Zhuangzi, the Criminals, and Kant

In this paper I argue against Hu Xiangnong 胡湘農 that the central thought of Zhuangzi 莊子 is a vision of freedom beyond all social bonds and not a vision of a harmonious social order, and that Zhuangzi’s ethics is a kind of religious ethics not a kind of virtue ethics. I consider the stories of criminals and the story of Cook Ding 庖丁 in Zhuangzi, and I compare Zhuangzi’s moral law with Kant’s moral law.