I’m familiar with the overall themes of Daoism, although I haven’t read much from the key figures directly. I’ve read some secondary sources such as when I took a course on Eastern philosophy. I wrote this article on my disagreements with Daoism. The conflict between Daoist mysticism and Confucian humanism is certainly intriguing.

What I object to is the Daoist’s conservatism which is antithetical to cosmicism. Daoists surrender to nature’s “ways,” whereas I follow existentialists in saying we ought to be tragic heroes in resisting the monstrous indifference and inhumanity of those very ways. Hence the conflict between nature-as-wilderness and human artificiality. What seems miraculous about our endeavours is that they’re antinatural. To act naturally is to lose our personhood for the sake of fitting in like animals or dupes. No, as far as I understand Daoism, I have a beef with it.