Tao Te Ching

Lao Tsu (also know as Lao Tse or Laozi) was a Chinese philosopher during the 6th Century B.C. Despite some controversy over his existence, his contribution to the Chinese and World Philosophy is undeniable.

The Tao Te Ching, also know as Daodejin, is a book of 81 chapters organized in two books. The name approximate translation is "The Classic of the Virtuous Way". Next to the Bible it is the most translated work of literature. Tao Te Ching is not free of polemic. It is know from copies and chronicles of later writers, and biographers, who tell different stories or arrange the chapters differently. There is even a relevant debate about his influence over Confucius.  Nonetheless this book is a masterpiece of world literature. 

Valuable teachings from The Tao Te Ching are relevant personally, as well as for governments and leaders.

Personally I found lessons of austerity and frugality very though provoking.

But I have three precious things which I prize and hold fast. The first is gentleness; the second is economy; and the third is shrinking from taking precedence of others.

It is better to leave a vessel unfilled, than to attempt to carry it when it is full. If you keep feeling a point that has been sharpened, the point cannot long preserve its sharpness. When gold and jade fill the hall, their possessor cannot keep them safe. When wealth and honours lead to arrogancy, this brings its evil on itself. When the work is done, and one's name is becoming distinguished, to withdraw into obscurity is the way of Heaven.

The highest excellence is like (that of) water. The excellence of water appears in its benefiting all things, and in its occupying, without striving (to the contrary), the low place which all men dislike. Hence (its way) is near to (that of) the Tao.

The analogy with water was popularized by Bruce Lee

Another area of wisdom refers to how the world works and evolves. Similar to much later teachings of Michael Polanyi, F.A. Hayek or the different schools of System Dynamics, Lao Tzu explains the value of spontaneous order when he explains that the Tao precedes even the Gods because the constant is change.

The Tao that can be described is not the enduring and unchanging Tao. 

The work is done, but how no one can see; 'Tis this that makes the power not cease to be.

Movement is a necessary condition for change. Let movement go on, and the condition of rest will gradually arise.

However the key lessons relates to government are as relevant today as in the Ancient times. No wonder why Murray Rothbard considered Lao Tzu the first

libertarian. 

Governing a great state is like cooking small fish. 

Therefore a sage has said, 'I will do nothing (of purpose), and the people will be transformed of themselves; I will be fond of keeping still, and the people will of themselves become correct. I will take no trouble about it, and the people will of themselves become rich; I will manifest no ambition, and the people will of themselves attain to the primitive simplicity.'

Therefore he who would administer the kingdom, honouring it as he honours his own person, may be employed to govern it, and he who would administer it with the love which he bears to his own person may be entrusted with it.

The people suffer from famine because of the multitude of taxes consumed by their superiors. It is through this that they suffer famine. The people are difficult to govern because of the (excessive) agency of their superiors (in governing them). It is through this that they are difficult to govern.

The sage does not accumulate (for himself). The more that he expends for others, the more does he possess of his own; the more that he gives to others, the more does he have himself.

A book worth reading and discussion in a Socratic Dialogue.

My rating four stars.

Symposium room at
Universidad Francisco Marroquín

Fundamentos de la Moral (The foundations of Morality)

The Foundation of Morality (Spanish edition) is a work on Ethics by Henry Hazlitt, better know by his book Economics in One Lesson. This book is a critique to different Ethics schools and the proposal of his system called Cooperatism.

Hazlitt analyses different areas of human life as well as moral schools usually contrasting opposing theories with his personal contribution. His key point is that cooperation is the solution that preserves the interests of the individual and flourishes the society. For Hazlitt cooperation achieves the best for the individual, hence it is in his own interest to cooperate with others. 

social cooperation is the common means by which we all forward each other's purposes as an indirect means of forwarding our own, and help each other to achieve our individual and separate goals and to "maximize" our individual values

Since Hazlitt aims the benefits in terms of the long run, his system gives priority to general rules and not ad-hoc solutions to specific instances. The idea is to judge an action based on its effects in the future. He does not pretend to foresee detail consequences but again general benefits for the individual and the society. The creation of the moral code is rational process that is adaptive and evolutionary following Frederick A. Hayek.

It is no less silly, and far more dangerous, to try to do the same with established moral codes which, like languages, are the product of immemorial social evolution. The improvement or perfection of moral codes, like the improvement or perfection of languages, is to be achieved by piecemeal reforms.

Hazlitt's theory is a form of utilitarianism, indeed some people frame it into rules-utilitarianism of David Hume, the British Utilitarianist he most admires. As utilitarianist, Hazlitt defines morality based on the results.

Is the moral philosophy advocated in these pages "utilitarian" or not? In the sense that all rules of conduct must be judged by their tendency to lead to desirable rather than undesirable social results, any rational ethics whatever must be utilitarian

However he distances from other forms of utilitarianism specially that of Jeremy Bentham because they preserve the apparent dichotomy between the individual and society. Hazlitt's system bridges the distance through Social Cooperation, a concept develop at large by his teacher and friend Ludwing Von Mises.

In brief, each of us, in pursuing his self-interest, finds that he can do it most effectively through social cooperation. The belief that there is a basic conflict between the interests of the individual and the interests of society is untenable. Society is only another name for the combination of individuals for purposeful cooperation.

He makes a lot of parallels between Economics and Morality because the subject of both sciences is the Human Action.

It is commonly assumed that there is little relation between the ethical and the economic point of view, or between Ethics and Economics. But they are, in fact, intimately related. Both are concerned with human action, human conduct, human decision, human choice.

In ethics we are dealing with human action, with human purposes, with human wishes and desires, with human choices and preferences, with the conscious use of means to attain chosen ends. Ethics is not a branch of physics, and the methods appropriate to it are not the experimental, statistical, and empiric methods appropriate to physics. Ethics is sui generic, with methods peculiarly its own. But it is, among other things, based on "praxeology," 

Economics is concerned with the actual valuations that people make; ethics with the valuations they would make if they always had benevolence and foresight and wisdom. It is the function of the ethical philosopher to determine what some of these valuations would be.

Another subject that Hazlitt addresses is the limits of responsibility and duty. He disagrees with the universal view of an universal responsibility to humanity. For him ones responsibility is limited to those closer to oneself. However he sees that in the degree that we all act ethically the circles of responsibility intersect and expand, reaching the whole humanity. This point of view again builds on economics and limited resources. Trying to fix all humanity problems is overwhelming because none has the capacity to do it. However social cooperation is a multiplier of human interactions. By acting morally one gets the personal benefits (a more desired situation than before), helps others do the same, raises the average of standard of morality, and expands the circles of influence.

For the best way to promote this maximum general happiness may be for each individual to cooperate with, and perform his duties toward, his immediate family, neighbors, and associates.

Hazlitt critique to flaw moral theories that support Socialistic systems and his support to freedom and a Capitalism are as relevant today as they were almost a century ago. Despite he was a self-taught economist and philosopher his contribution is no less important than his academic peers. This is a book I need to read again and dig deeper to get all its wisdom. Additional readings of the works he builds on and critiques is also required to appreciate his full value.

My rating 5 out of 5 stars.