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Laozi 老子

c. 6th–4th c. BCE (trad.) · Chinese (Daoist)

The semi-legendary source of the Daodejing and of Daoist thought.

Primary Source

Primary Source

道可道,非常道

Original (Chinese)

“The Dao that can be told is not the eternal Dao.”

Daodejing 1

Biography

Student Synthesis

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Major Works

Key Concepts

Influence & Modern Scholarship

Secondary Scholarship

To be added: how this thinker was received, contested, and read today.

Connections

Thinkers in conversation with Laozi:

Thinker

Zhuangzi

Thinker

Confucius

Related Human Questions

Question

What is Wisdom?

Question

What is the Self?