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Zhuangzi and Personal Autonomy

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Abstract

I apply the Zhuangzi 莊子 to assess the contemporary value of personal autonomy. Focusing on two concepts, wuwei 無為 and you 遊, I clarify the “wandering ideal” in the Zhuangzi to challenge the ideal of autonomy as central to a well-lived life. Drawing on Sneddon’s persuasive recent account of autonomy, the Inner Chapters of the Zhuangzi, as well as recent secondary scholarship on the text, I show that the wandering ideal suggests a stark move away from the controlled and self-reflective life of the autonomous person. My goal is to draw on the Zhuangzi to contribute to dialogue on the ideal of autonomy, rather than to provide an innovative way of reading the Zhuangzi. I argue that both autonomy and wandering are higher-order ideals that can be applied to individual actions and to a person’s form of life, but at both levels, wandering and personal autonomy are in tension. The conclusion briefly reflects on the significance of the tension.

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Acknowledgment

The author wishes to acknowledge the assistance of Parin Morgan, Ian Boeser, Hong Jiaman 洪嘉蔓 (Adrianna Hong), and two anonymous referees of Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy.

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  1. Department of Philosophy, University of the Fraser Valley, Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada

    Jeff Morgan

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Correspondence to Jeff Morgan.

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Morgan, J. Zhuangzi and Personal Autonomy. Dao 22, 605–621 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11712-023-09908-5

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