The Dialectical Outlook: Relativity

When philosophers had obtained full understanding of the idea Opposition, they would wander: Was Opposition an absolute or relative idea? The answer was certainly an important part of dialectic outlook.

Lao Tzu realized the relativity of the idea Opposition. He noted that what seemed opposite were surprisingly alike:

The clear road seems obscure; the road that leads to the front seems to the back; the smooth road seems rough. The lofty seems low; the honest seems dishonest; the sufficient seems deficient; the strong seems weak; the simple seems cunning; the most rectangular seems edgeless. The great mind matures slowly; the large bell sounds silent; the obvious image seems invisible. (Lao Tzu, Chapter 41)

The perfect seems flawy but cannot be exhausted; the fullest seems empty but cannot be used up; the straightest seems curved; the smartest seems clumsy; the most eloquent seems taciturn. (Chapter 45)

Here Lao Tzu told us Opposition was not an absolute idea. In addition, Lao Tzu denied the "either-or" thinking manner, which embodied great creativity and influenced enormously Chinese philosophy. One obvious example was relativism proposed by Chuang Tzu.

Chuang Tzu's relativism originated from Lao Tzu's thought. However, Chuang Tzu overstated the similarity between things but denied their difference, thus might draw wrong conclusions. To be fair, some of his views sounded rational. For instance, Chuang Tzu observed the ideas Difference and Opposition were not absolute, and that beneath the opposite things or phenomena lied the similarity among them.

When man mentions the difference, he will see all are large if he sees the largeness and see all small if he sees the smallness.

When man mentions the function, he will see all have the function if one thing has and none has the function if one thing does not.

When man mentions the judgment, he will consider all are right if he affirms the thing and consider all are wrong if he denies the thing.

However, viewed from Tao, there was nothing superior or inferior. (Chuang Tzu, Qiu Shui)

Here Chuang Tzu meant that the opposite things or phenomena, large/ small, presence/absence, right/wrong, all shared similarity. Therefore, man should notice the similarity between things or phenomena while discovering their opposition or difference.

In On the Similarity between Things, Chuang Tzu expounded the similarity between things:

All contain what are opposite to them; all contain what are similar to them.

All live when they die and all die when they live; all turn to be right when they are wrong and all to be wrong when right.

One side of the thing is also the other of it, and vice versa. There is right and wrong both in one side and the other. Is there one thing that contains opposite sides? Is there one thing that does not contain opposite sides? That there is absolute opposite side in one thing is the core of Tao.

Things contain what are considered right and what are recognized. There is nothing that does not contain the right side and nothing that cannot be recognized. Take the thin stem and high column, the ugly and beautiful, as an example. Although they vary in size and appearance, they are same in Tao. Things form when they decay and decay when form. In 7ii«'s view, thing's formation and decay are not different.

Chuang Tzu equated Qi Wu with "One" and "Same," and considered "the opposite as the core of Tao." As a result, Chuang Tzu ignored the difference and opposition between things. He developed the idea Relativity into Relativism and developed Relativism to Absolutism, contradicting the dialectics based on the idea Opposition. Nevertheless, Chuang Tzu's Qi Wu theory cannot be reduced to the relativist view. Chuang Tzu said, "The Heaven and the Earth co¬exist with me, and all are harmonious with me." {On the Similarity between Things) Here Chuang Tzu indicted broad mind and profound wisdom, wide optimism and deep tolerance, as well as the elimination of prejudice and selfishness. It was the deep understanding of the relationships between human and heaven and human and the outer world. In some sense, Chuang Tzu's view accorded with what Zhang Zai claimed, "People, my compatriot; nature, my congener." It also presented a calm and leisure mind.