Critique of Conventional Virtue

Where it surfaces

• Preface by James Legge

  Legge discusses the opposition between Taoism and Confucianism, highlighting Taoism's critique of Confucian moral and social principles.

• Was Taoism Older Than Laozi?

  Chuang-tzŭ's condemnation of Huang Ti for disturbing the 'State of Perfect Unity' suggests a critique of conventional governance and virtue.

• Accounts of Laozi and Chuang-Tzŭ Given by Ssŭ-Ma Chʽien

  Chuang-tzŭ satirizes Confucians and Mohists, exposing their doctrines through metaphorical illustrations.

• V

  Heaven, Earth, and sages do not act from benevolence (jen), treating all things and people as straw dogs—an impersonal, non-interventionist approach that critiques conventional moralizing.

• Chapter XVIII

  The chapter argues that benevolence, righteousness, wisdom, and loyalty emerge only after the Great Tao is abandoned, implying these conventional virtues are signs of decline.

• XIX

  The chapter directly calls for discarding sageness, wisdom, benevolence, and righteousness as harmful to the people.

• XXXI

  The chapter subverts conventional martial honor by associating victory with mourning and treating weapons as instruments of evil, challenging societal norms about war.

• Chapter XXXVIII

  The chapter deconstructs benevolence, righteousness, and propriety as inferior substitutes when the Tao is lost.

• LIII

  The chapter condemns the superficial virtues and luxurious lifestyles of rulers, contrasting them with the simplicity and humility of the Tao.

• LVII

  Criticizes the proliferation of prohibitions, implements, crafty dexterity, and legislation as causes of poverty, disorder, and theft.

• LXII

  The chapter contrasts the value of the Tao with conventional offerings like a round symbol-of-rank and a team of horses, implying that such material gifts are inferior to a lesson of the Tao.

• LXXV

  The chapter challenges the conventional virtue of valuing life highly, arguing that it leads to recklessness, and instead advocates for a simpler, less self-conscious approach to living.

• LXXVII

  Human way is criticized for taking from the deficient to add to the superabundant, opposing Heaven's way.