Skip main navigation

The trickle trickle Euro-Tao

Although Taoism originated in China, of course, it is now part of world history and thus considered global knowledge.

This week, Thorsten Pattberg will take you to have a look around views in European thoughts and how Taoist themes enter Europe’s mainstream.

Although Taoism originated in China, of course, it is now part of world history and thus considered global knowledge. ‘Yin and Yang’ is probably one of the single most important cultural imports to the European humanities. It is universally understood to represent two opposing yet complementary forces, acting upon each other, and taking turns.

About this week’s educator

Dr. Thorsten J. Pattberg (裴德思 Pei Desi) is a German philosopher and cultural critic. He has written and published extensively about Global language, the Competition for terminologies, and the End of translation. He discovered the Shengren as a unique, untranslatable, non-European archetype of wisdom; is the founder of Language Imperialism; and is actively promoting Eastern thought, in particular Chinese terminologies, on a global scale. He studied as a research fellow at The Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies at Peking University.

This article is from the free online

Taoism and Western Culture

Created by
FutureLearn - Learning For Life

Reach your personal and professional goals

Unlock access to hundreds of expert online courses and degrees from top universities and educators to gain accredited qualifications and professional CV-building certificates.

Join over 18 million learners to launch, switch or build upon your career, all at your own pace, across a wide range of topic areas.

Start Learning now