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Carson, Mike. "Reflections on The Tao Te Ching." [ Online ] Available: http://eawc.evansville.edu/essays/carson.htm [Accessed 4 December 2000].
Mike Carson 's essay on the Tao te ching--from the Exploring Ancient World Cultures site at the University of Evansville--deals with how "we are confronted with mysterious language, a voice at times extremely personal in its moral and ethical revelations, and at othertimes enigmatic, teasing us out of our first level of "rationality" into deeper considerations of who we are, where we are and what we are doing."
Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics. Editor-in-chief, Ruth Chadwick. San Diego: Academic Press, c1998.
The article on "Taoism" by Grant S. Lee is organized into four sections, namely: "Ultimate Way (Tao), Nonbeing (wu), and Being (yu)," "Virtue (te) and Nonaction (wu wei)," "Nature (tzu jan) and Simplicity (p'u)," and "True Man (Chen jen), Fasting One's Mind (hsin chai), and Sitting in Forgetfulness (tso wang)." There's also a glossary of relevant terminology as well as a select bibliography of sources on Lao Tzu, Taoism, and Chinese philosophy .
CALL NUMBER: Ref BJ63 .E44 1998 -- v 1-4
Encyclopedia of Ethics. Lawrence C. Becker, editor, Charlotte B. Becker, associate editor. New York: Garland, 1992.
The brief article on "Lao Tzu" discusses the general principles set forth in the Tao te ching.
CALL NUMBER: Ref BJ 63 .E45 1992
The Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Ed. by Paul Edwards. New York: Macmillan, 1967.
The article on "Lao Tzu" deals with his the historical uncertainties surrounding the philosopher's life and the creation of the work attributed to him, while a second article on "Chinese Philosophy" addresses the chief concerns of the Taoist school of discourse--namely how the ideal life of the individual, of society, and of politics derive from mystical Taoist conception of Nature.
CALL NUMBER: Ref B 41 .E5
The Encyclopedia of Religion. Mercea Elide, editor in chief. New York: Macmillan, 1986.
Describing "Lao-Tzu" as a "quasi-historical figure who came to be revered as a supreme godhead in Chinese taoist and popular religious traditions," Judith Magee Boltz discusses the texts of the Tao te ching as well as Lao-tzu's divinization, his earthly incarnation, patterns of devotion among believers, and even artistic representations of Lao-tzu appearance. "Taoism" itself is covered in a series of separate articles including:
- Taoism: An Overview
- Taoism: The Taoist Religious Community
- Taoism: Taoist Literature
- Taoism: History and Study
CALL NUMBER: Ref BL 31 .E46
"Lao-tzu." Britannica Online. [ Online ] Available: http://www.eb.com:180/bol/topic?thes_id=227511 [Accessed 15 November 2000].
Available to members of the Union community via Britannica Online, this article discusses the life of this 6th century BC Chinese philosopher and his evolution into a mythical figure. The online article also includes a short bibliography, links to external web sites , and links to the following Britannica Online articles:
Masterpieces of World Philosophy. Edited by Frank Magill; selection by John K. Roth with an Introduction by John K. Roth. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1990.
The essays on the "Tao Te Ching" succinctly lay out the principal ideas advanced, offer an overview, and suggest further readings for students wishing to study the work in greater depth.
CALL NUMBER: Ref B 75 .M37 1990
Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Edited by Edward Craig. London and New York: Routledge, 1998.
The encyclopedia includes articles on the concept of "Dao" ("the Way"), on the "Daodejing" (or Tao Te Ching), "Daoist Philosophy," and "Chinese Philosophy" in general. Each has a fairly extensive bibliography as well as cross references to a dozen or so related Taoist concepts and historical personalities.
CALL NUMBER: Ref B 51 .R68 1998
The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy. General editor, Robert Audi. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
A one-volume compendium containing 4,000 articles on major philosophers, technical terms and concepts, and important subdisciplines such as ethics, epistemology, metaphysics, philosophy of mind, and logic.
