Laozi · Philosophy
Laozi’s great reversal of common sense: the soft, weak, and yielding defeat the hard, strong, and rigid. Water - the lowest and most pliant of things - is his model of power, wearing down stone precisely because it never resists, and the supple branch outlasts the stiff one that snaps.
You learned that Laozi reverses the usual picture of strength: the soft, weak, and low (water above all) overcome the hard, strong, and high, because yielding outlasts rigidity and force provokes its own defeat. Explain why Laozi held that weakness can be strength, and what water teaches about power.
Leads to Sun Tzu.
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