Tao Te Ching – Translated by Ursula K. Le Guin

Post by t-3 » Sun, Jan 25, 2026, 8:08 PM UTC

phendrenad2 wrote: post #74

raincole wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, even if you know Chinese, it's very hard to translate Tao Te Ching into English. Hell, it's hard to translate it into Chinese. Even the first paragraph is controversial. For example this rendition says: > The name you can say > isn’t the real name. However, in a 5th century interpretation[0], it's more akin to: > The fame and wealth the mortals praise are not a natural state. (My extremely simplified paraph…

How can something translate into both of those things? The second translation doesn't have the concept of "saying" anything and the first translation says nothing about "wealth".

Post by agumonkey » Thu, Jan 29, 2026, 11:44 PM UTC

panarky wrote: post #68

prewett wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't encounter the Dao de Jing until later in life, but the opening bit has always seemed straightforward to me. I first saw it as "the way that can be described is not the Way", but also "the way that can be traveled is not the eternal Way". That is, the eternal (spiritual) Way cannot be concretized, just as a name is not the real thing. Or, given that this is HN, "the software development methodology that can b…

This is straight-up Baudrillard simulacra/simulation. The moment you say "Dao" (or "Agile", or "methodology"), you've already moved from the thing-in-itself to a sign living inside a sign system. That sign can be useful, but it can't be identical to what it points at. > “The Agile that can be PM’d is not Agile.” That’s exactly the stages of simulacra in miniature: - Faithful copy: "Agile" names a set of lived practic…