Ursula K. Le Guin's Science Fictional Feminist Daoism

It is hardly a novel claim that the work of Ursula K. Le Guin (1929–2018) contains influences from philosophical Daoism, but I argue that this influence has yet to be fully understood. Several scholars criticize Le Guin for misrepresenting Daoist ideas as they appear in ancient Chinese philosophical...

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Autor principal:	Ethan Mills
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Alfredo Mac Laughlin 2020
Materias:	Philosophy (General) B1-5802 Literature (General) PN1-6790
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/5e23bc6c93e748dcaa86f13681af1680
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:5e23bc6c93e748dcaa86f13681af16802021-11-15T19:22:18ZUrsula K. Le Guin's Science Fictional Feminist Daoism2573-881Xhttps://doaj.org/article/5e23bc6c93e748dcaa86f13681af16802020-10-01T00:00:00Zhttps://jsfphil.org/vol-3/le-guins-science-fictional-feminist-daoism/https://doaj.org/toc/2573-881XIt is hardly a novel claim that the work of Ursula K. Le Guin (1929–2018) contains influences from philosophical Daoism, but I argue that this influence has yet to be fully understood. Several scholars criticize Le Guin for misrepresenting Daoist ideas as they appear in ancient Chinese philosophical texts, particularly the Dao De Jing and the Zhuangzi. While I have sympathy for this charge, especially as it relates to Le Guin’s translation of the Dao De Jing, I argue that it fails to understand the extent to which her fiction contains her own philosophical development of Daoist ideas. Looking at some of her most influential works (e.g., The Left Hand of Darkness, The Dispossessed, The Lathe of Heaven, A Wizard of Earthsea, etc.), I suggest that Le Guin’s fiction is better seen as a refocusing of Daoist concepts such as complementary contrasts and non-action (wu wei) in the contexts of modern feminism, modern anarchism, science fiction, and fantasy. Le Guin was not trying to represent ancient Daoism as a scholar. Rather, she was trying to reimagine Daoism as a creative artist and philosopher in her own right. This way of viewing Le Guin’s work does not fully exorcise the specter of the possibility of Orientalist cultural appropriation, but it does make the issue more complex in a way that can deepen further conversations. To what extent can an artist be guilty of misrepresentation if representation was not, strictly speaking, her goal? I end with a brief reflection on what is perhaps the deepest philosophical lesson of Le Guin’s work: everything is more complicated than it first appears. On that note, the present article is an attempt not just to do philosophy about Le Guin, but to do philosophy in a Le Guinian fashion, which requires rethinking the metaphor of combat that guides much academic philosophy today.Ethan MillsAlfredo Mac LaughlinarticlePhilosophy (General)B1-5802Literature (General)PN1-6790ENJournal of Science Fiction and Philosophy, Vol 3, Pp 1-21 (2020)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Philosophy (General) B1-5802 Literature (General) PN1-6790
spellingShingle	Philosophy (General) B1-5802 Literature (General) PN1-6790 Ethan Mills Ursula K. Le Guin's Science Fictional Feminist Daoism
description	It is hardly a novel claim that the work of Ursula K. Le Guin (1929–2018) contains influences from philosophical Daoism, but I argue that this influence has yet to be fully understood. Several scholars criticize Le Guin for misrepresenting Daoist ideas as they appear in ancient Chinese philosophical texts, particularly the Dao De Jing and the Zhuangzi. While I have sympathy for this charge, especially as it relates to Le Guin’s translation of the Dao De Jing, I argue that it fails to understand the extent to which her fiction contains her own philosophical development of Daoist ideas. Looking at some of her most influential works (e.g., The Left Hand of Darkness, The Dispossessed, The Lathe of Heaven, A Wizard of Earthsea, etc.), I suggest that Le Guin’s fiction is better seen as a refocusing of Daoist concepts such as complementary contrasts and non-action (wu wei) in the contexts of modern feminism, modern anarchism, science fiction, and fantasy. Le Guin was not trying to represent ancient Daoism as a scholar. Rather, she was trying to reimagine Daoism as a creative artist and philosopher in her own right. This way of viewing Le Guin’s work does not fully exorcise the specter of the possibility of Orientalist cultural appropriation, but it does make the issue more complex in a way that can deepen further conversations. To what extent can an artist be guilty of misrepresentation if representation was not, strictly speaking, her goal? I end with a brief reflection on what is perhaps the deepest philosophical lesson of Le Guin’s work: everything is more complicated than it first appears. On that note, the present article is an attempt not just to do philosophy about Le Guin, but to do philosophy in a Le Guinian fashion, which requires rethinking the metaphor of combat that guides much academic philosophy today.
format	article
author	Ethan Mills
author_facet	Ethan Mills
author_sort	Ethan Mills
title	Ursula K. Le Guin's Science Fictional Feminist Daoism
title_short	Ursula K. Le Guin's Science Fictional Feminist Daoism
title_full	Ursula K. Le Guin's Science Fictional Feminist Daoism
title_fullStr	Ursula K. Le Guin's Science Fictional Feminist Daoism
title_full_unstemmed	Ursula K. Le Guin's Science Fictional Feminist Daoism
title_sort	ursula k. le guin's science fictional feminist daoism
publisher	Alfredo Mac Laughlin
publishDate	2020
url	https://doaj.org/article/5e23bc6c93e748dcaa86f13681af1680
work_keys_str_mv	AT ethanmills ursulakleguinssciencefictionalfeministdaoism
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Ursula K. Le Guin's Science Fictional Feminist Daoism

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