Zhuangzi’s Critique of the Confucians: Blinded by the Human

Author:
Kim-chong Chong

Publisher:
SUNY Press

Publication Date:
2016

Abstract:

The Daoist Zhuangzi has often been read as a mystical philosopher. But there is another tradition, beginning with the Han dynasty historian Sima Qian, which sees him as a critic of the Confucians. Kim-chong Chong analyzes the Inner Chapters of the Zhuangzi, demonstrating how Zhuangzi criticized the pre-Qin Confucians through metaphorical inversion and parody. This is indicated by the subtitle, “Blinded by the Human,” which is an inversion of the Confucian philosopher Xunzi’s remark that Zhuangzi was “blinded by heaven and did not know the human.” Chong compares Zhuangzi’s Daoist thought to Confucianism, as exemplified by Confucius, Mencius, and Xunzi. By analyzing and comparing the different implications of concepts such as “heaven,” “heart-mind,” and “transformation,” Chong shows how Zhuangzi can be said to provide the resources for a more pluralistic and liberal philosophy than the Confucians.

Table of Contents:

Blinded by heaven
The pre-established heart-mind
The transformation of things
Zhen, some normative concerns
The facts of human construction
Metaphor in the Zhuangzi and theories of metaphor
Self, virtue (de) and values in the Zhuangzi