of All Faiths
§I-3(1) An ultimate faith should transcend all divide
“Ultimate faith: Its object must be an undivided ’One’”
§I-3(2) The object of ultimate faith: being symbolic, intuitive, and necessarily pluralistic
“Symbolic and intuitive nature of ultimate faith and justifiability of its pluralism”
§I-3(3) Two tiers of ultimate faith: Principled faith and contract faith
“Principled faith vs. contract faith”
§I-3(4) Mature vs. immature ultimate faiths
“Mature vs. immature ultimate faith”
§I-3(5) Egocentric faiths are not mature ones
“Egocentrism in immature faiths”
§I-3(6) Social functions of Daoism and all other ultimate faiths
“Social functions of ultimate faith”
Chap 4 Is Daoism against Scientific Reason?
§I-4(1) Ultimate rationality is the pre-requisite and commander of scientific reason
“Ultimate rationality vs. instrumental/scientific rationality”
§I-4(2) Intuitive vs. conscientious rationality
“Intuitive rationality vs. conscientious rationality”
§I-4(3) Sensory vs. integrated intuition
“Sensory intuition vs. integrated intuition”
§I-4(4) Rationality vs. Rationalism
“Rationality vs. rationalism”
Chap 5 Why “Yin-Yang-Balanced Five-Way Correlation” Theory (阴阳五行说) is Superior to Materialistic Dialectics
“Classical Chinese Philosophy: Basic Categories”
§I-5(1) The Dao of Yin-Yang balance commands over the law of “unity of opposites” from a higher level
“Five-Way Correlation (五行): Basic Paradigm for Yin-Yang Balance”
§I-5(2) The “Yin-Yang-balanced five-way correlation” paradigm is superior to the ”elementary particles” approach
(When applied to social science, the Five-Way Correlation paradigm can serve to overcome the limitations of mainstream Western social theories.)
Chap 6 Way Daoist-Legalist Way of Thinking is Superior to that of the Chinese Ru School (儒家) and Mainstream Western Tradition
(Note: The label “Confucianism” has been wrongly applied to the later Ru school of thought in conventional English translation.)
§I-6(1) The liberalist “spontaneous order” argument judged in the Daoist non-self-assertive (无为) and balance-oriented perspective
(No perfectly matching source essay available, but see for reference:
“Is ’non-self-assertive government’(无为而治) the same as lassez-faire indulgence of ’spontaneous social order’?”)
§I-6(2) The Ru school’s linear atomistic way of thinking: Resulting in pitting “virtue” against (rule of) law and in economic liberalism
(No perfectly matching source essay available, but see for references:
“The Confucianists pushed their argument even so far as to...”
“How Confucianism Departed From the Dao of Dynamic Balance” )
§I-6(3) Western way of thinking judged in Daoist-Legalist perspective: Atomistic-monolithic-mosaic view and “public-vs.-private” dichotomy
(No perfectly matching source essay available, but see for reference:
“Human Society: Multi-Level and Multi-Dimensional Network of Social Groupings”)
Part Two Political Economy
Chap 1 A Theory of Three Sources of Commodity Value & 3-Tier Joint Community Ownership
§2-1(1) Philosophical basis for three-source value theory
(No translation of fully-developed source essay available but, briefly, the basis lies in traditional Chinese thought about oneness of Humanity with Heaven and interdependence between all human beings on an all time-space scale.
§2-1(2) Marx’s labor theory of value will live as long as history
(No translation of fully-developed source essay available.)
§2-1(3) Three-source theory of commodity value
“The three-source value theory”
§2-1(4) Capital’s hegemony over values from all three sources
“Capital’s Hegemony over Values from All Tree Sources”
§2-1(5) Origin and ugly consequences of unrestrained expansion of unjust capital
“Where unjust capital originates”
“Ugly consequences of unrestrained expansion of unjust capital”
§2-1(6) Joint hegemony of money and knowledge capital
(No translation of source essay available.)
§2-1(7) 3-tier joint community ownership: theoretical justification
(No translation of source essay available, but, briefly, all means of production on Earth should be owned by all mankind, to be realized through the joint ownership by:
a) capital-labor joint business community on the grassroots level,
b) b) nation-state community, and c) global all-human community.)
§2-1(8) Practical significance of holistically broader view of “labor”
(No translation of source essay available, but, summarily, the broad view helps overcome ultra-left policy practices.)
§2-1(9) Socialism-oriented secondary distribution
(No translation of source essay available, but, essentially, this should be different from that under capitalism in intention and sources of funds distributed.)
Chap 2 Daoist-Legalists’ All-Round Balance-Oriented Policy Practices in Ancient China
(See chart in Eastern Wisdom Can Help Solve Today’s Global Problems.)
