Author(s)

Shengping Huang ¹

Affiliation(s)

¹ Department of Pilosophy, Shanghai University, Shanghai, China

Corresponding Author

Shengping Huang

ABSTRACT

The theory of "destiny" is an important part of Zhuangzi's thought, which constitutes the focus of academic analysis and research. There are more than 80 raw materials related to the word "destiny" in Zhuangzi. Analysising of these more than 80 raw materials, focused on the dimension of philosophical usage, "destiny" has the basic meanings of "destiny as encountering", "destiny as heaven" and "destiny as disposition". The destiny of Zhuangzi is characterized by inevitability, contingency and naturalness. The so-called inevitability of "destiny" refers to its helplessness and necessity. However, from the point of view of the "destiny" itself, it is completely accidental. Inevitability and contingency are unified in naturalness. Zhuangzi's theory of "destiny" starts from the predicament of life, but it can also be extended to include the existence and content of any things that falls above the human body. In short, in Zhuangzi, "destiny" is generalized, and it can include all the encounters of a person, no matter what characteristic it maybe is.

KEYWORDS

Zhuangzi, destiny, be content with one's destiny, the predicament of life

CITE THIS PAPER

Shengping Huang, The Meaning and Characteristics of "destiny" in Zhuangzi. Philosophy Journal (2022) Vol. 1: 32-36. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.23977/phij.2022.010107.

REFERENCES

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