History of Philosophy: India, Africana, China HPC 43 Chiu Wai-Wai on the Zhuangzi and Mohism
Dec 21, 2025
Chiu Wai-Wai, a philosophy scholar specializing in classical Chinese thought, engages in a lively discussion about the Zhuangzi and Mohism. He highlights the intriguing interplay between Mohist confidence in language and Zhuangzi's skepticism. Chiu delves into the limitations of language in capturing the Tao, contrasting naming systems in Mohism and Confucianism. He shares the wheelwright parable to illustrate the significance of embodied skill over words, while also exploring how these debates foster a creative acceptance of uncertainty.
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Language Solidifies A Fluid World
- Zhuangzi treats language as misleading because it solidifies a changing reality into static terms.
- Chiu Wai-Wai argues this causes Taoists to doubt language's ability to capture the Tao.
Tao As Path Over Verbal Guide
- For Zhuangzi, Tao is a path and verbal guidance can be unreliable for navigating it.
- Chiu Wai-Wai emphasizes bodily attunement and non-verbal skill over verbal instruction.
Moists Defend Fixed Reference
- The Moists defend that words can have fixed reference and objective standards for naming.
- They press Taoists on a self-refutation: if Tao is ineffable, why trust the claim that Tao is ineffable?