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A Paradox of Virtue: The Daodejing on Virtue and Moral Philosophy
- Philosophy East and West
- University of Hawai'i Press
- Volume 59, Number 2, April 2009
- pp. 173-187
- 10.1353/pew.0.0054
- Article
- Additional Information
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Based on a reading of chapter 38 of the Daodejing, this article examines the relationship between the virtues and moral motivation. Laozi puts forward a view which might be termed a "paradox of virtue"—the phenomenon that a conscious pursuit of virtue can lead to a diminishing of virtue. It aims to show that Laozi's criticisms on the focus on the virtues and characters of agents, and his overall view on morality, pose challenges to a way of moral thinking that is common in modern moral philosophy, including virtue ethics.