ABSTRACT
Zhuangzi has no philosophy of language as we know it from modern analytic philosophy but a profound experience with language. In particular Zhuangzi tries to attain the experience of language in itself, that is to say, not language as a thing with a useful signifying function, but language as a phenomenon that eludes all objectification. The background for understanding Zhuangzi’s view of language is twofold: early Confucian discourse and the logic of disputation (bian ) fashioned by the later Mohists. Mohist disputation had the most immediate and obvious impact on Zhuangzi, but the influence of Confucian discourse on Zhuangzi runs deeper. To highlight the view of language that Zhuangzi shares with the Confucians, I take my point of departure in François Jullien’s analyses of Confucius’ use of language.
