Lao-tseu (Laozi)

Follow the Way (Dao) through non-action.

DaoismVIe s. av. J.-C. ? (tradition) ChinaLegendary founder of DaoismThinker of the Way (Dao)Critic of power and ritualUncertain author

Inspirations

Confucius the text attacks the virtues and rites he taught

Les ermites de l'époque des Royaumes combattantswithdrawing from a world in disorder

Heirs

Zhuangziphilosophical Daoism, humour and paradox

Han Feicomments on Laozi to ground a power of strict laws

Wang Bithe commentary that fixed the received text

Zhu Xi Neo-Confucianism answers Daoism and Buddhism

Martin Heidegger attempted a translation of some chapters in 1946

how it is computed

Closest

Martin Heidegger What is Being? We have forgotten the question.

Zhuangzi Our views of the world shift like dreams: the sage welcomes them all and follows the transformation of things.

Albert Einstein The physicist of relativity: simultaneity depends on the observer, and there is no 'now' valid for the whole universe.

Democritus Nothing exists but atoms and the void.

Furthest

Alex Rosenberg Philosopher of science who defends "scientism": physics fixes all the facts, and science answers the big questions, often in the negative.

Sigmund Freud Religion is an illusion born of the wish to be protected, as a child by its father.