Daodejing, Verse 80

Daodejing - Other Voices

Taoism, Libertarianism and Markets
The headquarters of libertarianism in the US, the Cato Institute, has discovered Taoism - or, at least, its vice-president, James A. Dorn has (hat tip, Western Confucian). In a short article, he latches on to the obvious libertarian resonance in the Taoist notions of wu wei - which we can here translate as non-intervention - and small government. And it's true: there really are libertarian overtones in the Tao Te Ching. I imagine Dorn would also be happy with Burton Watson's introduction to the Chuang Tzu, in which the master translator suggests that that text can be summarized in one word: freedom.

But, as I have argued before, there are also ways in which Taoism pushes against market-oriented libertarianism. For example, take this passage from the Dorn piece:

Good government must be in harmony with each person's desire to prosper and to expand the range of choice. By emphasizing the principle of non-intervention, Lao-tzu recognized that when government leaves people alone, then, "without being ordered to do so, people become harmonious by themselves." He thus understood, at least implicitly, that central planning generates social disorder by destroying economic freedom. When coercion trumps consent as the chief organizing principle of society, the natural way of the Tao and its virtue (Te) will be lost.

I can agree with most of this, but that first line is deeply problematic. Taoist harmony is most certainly not a matter of people's desire to "prosper and to expand the range of choice." Harmony (and for a Taoist that would not imply that absence of evil or difficulty, only their natural occurrence) emerges from the reduction of the range of choice. Passage 80 of the Tao Te Ching presents an ascetic and simplistic utopia of sorts, based upon the rejection of mass conspicuous consumption. But let's put up an excerpt from passage 12 to rebut Dorn's interpretation:

The five colors blind eyes.
The five tone deafen ears.
The five tastes blur tongues.
Fast horses and breathtaking hunts make minds wild and crazy.
Things rare and expensive make people lose their way.

It's all about limiting appetites and desires. Less is more and all that. And this differs from most contemporary forms of libertarianism, which emphasize freedom from institutionalized rules and regulations. While Taoists would generally agree that such formal controls can create corruption and domination, they would also presume that the "harmony" that might emerge from greater political and social freedom requires a certain type of individual, one who is willing to relinquish desires and self-interests and expectations to follow Way in a simpler and even rather primitive life. Modern libertarians, by contrast, place too much faith in self-interest. Taoists would reject their embrace of Ann Rand, whose rational egoism is not in keeping with Way.

And, while I'm at it, a second divergence of Taoism from Cato Institute libertarianism comes to mind: a contemporary American Taoist would not defend the right to bear arms, the Second Amendment, because, after all:

Auspicious weapons are the tools of misfortune.
Things may not all despise such tools,
but a master of Way stays clear of them.
Tao Te Ching, passage 31.

I imagine Mr. Dorn would part company with "Lao Tzu" on that issue...
~ from The Useless Tree, author Sam Crane, original post date: 10/10/07 ~

This post is part of a series. For an introduction, go here.