Zhuangzi
The Daoist skeptic who used jokes, dreams and fables to loosen the grip of fixed categories.
Core ideas
- Perspective determines what seems real
- Usefulness may lie in uselessness
- Skill at its highest is effortless — the butcher's blade finds the joints
Historical context
The Warring States era made Confucian careerism deadly; Zhuangzi's answer was to decline every official post and write of free wandering instead.
Key works
Zhuangzi
Questions they speak to
Minds in conversation
Sources
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy — Zhuangzi