On Philosophical Meaning of Negative Terms in Laozi: Revolving around “Truthful Words Seem Contrary” (正言若反)
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report (Previous Reviewer 2)
I'm noticing three grammar errors, [bracketed] as below:
"everywhere in Laozi [consisted of 5000 words” ](Qian 1999, p. 436).
Unfortunately, it is not clear in what sense (rhetorical or ideological)
Zheng yan ruo fan [is manifested] as “Laozi's way of speech”. To answer
this question, it is necessary to clarify what this expression [mean]
exactly in Chapter 78"
A few additional comments:
line 225 俗 translated secular values. Seems off to me. Here opposed to Dao (=zheng yan; 合 = accords) common or conventional wisdom. Fits theme of essay better, dark virtue - bring in line 1 stanza 17, end of stanza 9. Many others. Compare the donor who remains anonymous. line 336 de as verb? makes goodness virtuous? grammar is off. virtuous sincere? line 663 bu always precedes a verb. I mentioned this before. 象 and 形 （型刑）. Like many words xiang can be subjective or objective. So xiang goes into the words for imagination. Xing seems to me more limited- a specific / familiar form within a larger whole, trees and forest perhaps. Or the milky way could be a da xiang.
Author Response
Dear Peer reviewer,
Thanks for your kind and careful suggestions. I have made some changes according to your advices, I will explain what changes I make and where are these changes in following.
Firstly, I have corrected the grammatical errors you mentioned in line 26-9. In addition, you suggest that bu is not a negative verb, I have also changed it to a negative adverb and modified the relevant expression in the paper.
Secondly, regarding the translation of su 俗, although your suggestion is very helpful, I still think it is feasible to translate su as secular values, because I have tried to argue for the Laozi’s revaluation and reconstruction of values throughout Section 3, where the reflection to common wisdom is a part of revaluation of traditional values. wisdom. In addition, I have also explained in Footnote 13 also explains the connection between secular values and traditional values. Therefore, I have juxtaposed your proposed revision with my previous translation in the line 241.
Thirdly, as for the translation of de, since I translate "deshan" as "virtuous good," I consider de as an adjective, This is supported by the widespread use of virtuous words (deyin, 德音) in the Book of Poetry, as well as by virtuous conducts (dexing, 德行), which is a Confucian moral criterion. In both cases, de always signifies a kind of extraordinary words or conducts.
Fourthly, generally speaking, daxiangwuxing 大象无形 (the greatest image has no shape) only wants to point out that the greatest image is different from things with particular shapes. In this case, the greatest image does not correspond to any specific being. Thus, I agree very much with your view that Xiang could be milky way. But for Daoism, shapeless(wuxing, 无形) always refers to the metaphysical Beings, this is, Dao. If we review the Chapter 41 where this proposition appears, we will find out that this chapter is developed around Dao and De. This is the main reason I consider this proposition expresses a metaphysical claim.
Thanks for your suggestions again, they really help me a lot.
Reviewer 2 Report (Previous Reviewer 1)
This revised version has made the essay stronger and better!
Author Response
Thank you for your patient and careful work, and for your recognition of this paper！
Reviewer 3 Report (New Reviewer)
This article should be published as it now stands.
Author Response
Thank you for your patient and careful work, and for your recognition of this paper！
This manuscript is a resubmission of an earlier submission. The following is a list of the peer review reports and author responses from that submission.
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
This is a fascinating and unique essay! Especially its detailed discussion on the difference between mingde and xuande. It will bring in a new perspective into the English academic world and clean up many misunderstanding of Laozi.
A small correction:
in line 705, it might be better to use the term of "critique" (判析）than "criticize" since critique is about pointing to other alternative but "criticize" must have a value to ground to do so, which is not aligned with the spirit of Dao.
Reviewer 2 Report
The English needs some correcting and simplifying. The essay needs work but is worth the effort of intensive copy editing. I am not able to do that at this time.
There are two questions raised: the significance of the negatives and the significance of zheng yan ruo fan (contrary better translation than opposite?) But the first question gets sort of lost in the pursuit of the second. Laozi is a true contrarian, what today we might call a critical theorist, taking aim at key terms of Confucian high rhetoric - virtue, heaven, wei (positive action), zheng rectitude, correct.
Note: Dao is a graphic anagram of tian, and female like water! Anti-patriarchal; the Dao is a single Mom. Tian is super masculine. On top. Lots of crypto-sexuality. Roberts' translation goes into some of these problems.
