Chinese Theories of Knowledge
Zhuangzi
Daoism: Zhuangzi (c. 350 BCE)
• Intellectual distinctions
correspond to nothing in
reality
• There’s no point to doing
anything
• Zhu Xi: “Laozi still wanted
to do something, but
Zhuangzi didn’t want to
do anything at all.”
Arguments for Skepticism
• Interdependence of the
objective and subjective
• The unity of everything
• Universal variability
• The problem of the criterion
• The possibility of dreaming
Objective and Subjective
• Is it possible to become completely objective?
• Zhuangzi answers no, because subjectivity and
objectivity are inevitably interlocked
• The objective and subjective depend on each
other
• Zhuangzi concludes that the distinction between
the subjective and the objective is incoherent
• But knowledge requires objectivity; so, knowledge
is impossible
The Unity of Everything
• Distinctions should be rejected, because all
things are at root identical
• Reject distinctions, take refuge in Dao, and
place yourself in subjective relations to things
• Give up claims to objectivity
• Knowledge being impossible, stop
pretending to know
Argument from Variability
• Variability: Things are perceived differently by
different beings at different times
• Undecidability: There is no neutral way to
determine which perceptions are trustworthy
• Skeptical thesis: Therefore, knowledge is
impossible
Variability
• Variation in perception among different
species, different people, even same
person on different occasions
• How do we know which portray reality
accurately?
Problem of the Criterion
• Undecidability: There is no neutral way to tell
which perceptions ought to be trusted
• We need a criterion for determining this
• But where could we get it? Even if we could
get one, we couldn’t justify it
Problem of the Criterion, 2
•
•
•
•
•
Is there a criterion of truth?
To settle this, we need a criterion
But that’s what’s at issue!
Dogmatist must argue in a circle,
Or face infinite regress
Possibility of Dreaming
• Zhuangzi: “Those who dream of the banquet,
wake to lamentation and sorrow. Those who
dream of lamentation and sorrow wake to join
the hunt. While they dream, they do not know
that they dream. Some will even interpret the
very dream they are dreaming: and only
when they awake do they know it was a
dream.”
Possibility of Dreaming
• Zhuangzi: “Once upon a time, I, Zhuangzi, dreamt I
was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither, to all
intents and purposes a butterfly. I was conscious only
of following my fancies as a butterfly, and was
unconscious of my individuality as a man. Suddenly, I
awaked, and there I lay, myself again. Now I do not
know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a
butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly, dreaming I
am a man.”
Possibility of Dreaming
Possibility of Dreaming
Wang Chong (27-97 CE)
• Empiricism: all knowledge comes from
experience
• A great opponent of superstition
• Naturalism: nature is spontaneous,
acting according to its own laws without
divine intervention or interference
Naturalism
• Natural events have no religious meaning
• Nature has no discernible purpose
• We can understand things only by
understanding their causes
• And we can gain knowledge of those only
through experience