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The Taoist book Zhuangzi (莊子) of the same name is a composite of writings from various sources. The traditional view is that Zhuang Zi himself wrote the first several chapters (the "inner" chapters) and his students and related thinkers were responsible for the other parts (the "outer" and "miscellaneous" chapters). Strong proof of direct authorship by Zhuang Zi of any of the text is difficult.

In general, Zhuang Zi's philosophy is rather antinomian, arguing that our life is limited and things to know are unlimited. To use the limited to pursue the unlimited, he said, was foolish. Our language, cognition, etc. are all biased with our own perspective so we should be hesitant in concluding that our conclusions are equally right for all things ( wanwu ). Zhuangzi's thought can also be considered a precursor of multiculturalism and pluralism of systems of value. His pluralism even leads him to doubt the basis of pragmatic arguments (that a course of action preserves our lives) since this presupposes that life is good and death bad. In the fourth section of "The Great Happiness" (至樂 zhi4le4, the 18th chapter of the book), Zhuang Zi expresses pity to a skull he sees lying at the side of the road. Zhuang Zi laments that the skull is now dead, but the skull retorts, "How do you know it's bad to be dead?"

Another example points out that there is no universal standard of beauty. This is taken from the chapter "On Arranging Things", also called "Discussion of Setting Things Right" or, in Burton WatsonBurton Watson (born 1925) is one of the world's best-known translators of the Chinese and Japanese literary works. He has taught at Columbia, Stanford, and Kyoto universities. His translations include The Lotus Sutra, The Vimalakirti Sutra, Chuang Tzu: Ba's translation, "Discussion on Making All Things Equal" (齊物論 qi2 wu4 lun4 , the second chapter of the book):

Mao Qiang and Li Ji [two beautiful courtesans] are what people consider beautiful, but if fish see them they will swim into the depths; if birds see them, they will fly away into the air; if deer see them, they will gallop away. Among these four, who knows what is rightly beautiful in the world?

However, this subjectivism is balanced with a kind of sensitive holismHolism is the idea that the properties of a system cannot be determined or explained by the sum of its components alone. It is often regarded as opposite to reductionism, although proponents of scientific reductionism state that it is better regarded as t in the conclusion of the section called "What Fish Enjoy" (魚之樂, py yu2zhi1le4). The names have been changed to pinyin romanization for consistency:

Zhuang Zi and Hui Zi were strolling along the dam of the Hao River when Zhuang Zi said, "See how the minnows come out and dart around where they please! That's what fish really enjoy!"

Hui Zi said, "You're not a fish - how do you know what fish enjoy?"

Zhuang Zi said, "You're not I, so how do you know I don't know what fish enjoy?"

Hui Zi said, "I'm not you, so I certainly don't know what you know. On the other hand, you're certainly not a fish - so that still proves you don't know what fish enjoy!"

Zhuang Zi said, "Let's go back to your original question, please. You asked me how I know what fish enjoy - so you already knew I knew it when you asked the question. I know it by standing here beside the Hao."

Section XVII, Autumn Floods, tr. Burton Watson

Another well-known part of the book is also found in the "On Arranging Things" chapter. The section is usually called "Zhuang Zhou dreamDreaming is the subjective experience of imaginary images, sounds/voices, thoughts or sensations during sleep, usually involuntarily. Dreaming is associated with rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, a lighter form of sleep that occurs during the later portioned he was a butterflyFor other uses of the term "butterfly", see butterfly (disambiguation). Superfamily Hesperioidea: Hesperiidae Superfamily Papilionoidea: Papilionidae Pieridae Nymphalidae Lycaenidae Riodinidae Libytheidae Lyceanidae A butterfly is a flying insect of the o" (莊周夢蝶 Zhuang1 Zhou1 meng4 die2). The section relates that one night, Zhuangzi dreamed that he was a carefree butterfly flying happily. After he woke up, he wondered how he could determine whether he was Zhuang Zi who had just finished dreaming he was a butterfly, or a butterfly who had just started dreaming he was Zhuang Zi. It hints at many questions in the philosophy of mindPhilosophy of mind is the philosophical study of the nature of the mind, mental events, mental functions, mental properties, and consciousness. These areas give rise to some very difficult problems and questions, and there are many opinions as to their so, philosophy of languagePhilosophy of language is the branch of philosophy that studies language. Its primary concerns include the nature of linguistic meaning, reference, language use, language learning, and language understanding, truth, thought (to the extent that it is lingu and epistemologyEpistemology is the branch of philosophy that deals with the nature, origin and scope of knowledge. Definition of knowledge Justified true belief Plato's Theaetetus''. defined knowledge as justified true belief. One implication of this definition is that, such as Descartes' famous question of how one knows one exists. The name of the passage has become a common Chinese idiom, and has spread into Western languages as well.

Zhuang Zi's philosophy was very influential on the development of Chinese Buddhism, especially Chan, and Zen which evolved out of Chan.

The book containing it is widely regarded as both deeply insightful in thought and as an achievement of the Chinese poetical essay form. It uses Chinese language in complex, mutli-layered and often playful ways, and is notoriously difficult to translate.

However, some sinologists have tried. A very popular translation is the one by Burton Watson. Other major translations have been done by Thomas Merton and A. C. Graham . Graham's is, to date, the most academically thorough, but Watson's is highly praised for its poetic style.