Ancient Wisdoms for Modern Crises

Learning From Laozi's "Daodejing"

Steve Hallett

• Publisher: Purdue University Press
• Year: 2026
• Print ISBN:
  9781626712959
• eBook ISBN:
  9781626712966
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Eastern Philosophy

We live in a time of abundance and comfort for some, scarcity and hardship for others—a period that seems to have all of us teetering on the brink. Certainly, there is no lack of modern crises, but do we possess the wisdom to overcome them, and where might we seek that wisdom? Ancient Wisdoms for Modern Crises: Learning From Laozi's "Daodejing" looks to the Daodejing, a text written during the late Zhou Dynasty (600–400 BCE), for guidance. One of the core treatises of Eastern philosophy, it advocates humility, simplicity, and sustainable living. As both a personal and political philosophy, it is radically gentle, encouraging readers to embrace humility, modesty, compassion, and selflessness while simultaneously resisting the urge to conquer, control, and dominate—teachings that can help each of us navigate contemporary life. Finding solutions to such difficult problems requires all the wisdom, ancient and modern, that humans can muster. Replete with the author's fresh translation of the eighty-one-verse Daodejing, this book touches on topics ranging from environmentalism and human suffering to biodiversity loss and the rise of authoritarianism in an effort to forge a more restrained, sustainable, just, supportive, and compassionate society.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Prologue: Wise Ancients?
• 1. The Ways of Nature
• 2. Emergence
• 3. The Ways of People
• 4. Shape the Path
• 5. The Ways of the Mind
• 6. Meetings of the Minds
• The Daodejing of Laozi
• Notes
• Index
• About the Author