SOURCE: Chi-hui Chien. “‘Theft's Way’: A Comparative Study of Chuang Tzu's Tao and Derridean Trace.” Journal of Chinese Philosophy 17, no. 1 (March 1990): 31-49.

In the following essay, Chi-hui Chien argues that there is a conceptual similarity between the ideas of Chuang Tzu and those of French philosopher Jacques Derrida because of the way in which both give authority to a shifting viewpoint rather than a fixed reality which can be definitively signified.

Where there is recognition of right there must be recognition of wrong; where there is recognition of wrong there must be recognition of right. Therefore the sage does not proceed in such a way, but illuminates all in the light of Heaven. He too recognizes a “this,” but a “this” which is also “that,” a “that” which is also “this.” His “that” has both a right and a wrong in it; his “this” too has both a...