ABSTRACT
This chapter contributes to the ongoing attempt to investigate the relationship between Daoist philosophy and Heidegger. It intends to uncover significant differences between the two accounts in conceiving of the human-nonhuman relationship. The chapter develops a transcultural critique of Heidegger's crypto-humanism by contrasting it with conceptions of the human-nonhuman relationship in the tradition of philosophical Daoism. A contemporary turn to Daoism overcomes the humanism-anti-humanism divide and the increasingly entrenched vocabulary of critical animal theory understood as an animal ethics. The interaction of human and nonhuman animals are taken from the fourth century BCZhuangzi, in addition to the Daodejing, is the most important source of classical Daoist philosophy. This chapter raises the author doubts by showing that, while Heidegger does point out significant weaknesses in the humanist tradition, he is suspicious of an anti- or post-humanist reaction to that tradition. Crypto-humanists conceal the anthropocentric premises underlying their philosophy by assigning humans the role of shepherds of, rather than masters over, nonhumans.
