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The Three Principle Texts of Daoism translated by ... - Bad Request

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same time which <strong>of</strong> us is not a thief?" [3]notes[1] It will be observed that Lieh Tzu anticipates here, in a somewhat different sense,Proudhon's famous paradox: “Property is <strong>The</strong>ft"[2] By “taking possession <strong>of</strong> public property”, as we have seen, Lieh Tzu meansutilizing the products <strong>of</strong> Nature open to all—rain and the like.[3] <strong>The</strong> object <strong>of</strong> this anecdote is to impress us with the unreality <strong>of</strong> mundanedistinctions. Lieh Tzu is not much interested in the social aspect <strong>of</strong> the question. Heis not an advocate <strong>of</strong> communism, nor does he rebel against the common-sense viewthat theft is a crime which must be punished. With him, everything is intended tolead up to the metaphysical standpoint.

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