Daoist Philosophies Past, Present and Future: Curing the Platypus Syndrome

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Abstract If Chinese Philosophy is to be viewed as Contemporary Philosophy, we must address the explicit and implicit biases our philosophical colleagues harbor about “legitimate” philosophy. An apt analogy involves the challenge posed to the European taxonomy of species by the “discovery” of the platypus. Now recognized as a distinct species of mammal (monotreme), the platypus was initially denounced as a hoax, then grudgingly accepted as a “primitive” evolutionary dead end. Using Daoist philosophy as an example, this essay offers a pedagogical strategy for shifting from the Fixed Mind’s adulation of “the [Western] Canon” to the Growth Mind receptive to Daoism’s philosophical resources.