SOURCE: Owens, Wayne D. “Radical Concrete Particularity: Heidegger, Lao Tzu, and Chuang Tzu.” Journal of Chinese Philosophy 17, no. 2 (June 1990): 235-55.

In the following essay, Owens contends that there is a great deal of similarity between the concepts of being and acting, signified by the terms Ereignis and Gelassenheit in the philosophy of German philosopher Martin Heidegger, and by the terms Tao and wu-wei in the teachings of Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu.

There is abundant evidence of Heidegger's familiarity with and continuing interest in Taoist thought.¹ This might lead one to expect to find in Heidegger's published works many references to Taoist thought. The fact is, references to the Tao are very, very few indeed—easily countable on the fingers of one hand.² There are no references at all to the Tao Te Ching, to Chuang Tzu, or the immense body of commentary on either Lao Tzu or...