Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Dao (eBook)

Sam Crane is Professor of Political Science and Chair of the Department of Political Science at Williams College, USA. Conversant in Mandarin, which he began learning while researching his doctoral thesis in the 1980s, he first visited China in 1983, and is a former faculty member of the John Hopkins academic campus in Nanjing. Author of The Political Economy of China's Special Economic Zones (1990), The Theoretical Evolution of International Political Economy (1991), and the highly personal Aidan's Way: The Story of a Boy's Life and a Father's Journey (2003), about life with his profoundly disabled son, Crane has long been fascinated by ancient Chinese philosophy, particularly the classical texts of the pre-imperial era.

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction 1

1 Key Concepts of Confucianism and Daoism 13

2 Birth 37

3 Childhood 65

4 Work 93

5 Marriage and Family 109

6 Public and Political Life 133

7 End of Life 169

Index 195

"Sam Crane's new book is a richly rewarding exploration of
the ancient Chinese values and insights that have been the focus of
his academic research, in connection with the deepest questions of
personal and public ethics in the modern United States. Every
chapter draws from Crane's scholarship but also from his unsparing
description of wrenching choices in his own life. Readers who are
China specialists will learn more about its traditions; readers who
are not will have new tools and concepts with which to understand
their own societies, institutions, and creeds."

--James Fallows, of The Atlantic, author of China
Airborne

"Sam Crane has written a lively and
insightful guide to China's two key philosophical
schools--Confucianism and Daoism--by looking at how they
would deal with today's problems in western countries. Abortion,
education, crime, dealing with the mentally challenged: by
exploring how China's greatest philosophical schools might have
dealt with them, we learn not only about these ancient ways of
thought but also take away innovative ways of looking at our own
society. Sprinkled with humorous and touching first-person
anecdotes, Crane has given us a truly innovative and fascinating
book aimed at general readers."

--Ian Johnson, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Wild
Grass: Three Stories of Change in Modern China

"This is a book for those who value life in all its
combinations. Sam Crane's marriage of ancient Chinese thought and
modern American life is filled with profound insights, intimate
anecdotes and something beyond mere humanity. Applying the
teachings of Zhuangzi and Confucius to debates about abortion,
same-sex marriage and euthanasia, it will be read and argued-over
again and again."

--Jonathan Watts, author of When a Billion Chinese
Jump

"Sam Crane's erudite writing on ancient Chinese philosophy in
the modern era gives us a new window on some of the most hotly
discussed issues in American society today, from democracy to
sex."

--Edward Wong, China Correspondent, The New York
Times