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    Carmelics

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    LoyalLoyalJusticeJustice
    Made withinDC&Austin
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    Home/Original/inverse
    See Original
    Inverse View

    It is not the case that The Dao's following ziran does not initiate an infinite regress of grounding relations

    ?Set your confidence on the premises below to see your aggregate.

    Reasons For

    2 perspectives
    Reason for 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.If ziran means 'self-so-ness' or 'being-so-of-itself', it names a property or standard that the Dao conforms to, not merely a reflexive description of the Dao itself.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.Any conformity to an external standard—even an abstract one like spontaneity—reintroduces a grounding relation, since the standard explains why the Dao acts as it does.
      ?

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    • 3.The regress is therefore only nominally arrested: ziran functions as a hidden explainer, displacing rather than terminating the chain of grounding relations.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reason for 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Bradley's regress shows that any relation R said to unify its relata requires a further relation R' to explain how R relates to those relata, generating infinite regress.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.The claim that 'Dao follows ziran' while ziran is identical to Dao's own nature still posits a following-relation between Dao and a character it instantiates, inviting exactly this Bradleyan regress.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.Collapsing the relata (Dao and ziran) to escape the regress commits the defender to radical monism, which undermines the hierarchical cosmology the passage in Daodejing 25 is meant to articulate.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.In the hierarchy 'Human beings follow earth, earth follows heaven, heaven follows dao, and dao follows ziran', each level follows the next
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    • 2.Spontaneity (ziran) means making it up oneself on the fly, which is the opposite of following something external
      ?

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    • 3.If the Dao follows spontaneity, the Dao follows nothing beyond itself, thereby arresting the regress
      ?

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