How did Laotse Transform Heidegger: The Generation of a New Philosophical Grammar

Abstract The relationship between Heidegger and Chinese Taoism has long been ambigious, and the recent publication of Heidegger’s Black Notebooks (GA97-102) will help us to find the answer. From the co-translations of the Tao Te Ching by Heidegger and Paul Shih-yi Hsiao in the Black Notebooks, it is clear that Heidegger’s expressions and ideas were transformed by Tao Te Ching. This paper attempts to point out the documentary evidence of the relevant influence and to indicate how the language of Heidegger’s thought was completely transformed by the Daoist dialectic in a purely philosophical syntactic logic. It will further show the future intellectual value of this transformation.