Zhuangzi · Philosophy
Zhuangzi’s praise of the ‘useless’ - the giant gnarled tree too twisted to be timber, and so never cut down - as a critique of conventional value: to be prized as useful is to be used up, while apparent uselessness can be the very ground of freedom and a full life.
You learned that Zhuangzi turns the ordinary idea of usefulness on its head: the useful tree is felled, the useless tree lives out its years, and being ‘of use’ to others is a way of being consumed. He questions conventional value (rank, profit, fame) and prizes the freedom of the useless. Explain his poin…
Leads to Hui Shi.
Begin this lesson →epoché — a humanities education that remembers you.