A Liezi Dissertation

[Shidifen]

I was doing some research on the Leizi and I came across this 2012 doctorate dissertation by Yin-Ching Chen titled The Idea of Nature in the Daoist Classic Liezi. He quotes quite a bit of the Leizi and uses Angus Graham's translation.

 

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142/31983/Chen_Yin-Ching.pdf?sequence=1

 

Here's the first and last paragraphs of the abstract-

 

The Liezi is regarded the third of the Daoist classics following the Laozi and the Zhuangzi.

Dating from the pre-Han period (ca. 4-5 century B.C.) to the Six Dynasties (229-589 A.D.), the

Liezi constitutes a rich collection of more than a hundred and forty parables, mystical accounts,

and philosophical treatises. This dissertation explores the Liezi’s idea of nature in four aspects: (1)

cosmology; (2) view of life; (3) the way to attain harmony and union with nature; and (4) social

and political view of human-nature relations.

 

The concluding chapter summarizes the key points and central ideas of the Liezi in

comparison with major principles of environmental philosophy to evaluate the Liezi’s potential

contributions to contemporary ecological thought.