Read the book Mengzi and Zhuangzi. and choose the Questions (choose one of the following):
1. Why does Mengzi highlight the dangers of hypocrisy and “over-exertion” in the moral life? Analyze and evaluate his treatment of these topics.
2. Mengzi argues that we have an innate inclination toward morality and that our natural impulses, if cultivated, turn into virtues. Yet he also says that depending on environment and conditioning we may just as easily turn out bad as good, but doesn’t this mean that people have as strong a potential for evil as for good? Isn’t he admitting, in effect, that Gaozi was right (6A2)? How could Mengzi best respond to this objection? Is this response persuasive?
3. Mengzi seems to think that a certain sort of culture (Confucian rituals, music, texts, and ethical norms) is natural to creatures like us. Some of his most explicit argument for this sort of view, for example in 3A5, turn on our natural respect and love for our parents. Analyze and evaluate either: a. Mengzi’s commitment to filial piety as a virtue, or b. his commitment to ritual as a cultural practice for showing respect and concern.
4. Is Mengzian Confucianism a religion? Why or why not? Be sure to explicitly articulate and justify your understanding of “religion.”
5. Analyze and evaluate Zhuangzi’s attitudes toward death and funeral rites. Should everyone act in this area in the way Zhuangzi seems to recommend?
6. What is the point (or points) of the story of Cook Ding and Lord Wenhui in chapter 3 of the Zhuangzi? Draw on other passages from the Zhuangzi as they illuminate this one, and draw out the most important implications of this episode for Zhuangzi’s vision of life.
7. What sorts of relationships with other people seem to be best, and which most problematic, according to Zhuangzi? Why does he think so?
8. Analyze the motifs of crippling and punishment in the Inner Chapters of the Zhuangzi. Who are the real cripples? What punishments really deform us? Who does the punishing or crippling, and why?
9. Analyze and evaluate the idea of “forgetting the self” in the Zhuangzi. What does this mean, how might one do it, and to what extent is this really possible or advisable?