Infant as a symbolism of goodness and innocense in Lao‑Zi’s Dao De Jing and Heraclitus’ Fragments

• Autor(a) principal: Papagiannis, Lampros I.
• Data de Publicação: 2019
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10451/44756
• topic: Heraclitus; Lao zi, pseud.; Ethics; Symbolism; Infant; Cosmos

In this article we shall try to explore the ethical aspects of the Dao De Jing and the fragments of the pre‑Socratic philosopher Heraclitus based on the symbolism of the infant that they both use. At first a very short introduction needs to be made concerning the basis of morality and the difference between China and Greece. Needless to say we must take into account the general ethical context in the civilizations of ancient China and ancient Greece and indicate (if possible) whether the DDJ is to be seen as a strictly ethical/political text as well as whether Heraclitus’ fragments work as an ethical map for the people of his time and place.63 I intent to structure this article in two chapters each one dedicated to each of the philosophers along with a short introduction in the beginning. As far as the main chapters are concerned the Lao‑Zi’s DDJ will be analyzed at first from the perspective of ethics in connection to the symbol of the infant not rarely used by Lao‑Zi. Secondly I shall deal with the ethical thought of Heraclitus and his perspective of the infant found in some of his fragments. Let us keep in mind that apart from the fragments themselves, the witnesses (i.e. stories about his life) play a not less important role in our extracting his philosophical opinions.64 Lastly we shall try to come to a conclusion concerning the similarities and dissimilarities between Lao‑Zi and Heraclitus regarding their views on ethics and especially regarding the use of the infant as a symbol or a pattern.