CALL NUMBER: Ref B 41 .C35 1995
Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism. Detroit: Gale, 1992--
Extended excerpts from critical interpretations and commentaries on Lao Tzu's ideas starting with the 4th century BC Taoist teacher Chuangtse through contemporary Western sources. There is also an introductory essay and an annotated bibliography of sources for further reading.
CALL NUMBER: Ref PN 610 .C530 v.7
"The Taoist Canon: A Guide to Studies and Reference Works." [ Online ] Available: http://helios.unive.it/~dsao/pregadio/tools/daozang/dz_0.html [Accessed 15 November 2000].
"China, history of." Britannica Online. [ Online ] Available: http://www.eb.com:180/bol/topic?eu=127710&sctn=8 [Accessed 15 November 2000].
.An overview of Chinese history. Available to members of the Union community via Britannica Online.
"Chinese Philosophy." Britannica Online. [ Online ] Available: http://www.eb.com:180/bol/topic?thes_id=88473 [Accessed 15 November 2000].
Available to members of the Union community via Britannica Online, this article places Lao-tzu's contributions within the broader context of Chinese philosophy.
"Origins of Chinese Civilization." [ Online ] Available: http://www.asterius.com/china/china1.asp [Accessed 15 November 2000].
Part of the Condensed China: Chinese History for Beginners site maintained by Paul Frankenstein.
Wei-hsun Fu, Charles. "Daoism in Chinese Philosophy." In Companion Encyclopedia of Asian Philosophy. Edited by Brian Carr and Indira Mahalingam. London and New York: Routledge, 1997.
Wei-hsun Fu offers detailed discussions of the natural "way" of Lao-tzu and of the role that Lao-tzu's commentators played in the "completion" of Taoist philosophy.
CALL NUMBER: Ref B 121 .C66 1997
Books -- Online Catalog
The Online Catalog is a computerized listing of this library's materials--books, government documents, and sound recordings.
The Online Catalog may also be searched by keyword using combinations of terms for more precise search results.
Link to a more extensive listing of subject headings on Lao-tzu.
Researchers can go directly to the Daoism section of the site or start as the comprehensive The China WWW Virtual Library: The Internet Guide to Chinese Studies site maintained by Hanno Lecher (Institute of Chinese Studies, University of Heidelberg, Germany).
Address:
http://sun.sino.uni-heidelberg.de/igcs/igphil.htm
Maintained by Hanno Lecher (Institute of Chinese Studies, University of Heidelberg, Germany), this site includes introductions to Taoism and to Chinese culture, e-texts of classic sources, and information on alchemy and Feng Shui, Buddhism and Confucianism, Chinese philosophy, martial arts, Taoism and modernity, Taoist Commercial sites.
Address:
http://sun.sino.uni-heidelberg.de/igcs/igphil.htm
The University of Evansville site Exploring Ancient World Cultures comprises "an on-line course supplement for students and teachers of the ancient and medieval world," featuring original essays and electronic versions of primary texts. Eight cultures are represented--The Near East, India, Egypt, China, Greece, Rome, Early Islam, and Medieval Europe--with a chronology, essay, image gallery, and links to relevant Websites and e-text sources available for each one.
Address:
http://eawc.evansville.edu/index.htm
Maintained by Schaffer Library, the site identifies Library and Internet resources suitable for students and faculty conducting research in philosophy.
Address:
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Scholarly periodical databases give a
researcher access to articles on specific subjects that have
appeared in variety of periodicals. Such databases may cover
a broad area of study the way Humanities Abstracts and
Arts and Humanities Search do. Others, such
as Philosopher's Index, focus more sharply.
Most journal articles listed are written by scholars and
aimed at other researchers in that field, making them
particularly important research sources. Searching a database
will give the researcher the bibliographic citation needed to
identify and locate a specific work on a topic: author, title
of article, journal title, volume and issue number, date, and
pages. An abstract briefly summarizes an article's contents.
Some online databases--EBSCOhost,
H.W. Wilson Select Full Text in FirstSearch,
and UMI ProQuest Direct--include the full
text of at least some of the articles online. Databases are
accessible via the Library's Electronic Resources Page.
Relevant online databases for research on Lao-tzu and his times include:
OCLC FirstSearch Databases:
Last revised on July 18, 2007