Plato vs Lao Tzu on Action
Plato and Lao Tzu on action, side by side — 4 passages against 9, and what the disagreement is actually about.
Plato and Lao Tzu both have a great deal to say about action — 4 passages and 9 respectively in thinkr's library — and they do not say the same thing. Setting them side by side is more useful than reading either alone, because the disagreement shows you what each position is actually giving up.
Plato on action
Student of Socrates, teacher of Aristotle, founder of the Academy. His dialogues — the Republic, Symposium, Phaedo — set the terms of Western metaphysics.
“Necessity is the mother of invention.”
“The orators — and the despots — have the least power in their cities … since they do nothing that they wish to do, practically speaking, though they do whatever they think to be best.”
“Socrates: But suppose the words used are ‘just’ and ‘good’. Don’t we then go each his own way, and find ourselves in disagreement with ourselves as well as with each other? / Phaedrus: Undoubtedly.”
“There is no one who ever acts honestly in the administration of states, nor any helper who will save any one who maintains the cause of the just.”
Lao Tzu on action
Semi-legendary sage credited with the Tao Te Ching, the foundational text of Taoism. Counsels wu wei — effortless action, yielding, simplicity.
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
“The Tao is like a well: used but never used up. It is like the eternal void: filled with infinite possibilities. It is hidden but always present. I don't know who gave birth to it. It is older than God.”
“By letting it go it all gets done. The world is won by those who let it go. But when you try and try, the world is beyond the winning.”
“He who knows does not speak; he who speaks does not know.”
“A thousand-mile journey starts from your feet down there.”
“What I hear, I forget. What I say, I remember. What I do, I understand.”
“When the center does not hold, the circle falls apart.”
“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them – that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.”
“An ant on the move does more than a dozing ox”
Where they part
Athens, c. 428–348 BCE and China, c. 6th–4th c. BCE are not the same world, and the difference is not only historical. Plato treats action as something to be necessity is the mother of invention… — a matter of practice. Lao Tzu approaches it from another side entirely. Neither is refuting the other; they are answering slightly different questions, and noticing which question you are actually asking is most of the work.