Although I enjoyed Watts' scholarly analysis and excellent writing, he went a little too far in his vindication of 'Eastern' values and indictment of 'Western' values. I would give the reader two points on which I disagree with Watts. First, it's ill-advised to conceive of an 'Eastern' philosophy. It's nothing more than a category to put things in. The same is true of 'Western' philosophy. To see this, read a few verses attributed to the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus or the Yankee mystic Emerson, especially his essays titled 'Circles' and 'The Over-Soul'. You'll find that these 'Western' philosophers have some very 'Eastern' ideas. I expected Watts to explain this to the reader so that they understood that 'Eastern' and 'Western' are just arbitrary, albeit useful categories that shouldn't be taken too seriously.
Second, Eastern and Western civilization are not as different as he suggests. For example, although some Chinese characters seem more natural than the Latin alphabet, the Chinese written language has become nearly as abstract as the Latin alphabet. Watts' insinuation that Chinese language more accurately conveys reality is a bit of a stretch, as is his idea that Eastern civilization is less neurotic than Western civilization. A quick reading of Chinese history reveals that Chinese encountered the same tendency to 'order the world' as their European and Ottoman counterparts.
Those two points aside, Watts delivers an excellent introduction to Taoism. I should mention the caveat that 'Taoism' is not really a system of thought like Confucianism, but a useful category to put related ideas into. Chuang Tzu did not think of himself as a disciple of Lao Tzu; Han historians falsely (or accurately?) envisioned them as belonging to a single stream of thought like Legalism or Confucianism. On a related note, Watts gives a well-thought description of the Tao on pg. 55:
"But if, as is the case, the Tao is simply inconceivable, what is the use of having the word and of saying anything at all about it? Simply because we know intuitively that there is a dimension of ourselves and of nature which eludes us because it is too close, too general, and too all-embracing to be singled out as a particular object."
This is the essence of the philosophy, and he goes on in the long paragraph to further explain it. Not unlike the scientific concept of electricity, the Tao is not a thing at all, but a certain dimension that we cannot quite explain (the word 'dimension' doesn't do it justice). In that way, the Tao is no more mystical than science. Watts includes a passage from a scientist writing about electricity and correctly calls it 'pure metaphysics'. Empirical experiments only give us snippets of observed reality, which is different from reality itself, for the very observation of a thing changes it. The Tao underlies this reality, and is not observable. But it doesn't matter if we have an incomplete and inaccurate view of the cosmos since we need only 'go with the flow' and understand that the nature of reality is unknowable. This leads to a more tolerant, less anxious existence in the modern world.
Watts does an incredible job explaining difficult concepts to his readers. Watts will give you an intuitive understanding of the concepts of action through inaction and te (virtue/virtuality). I may disagree with how he views Eastern and Western society (or societies, as he would put it), but he has achieved something with this small volume that few others could hope to match. At the end of the book I was left curious and wanting more, knowing that this unfinished book was his last; could you ask for more?
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Top reviews from other countries
L.B
Es un libro maravilloso y la caligrafía está clara
Reviewed in Spain on January 21, 2024Roy Klein
Enjoyable read as expected from Alan.
Reviewed in the Netherlands on February 11, 2022