Political And Ethical Interpretation Of Chuang Tzu's Freedom Thought

Chuang Tzu is the first thinker in the political history of China to pursue the ideal of freedom associated with his unique character against the background and reality of the Warring States period.Chuang Tzu's thought stems from the reveal of political alienation,the tragic reality of people being a slave to material things and the influence of self-sufficiency lifestyle brought by the traditional small-scale peasant economy.The hermit spirit beyond politics guided him to express his free and unrestrained life ideals so as to fulfill his psycho and ethical life satisfaction.Freedom is the core of Chuang Tzu's thoughts on political ethics.Based on the understanding of the core aspects Taoism and nature of the Taoism thoughts,Chuang Tzu explained the concept of freedom free from all external constraint.The freedom pursued by Chuang Tzu is the absolute freedom eliminating constraints,control and domination.From the perspective of the ideal of life,Chuang Tzu's theory highlights self-sufficiency without the burden and a state of no politic intervention.Chuang Tzu focuses on the self-realization of the individual instead of the prominent collective principle of Confucianism,Daoism,and Legalism to highlight the ultimate value of the existence of the individual,and a demonstration of Chuang Tzu's cherish of the independent personality and the life value.Thus,Chuang Tzu bashed the political squalor and political alienation,criticized the human nature constraint brought by Confucian morals of benevolence and righteousness,and attacked the imprison on people's action and mind of secular values.Behind this sharp and profound political critique,it shows that Chuang Tzu was in an attempt to shape individual-self beyond the limitation of politics.The three aspects of life ideal,the ultimate goal and philosophical critique related to each other in terms of theoretical logic jointly outline the political and ethical implication of Chuang Tzu's freedom thought,presenting Chuang Tzu's broad inner world and passion for life and Love.As far as the political and ethical characteristics of Chuang Tzu's freedom are concerned,it mainly reflects the individual standard of political ethics thinking,the peripatetic pursuit beyond political life,the happiness of self-sufficiency,and political criticism and deconstruction.Chuang Tzu's pursuit of freedom is even more valuable in traditional Chinese culture with Confucianism as the mainstream.In modern times,Chuang Tzu's freedom thought is the source of thought for advanced Chinese to understand the relevant theory.Chuang Tzu serves as a bridge to a certain extent offering access for Chinese thinkers to accept and understand Western liberalism,enable the promotion of Western liberalism in China.