{"product_id":"an-introduction-to-daoist-philosophies","title":"An Introduction to Daoist Philosophies","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Coutinho, Steve\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eBrand:\u003c\/b\u003e Columbia University Press\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFeatures:\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e\u003cli\u003eColumbia University Press\u003c\/li\u003e\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding:\u003c\/b\u003e paperback\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNumber Of Pages:\u003c\/b\u003e 248\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eRelease Date:\u003c\/b\u003e 19-11-2013\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eDetails:\u003c\/b\u003e Product Description\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\nSteve Coutinho explores in detail the fundamental concepts of Daoist thought as represented in three early texts: the Laozi, the Zhuangzi, and the Liezi. Readers interested in philosophy yet unfamiliar with Daoism will gain a comprehensive understanding of these works from this analysis, and readers fascinated by ancient China who also wish to grasp its philosophical foundations will appreciate the clarity and depth of Coutinho's explanations.\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\nCoutinho writes a volume for all readers, whether or not they have a background in philosophy or Chinese studies. A work of comparative philosophy, this volume also integrates the concepts and methods of contemporary philosophical discourse into a discussion of early Chinese thought. The resulting dialogue relates ancient Chinese thought to contemporary philosophical issues and uses modern Western ideas and approaches to throw new interpretive light on classical texts. Rather than function as historical curiosities, these works act as living philosophies in conversation with contemporary thought and experience. Coutinho respects the multiplicity of Daoist philosophies while also revealing a distinctive philosophical sensibility, and he provides clear explanations of these complex texts without resorting to oversimplification.\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\nReview\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\nAn insightful and comprehensive overview of the plurality of approaches within this tradition, making Daoist texts philosophically relevant and significant. -- Hans-Georg Moeller, author of The Philosophy of the Daodejing\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\nSteve Coutinho's An Introduction to Daoist Philosophies is a hugely intelligent object lesson in textual phenomenology―a hermeneutically-driven method needed to find coalescence between the clues, signs, and data provided by composite Daoist texts and our own knowledge and experience. He provides his reader with the broad terminological and textual associations required to reconnoiter and map the pluralistic landscape of the Daoist philosophies that are at once resolutely unique yet resonant, and continuous with one another yet complex and multivalent. -- Roger T. Ames, University of Hawai'i\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\nIt is now a commonplace in Daoist scholarship that imposing the Western categories of \"philosophy\" and \"religion\" on early Chinese texts obscures more than it illuminates them. With care and sensitivity, however, Steven Coutinho has well analyzed three core texts Daoist within a Western philosophical conceptual framework, while yet giving the multiply authors of the Laozi, Zhuangzi, and the Liezi their own voices, both with respect to the Western philosophical tradition, and with each other. (The plural in the title of the book is important). In short, Coutinho has enlarged the field of philosophy – Chinese and more generally -- without diminishing religion, Daoist or more generally.\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\nThe book is also of particular topical interest today because of the artful way Coutinho treats the similar perspectives on nature in the three basic Daoist works, by his emphasis on their insistence that the natural world is not to be seen as a congeries of resources for exploitation, but rather as the context within which human life is possible, and can be made meaningful. -- Henry Rosemont, Jr., Brown University\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\nAn Introduction to Daoist Philosophies is an accessible introduction to fundamental Daoist concepts and themes. Coutinho's presentation of ideas in three early Daoist texts―Laozi, Zhuangzi and Liezi―has a nuanced, east-west comparative philosophical perspective. The book strikes a fine balance between illuminating Daoist philosophy drawing on contrasting and parallel concepts from western philosophy, on the one hand; and uncompromisingly preserving the richness and distinctiveness of the Daoist texts, on the other. Coutinho rightly emphasises the centrality of methodological awareness to understanding the significance of Daoist philosophy. Daoist Philosophies is an important resource for those wishing to gain insights into Daoist phi\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eEAN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780231143394\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePackage Dimensions:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.0 x 6.0 x 0.7 inches\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguages:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Columbia University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50123714298160,"sku":"Trans_9780231143394","price":1955.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0690\/9968\/4144\/files\/71cBGJEg9IL.jpg?v=1757337659","url":"https:\/\/www.retailmaharaj.com\/bn\/products\/an-introduction-to-daoist-philosophies","provider":"Retail Maharaj","version":"1.0","type":"link"}