§2-2(1) Balance between man and nature
§2-2(2) Economic equality among all peasants
§2-2(3) Balance of interests between peasants, merchants and consumers
§2-2(4) Balance between domestic and inter-state commodity prices
§2-2(5) Balance between money power and political power
§2-2(6) Accord between state power-structure’s functioning and the principle of political equality
§2-2(7) Rule of law under supervision from all social members as equals
§2-2(8) Balanced relations between big and small states and between conquering and conquered states)
Chap 3 Western Atomistic-Monolithic-Mosaic Worldview Adopted by Apologists for Monopoly Capital’s Anti-Dao Hegemony
“From Single-Source Value Theory to World Capital Hegemony”
§2-3(1) Single-source value theory
§2-3(2) Narrow definition of “labor”
§2-3(3) “Free exchange” between capital and labor: A fallacy
§2-3(4) Over-dependence on quantification
§2-3(5) The private (economy) - public (politics) dichotomy
§2-3(6) The “flat world” fallacy
Chap 4 Productive-Force-Centrism: The Fatal Flaw in Socialist Political Economy
“Productive-force-centrism: The Fatal Flaw in Socialist Political Economy”
§2-4(1) Nature viewed as purely material object to be exploited for human social production
§2-4(2) Line of thought in productive-force-centrism
§2-4(3) From productive-force-centrism to linear view of history
Part Three political theory
Chap 1 Chinese and Western Politics, Traditional and Modern, Judged by Supreme Dao
§3-1(1) Ancient Chinese Daoist and Ru (儒家) political theory and/or practice
(No perfectly matching source essay available, but see for reference:
“Classical Chinese Political Thought: An Overview”
“How Confucianism Departed From the Dao of Dynamic Balance”
“Eastern Wisdom Can Help Solve Today’s Global Problems -- A Study of the “Dynamically-Balanced Multi-Dimensional Whole” World View”)
§3-1(2) Western-style democracy
“Equality in Political Discourse vs. Inequality in Economic Relations”
§3-1(3) Traditional (20th century) socialism
“A Critique of Communist Ideology”
“Traditional Socialism (1)”, “(2-3)”
Chap 2 Themes of the Times and Mission of the Proletariat
§3-2(1) Themes of the Times: Human Crises and Transformation of Civilization
“Themes of the Times”
§3-2(2) Historic Mission of the Proletariat
“Historic Mission of the Proletariat”
§3-2(3) “Class struggle” in context of “dynamic balance”
(No translation nor source essay available, but see for reference:
“Abating Class Confrontations through Balance-Oriented Adjustments”.)
§3-2(4) Proletarian in spirit as well as in material: Internal sageness externalized in kingliness (内圣外王)
(No translation nor source essay available, but see for reference:
“Lack of Spiritual Transcendence – A Critique of Communist Ideology, II(3-5)”)
Chap 3 Gradually abating class confrontation till its extinction through non-self-assertive (无为) balance-oriented government
§3-3(1) How to interpret Daoist non-self-assertive government (无为而治)
(No translation nor source essay available, but see for reference:
“The Tao of Lassez-faire” refuted.)
§3-3(2) Non-self-assertive (无为) balance-oriented “dictatorship of the proletariat”
§3-3(3) Daoist-Legalist Socialism: Rule of Law instead of “Dictatorship”
“Balance-Oriented vs. Confrontational Thinking: Daoist-Legalist Socialism vs. the Right & the Left”
Chap 4 Daoist-Legalist Political Power Structure: Constitutional Government Led by One Party (of the Proletariat)
§3-4(1) Historical inevitability of shifting from capitalism to socialism
(No translation nor source essay available, but see for reference:
“Ugly consequences of unrestrained expansion of unjust capital”.)
§3-4(2) Daoist-Legalist three-in-one politics: Vanguard party leadership, constitutional rule of law, and people’s democracy
(No translation nor source essay available, but see for reference:
“Traditional Socialism(1), (2)(3)”.)
§3-4(3) Cultivate a democratic tradition in party building
(No translation nor source essay available but, briefly, in three sub-topics:
a) by accepting with respect constitution-allowed supervision and advise from other legal political parties;
b) by treating as equals individual members or factions within the party who believe in a line of thought different from that of the leadership, accepting their party-constitution-allowed supervision and tolerating unacceptable criticisms from them;
c) by accepting with humble respect constitution-allowed supervision and advise from all people and their mass organizations.
PART FOUR WORLD IDEOLOGIES
Chap 1 Traditional Chinese Culture as an Integrated Whole
“Traditional Chinese culture is an integrated whole”
§4-1(1) Fragmentization of Chinese culture by dualistic Western way of thinking
§4-1(2) Legalism vs. Ru School of thought (儒家) vs. Western liberalism: A love-hate triangle
§4-1(3) Contention between Ru and Legalist schools of thought in Daoist perspective
Chap 2 A Critique of Communist Ideology
“A Critique of Communist Ideology”
§4-2(1) Faith in the supreme Dao vs. ideology
§4-2(2) How to assess Marx’s accomplishments and faults
§4-2(3) Material indulgence in the globalized capitalist world
§4-2(4) Spiritual transcendence: Two tiers of spiritual life
§4-2(5) Ultimate Humility, Tolerance and Balance-Oriented Thinking
§4-2(6) Conclusion
Chap 3 World Ideologies, Chinese and Western, Past and Present, as Judged by the Dao
§4-3(1) Daoism as representative of traditional Chinese ideologies
§4-3(2) Christian ideology: Not self-consistent
“Daoism vs. Christianity as ideologies -- A Critique of Rationalism in Modern World Ideologies (IV 1-2)”
§4-3(3) Capitalist ideology
“Capitalism as ideology”
§4-3(4) 20th century socialist ideology
“Traditional Socialism(1)”
Chap 4 Redemption of Humanity: By Transcending Utilitarian Way of Thinking and Restarting from Awareness of Ultimate Intangibility
(No translation nor source essay available for this whole chapter.)
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