"The author takes a close look at this Chinese classic, examining a precise point that is as important as it is challenging: the political action of the wise man.",
——Le Monde

★How can the Zhuangzi, a corpus of ancient Chinese texts, advocate the idea of an ideal ruler governing according to nature, while at the same time conducting a radical critique of power?
★The "most fabulous writer and thinker in Chinese history", as sinologist Jean Lévi puts it.
★The exercise of power in accordance with nature as an art of nongovernment.

How can the Zhuangzi, a corpus of ancient Chinese texts, advocate the idea of an ideal ruler governing according to nature, while at the same time conducting a radical critique of power? Starting from this obvious contradiction, the essay first questions the meaning of conformity to nature, which characterizes the posture of the retreating wise man. It then shows how taking historicity into account means discarding the figure of the wise man, whose presence proves harmful in a degraded world. Finally, by examining the political significance of conformity to nature, the author dismantles those passages that, added later to the corpus, not only divert the critique of power into a justification of absolute domination, but also overshadow a profound political reflection. The analysis will reveal that Zhuangzi actually conceives the exercise of power in accordance with nature as an art of non-government.

Marc-Antoine Helleboid is a philosophy teacher in Cesson-Sévigné, France.