ABSTRACT
Similar to Western thought, Chinese thought has had two main problematics concerning indeterminacy: the ontological and the cosomological. The ontological problematic concerns how determinate complexity at all can come from that which is not determinate: “The Dao that can be named is not the true Dao.” The cosmological problematic concerns how the present is partially indeterminate with regard to the future. Within the frameworks of Chinese thought, both of these problematics are addressed with themes of spontaneity. Both Daoists and Confucians have approaches to spontaneity, and this chapter addresses both, in relation to their conceptions of nature and morals.
