GREEK AND CHINESE THOUGHT. 177 



Aristotelian doctrine of the Mean was the ripe 

 fruit of the practical inquiries of the Greeks, and 

 was the ethical counterpart of their artistic 

 development, Yet we find the doctrine of the 

 Mean in an undisputed Confucianist writing of 

 the time of Socrates, and no one will seriously 

 suggest that Aristotle had private access to the 

 Li-Ki. 



I turn now to that other system of Chinese 

 thought which represents its metaphysical, as Con- 

 fucianism represents its moral, conclusions. Here 

 again we must remind ourselves that whatever 

 may have been the case in the sixth century B.C. 

 in the times of Chuang-Tzu and Tzse-zse meta- 

 physics and morals had parted into divergent 

 channels ; metaphysics had become mystical, and 

 morals a merely practical and utilitarian system, 

 which had been further paralyzed by being 

 enforced by the state and based almost exclu- 

 sively on authority. We must further remind 

 ourselves that neither Taoism nor Confucianism 

 claimed to be new, but were rival interpretations 

 of that which lay behind both the doctrine of 

 Tao. We have seen how Confucianism gave a 

 practical interpretation of the doctrine. The life 

 of practical morality, that is Tao, " the Way." He 

 who realizes the state of equilibrium and harmo^ 

 walks in " the Way," reaches the perfect^ 

 Heaven willed, develops his nature - 



