Chua, Jude Soo Meng

According to the Chinese commentator Wang Bi (220-246), the Dao de Jing’s speculations of the Nameless and Formless Dao are in fact metaphors for political strategies for cultivating and nurturing an authentically moral political community. These political strategies prescribe what not to do and what to do when trying to nurture authentic moral growth in others, and are built on many insights concerning the unintended side effects of the political ruler’s public verbal and performative disclosures of his moral judgments. I argue that many of these insights and strategies can be imported into and developed for the classroom context and are useful pedagogies for the educator interested in effectively nurturing moral development in his or her pupils.