This thesis is concerned with the Daoist philosophy of action, and its reconstruction will be based on a comprehensive study of the concept of Yin and its related accounts in ancient Daoist texts. I shall begin my discussion by introducing the research purposes, writing plan, as well as several main arguments of this thesis. In the next three Chapters (Chapters 2, 3, 4), I shall clarify three interrelated themes respectively—I shall analyze the meaning and forms of the concept of Yin, followed by a further investigation of the structure of a Yin-action. In Chapter 5, I shall move on to a new interpretation of the concept of Yin from a comparative point of view. After making a summary of the main ideas of this thesis in the first section of the final chapter (Chapter 6), I shall...[ Read more ]

This thesis is concerned with the Daoist philosophy of action, and its reconstruction will be based on a comprehensive study of the concept of Yin and its related accounts in ancient Daoist texts. I shall begin my discussion by introducing the research purposes, writing plan, as well as several main arguments of this thesis. In the next three Chapters (Chapters 2, 3, 4), I shall clarify three interrelated themes respectively—I shall analyze the meaning and forms of the concept of Yin, followed by a further investigation of the structure of a Yin-action. In Chapter 5, I shall move on to a new interpretation of the concept of Yin from a comparative point of view. After making a summary of the main ideas of this thesis in the first section of the final chapter (Chapter 6), I shall conclude by a brief explanation of the differences between Daoist and Western philosophy of action.