The Paradox of the Dao in Laozi : A Williamsonian Solution

ABSTRACT A guiding principle is that there is no guiding principle. This means that one both should and should not follow this principle. This is called the paradox of the Dao in Laozi , which arises from statements like “the Dao that can be put into words is not the authentic Dao”; it suggests both the inexpressibility and the expressibility of the Dao. Chad Hansen proposes the antilanguage interpretation for the paradox of the Dao in Laozi . But the antilanguage interpretation is unsatisfying, for it is both incoherent by itself and inconsistent with the text in Laozi . Text evidence shows that vagueness is relevant to the paradox of the Dao, which could be relocated as the sorites paradox. With the help of Williamson's epistemicism and the anti‐KK argument, a new interpretation, the anti‐DD argument, is proposed for the paradox of the Dao. This interpretation both avoids the infinite regress of Hansen's interpretation and aligns better with the text in Laozi .