Knots in the Dao

This chapter examines the ways that paradox is treated in the Daodejing and the Zhuangzi. We discuss the paradox of ineffability in the Daodejing as well as the Zhuangzi’s paradoxes regarding justification, meaning, immersion, and spontaneity. We conclude that each of these texts is committed to the truth of paradoxes, and to the fact that they illuminate the paradoxical nature of reality and experience.