1. What is the paradox that Reber and Slingerland are interested in? What is wuwei?
2. Read through book IV of the Analects. Fun, right? Find three passages that discuss (or hint at) wuwei. What passages are they (just write the numbers)? For each passage, describe the point it is making about wuwei.
3. According to the article, how can we try to not try (in other words, how can we put effort into acting effortlessly)? Give an example of this in your life.
4. According to the article, how can you love what you do not already love? Give an example of this in your life.
5. According to the article, how can you be virtuous without wanting to be virtuous? Give an example of this in your life.
6. What do you think? Is it better for right action to be automatic or effortless (like Aristotle and Confucius)? Or for right action to be intentional and conscious (Like Kant and, in some sense, the Utilitarians)?
7. How is it possible that Confucius, writing over 2,500 years ago, was able to discover truths about human nature and human psychology that modern science is just beginning to understand. What does this tell you about the importance of philosophy?
