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> 道可道，非常道 > (A rule that can be told by words, is not the rule that should universally apply) I'm curious where the dev got that translation or if they made i
by earthboundkid 3y ago
> 道可道，非常道
> (A rule that can be told by words, is not the rule that should universally apply)
I'm curious where the dev got that translation or if they made it themselves. I have translated it before like "No method that can be explained is universally applicable" but I haven't seen many other translations like that.
- taoxin 3y agoHere is the break down of my understanding about the philosophy described in 道德经: 1. There might be some universal rules about the world. 2. There are limitations in human's understanding and human language. 3. For all the rules that can be described in human language (which is subject to the limitations in 2), they can't hold universally. Putting into the context where the words are cited. Any claim (in human language) about programming like "you should program in this way" is most likely not universally sound. Of course a philosophy book 2000+ years ago can be interpreted in a different way. Happy to see the elaboration of your understanding "No method that can be explained is universally applicable".
- earthboundkid 3y agoThe word dao literally means “road” but by the time of the DDJ, it had come to mean “way of doing something” and “speech that explains how to do something”. Interestingly, in Greek “method” is meta + hodos and hodos means “road” so it’s an etymologically appropriate translation.
- taoxin 3y ago道 (dao) means "the way of doing thing" in modern-day Chinese as well. For instance, 王道 means the "the way of governing". 路 is more common for the literal meaning of "road", though 道 has a meaning of both "road" and "waterway" as well.