Daoist Integrative Creativity and Transforming Curriculum

• In Event: Eastern Philosophy and Curriculum Studies: Tao, I-Ching, and Confucian Learning

Abstract

Although integration and creativity seem to be self-contradictory, I think Daoism creativity is integrative as both self-creative and co-creative , and it is urgently needed in today’s education and society. Acknowledging the creative potential within every person and every thing, human creativity is marked by self-realization in harmony with the natural principle of cosmos. While creativity in Western science and culture often implies a sense of radical newness and singularity, Daoist creativity is based upon Yin/Yang dynamics that infuses personhood, society, and ecological relationships. Here self-creation is not marked by the singularity of an individual but by becoming an organic part of the whole. Daoist creativity in three modes and their implications for transforming curriculum are discussed.

Author

• Hongyu Wang, Oklahoma State University - Tulsa