A Few Notes on C.S. Lewis’s Understanding of the Tao

Main Article Content

Mihaela Cernăuți-Gorodețchi

Abstract

In his series of three lectures delivered at King’s College, Newcastle, part of the University of Durham, in February 1943 and published the following year under the title The Abolition of Man; or, Reflections on Education with Special Reference to the Teaching of English in the Upper Forms of Schools, C.S. Lewis passionately argues for the preservation or reinstatement of “the sole source of all value judgements”, represented, in his opinion, by “traditional values”, that he calls “for convenience the Tao, and which others may call Natural Law or Traditional Morality or the First Principles of Practical Reason or the First Platitudes.” This article looks a little closer at the specific meaning of the Tao selected (and then adapted) by C.S. Lewis from a rather complex and fluid philosophical paradigm informed by two contrasting (Taoist and Confucian, respectively) schools of thought.

Article Details

How to Cite
Cernăuți-Gorodețchi, M. “A Few Notes on C.S. Lewis’s Understanding of the Tao”. Linguaculture, vol. 10, no. 2, Dec. 2019, pp. 31-40, doi:10.47743/lincu-2019-2-0143.
Section
Articles
Author Biography

Mihaela Cernăuți-Gorodețchi, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași, Romania

Mihaela Cernăuți-Gorodețchi is a professor in the Department of Comparative Literature, Faculty of Letters, “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iași. Her research interests and areas of expertise are: world and comparative literature (Oriental literatures; famous fairy tales collections; Romanticism and fairy tales; modern and postmodern fairy tales; fantasy; children’s literature); world theatre history; literature and the visual arts. She authored several books: Poetica basmului modern [A Poetics of Modern Fairy Tales], 2000/2002; Dicţionar de personaje carrolliene [Lewis Carroll’s Characters: A Dictionary], 2003; (with Gyorfi-Déak György & Robert Lazu), Enciclopedia lumii lui J.R.R. Tolkien [A Tolkien Encyclopedia], 2007; Literatura pentru copii. Sinteză critică [Children’s Literature], 2008.

References

Lewis, Clive Staples. The Abolition of Man; or, Reflections on Education with Special Reference to the Teaching of English in the Upper Forms of Schools. Oxford University Press – London: Humphrey Milford, 1944. Print

Eno, Robert, ed. “The Analects of Confucius. An Online Teaching Translation” (Version 2.21). www.indiana.edu. Indiana University Bloomington. 2015. Web. 12 February 2019.

Huang, Chichung, ed. The Analects of Confucius: A Literal Translation with an Introduction and Notes. Trans. Chichung Huang. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997. Print.

Lau, D.C., ed. The Analects. Trans. D.C. Lau. London: Penguin, 1979. Print.

Legge, James, ed. “Confucian Analects”. The Chinese Classics with Translation, Critical and Exegetical Notes, Prolegomena, and Copious Indexes. Trans. James Legge. London: Trübner & Co., 1861. Vol. 1. [The Body of the Volume] 1-218. Print.

Waley, Arthur, ed. The Analects of Confucius. Trans. Arthur Waley. London: George Allen & Unwin ltd., 1938. Print.

Watson, Burton, ed. The Analects of Confucius. Trans. Burton Watson. New York: Columbia University Press, 2007. Print.

Borel, Henri, “Wu Wei”. Trans. M.E. Reynolds. Laotzu’s Tao and Wu Wei. New York: Brentano’s Publishers, 1919. 55-116. Print.

Carus, Paul, ed. Lao-Tze’s Tao-teh-king. Chinese-English, with introduction, transliteration, and notes. Trans. Dr. Paul Carus. Chicago: The Open Court Publishing Company, 1898. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Truebner & Co., 1898. Print.

Goddard, Dwight, ed. “Laotzu’s Tao”. Laotzu’s Tao and Wu Wei. Trans. Dwight Goddard. New York: Brentano’s Publishers, 1919. 7-53. Print.

Lau, D.C., ed. Tao Te Ching: The Book of the Way and Its Virtue. Trans. D.C. Lau. Middlesex, England: Penguin Books, 1963. Print.

Legge, James, ed. “The Tâo Teh King or the Tâo and Its Characteristics”. The Sacred Books of China: The Texts of Taoism. Trans. James Legge. Ed. F. Max Müller, The Sacred Books of the East. Vol. 39. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1891. 45-124. Print.

Mair, Victor H., ed. Tao Te Ching: The Classic Book of Integrity and The Way. A new translation by Victor H. Mair, based on the recently discovered Ma-wang-tui manuscripts. New York: Bantam Books, 1990. Print.

Waley, Arthur, ed. The Way and its Power: A Study of the Tao Te Ching and its Place in Chinese Thought. Trans. Arthur Waley. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1934. Print.

Legge, James, ed. “The Writings of Kwang-dze. Books I-XVII”. The Sacred Books of China: The Texts of Taoism. Trans. James Legge. Ed. F. Max Müller, The Sacred Books of the East. Vol. 39. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1891. 164-392. Print.

Legge, James, ed. “The Writings of Kwang-dze. Books XVIII-XXXIII”. The Sacred Books of China: The Texts of Taoism. Trans. James Legge. Ed. F. Max Müller, The Sacred Books of the East. Vol. 40. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1891. 1-232. Print.

Watson, Burton, ed. The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu. Trans. Burton Watson. New York: Columbia University Press, 1968. Print.