The views of Chuang-Tzu lead to a world of interesting ideas. Chuang-Tzu portrays his ideas in the forms of stories and little anecdotes. The bulk of his stories, though, are bound by beliefs of going outside the social norm and a heavy emphasis on relativism. Chuang-Tzu seems to use this relativism and skepticism to try and push his readers into a place where they can begin to think outside of social norms, however, I argue that the techniques and ideas he is trying to portray to his readers are impractical for daily use.
Let us first begin with the notion that Chuang-Tzu encourages relativist ideas. In the second chapter of the works of Chuang-Tzu on page 48 Chuang-Tzu tells of an argument and how to decide who will win the argument. He asks how anyone can know the right answer. He tells of how if someone is already predisposed to thinking one way, then how are they to judge and decide correctly. He asks that if one wins an argument, does that necessarily make them right. He puts many things in the air which are very hard to answer. The reason that his questions are nearly impossible to answer is because the questions he asks are very relative. He means to use this to be relative. Chuang-Tzu wants to be an extreme relativist to his readers so that they might break out of their normal ways of thoughts and be open to slowly accept that things may not always be as they seem. He wants to tell them that everything they had learned may not be the truth and yet can only present that idea once he has brought his reader to a point where they would be able to accept it. Even at the end of the first chapter on free and easy wandering, Chuang -Tzu talks about a tree who is completely useless and that is the prime reason for its usefulness.
It is a tree which is too ugly to be cut down and used for something, so since the tree will never have its life shortened by some carpenter, anyone can use it to lie under and play with all the days of its life. Chuang-Tzu is not endorsing all of his readers to be lazy and useless but rather is trying to free their preconceptions that uselessness is a bad thing. He wants them to see that what may be true in one case does not have to necessarily be true in every scenario. The thing that Chuang-Tzu wants to stress, however, is that the tree, or any item is not the important thing, rather it is how they are used and perceived by other individuals that is much more significant. This is expressed in the story of the traveler who sold a salve to the king's army and then took charge of an army and conquered some land in which a portion was given to him all because he saw a salve differently from how others viewed its uses. Chuang-Tzu uses this as an example of how he wants his relativism to play in people's lives. He merely wants them to open up to the possibility of different ideas and thoughts then the ones they were raised with or had come to believe in through years of cultivation.
Chuang-Tzu has relativist views; it is obvious as you continue to read his work. The argument that most people have, though, is how relativist he is. I am not concerned with whether Chuang-Tzu is an ultra relativist, or whether he is barely scratching the surface. It doesn't matter because relativism has no boundaries. Let me put it this way. Where do you draw the line for ambiguity? Or, where does vagueness have any amount of certainty or distinction, other than the fact that it is vague? One of the vaguest of his ideas is the one of wu-wei. Wu-wei is called the “hinge” of Tao. I look at it as a tennis ball which can be hit in any direction at any given place and moment. I say this not because the explanation of it being a hinge is not sufficient, but rather because I feel once something has reached a state where it becomes “relative” then no one can put boundaries on it anymore. This is the case of wu-wei. One famous example of wu-wei, also known as “The Way” or “The Tao” is in chapter three with the story of the master cook Ting. “And now-now I go at it by spirit and don't look with my eyes. Perception and understanding have come to a stop and sprit moves where it wants…whenever I come to a complicated place, I size up the difficulties…” (pg. 51) Many can relate cook Ting's skill of cutting oxen into the skill of living lie: to follow the natural way and the path that offers the least amount of resistance. The only problem is that this “path” is never defined. This is because the “Tao” is different for every person. Everyone apparently has their own way of life that will be the best for them. Wu-wei is an expression that means to just “go with the flow” as many would say. Unfortunately, to go with the flow also means to not have any pre conceptions or former notions of anything. In “going with the flow” anything can be acceptable, and relativism is apparent. Chuang-Tzu wants his reader to have this type of mentality as they read through his stories and then to use these relativist ideas to interpret them.
