An important Daoist scholar of the early Warring States period and a pioneer of individualist thought in ancient China. He advocated "valuing oneself" and "reverencing life," holding that the preservation of individual life and the unfolding of innate nature constitute the highest value. His radical claim that "if everyone refuses to lose a single hair and everyone refuses to benefit the world, the world will be well-governed" stood in sharp opposition to the Confucian sacrifice of self for righteousness and the Mohist devotion of self to universal welfare. His thought flourished in the mid-Warring States period when "the discourse of the world belonged either to Yang Zhu or to Mozi"; Mencius regarded him as the most dangerous intellectual rival of Confucianism, vehemently attacking him for "denying the ruler and the father." Though Yang Zhu's teachings were often misunderstood due to the loss of his writings, his life-supremacy thesis was in fact a profound defense of individual dignity in an age of chaos.
A native of the state of Wei during the Warring States period, exact dates unknown, active after Mozi and before Mencius. His writings have all been lost; his thought survives mainly in scattered accounts and critiques found in the Mencius, Zhuangzi, Han Feizi, and Lüshi Chunqiu. According to the "Yang Zhu" chapter of the Liezi (though a later forgery, it preserves some outlines of his thought), Yang Zhu held that human life is short and bitter, and one should "follow the heart's impulses without going against natural desires," enjoying the pleasures of life itself while refusing to sacrifice the present for posthumous fame or external achievement. In the mid-Warring States period, Yang Zhu's doctrine swept the world, forming a tripartite with Confucianism and Mohism. Mencius lamented bitterly that "the words of Yang Zhu and Mo Di fill the world." After the establishment of Confucian orthodoxy, Yang Zhu's thought was gradually marginalized and even vilified, but his spirit of "valuing the self and cherishing life" continued quietly in the Daoist eremitic tradition.
Yang Zhu's philosophy centers on "valuing the self" (gui ji) and "cherishing life" (zhong sheng). Ontologically, he posits no metaphysical ground beyond the individual, focusing philosophical attention on the preservation and perfection of individual life itself. In ethics, he makes the radical individualist claim that "not even plucking a single hair to benefit the world should be done"—not stinginess or selfishness, but the assertion that no one, including rulers and society, has the right to剥夺 individual basic rights in the name of the collective. "If everyone refuses to lose a single hair and everyone refuses to benefit the world, the world is governed." This logic of "negative freedom" stands in fundamental opposition to the moral zeal of Confucians and Mohists, constituting a rare consciousness of individual rights in the history of Chinese thought.
"Enjoy life fully; there is not even time to mourn death. If everyone refuses to lose a single hair and everyone refuses to benefit the world, the world will be governed. — Liezi, "Yang Zhu""
Can Yang Zhu's advocacy that "everyone refuses to lose a single hair, everyone refuses to benefit the world" be regarded as the Eastern harbinger of modern individual rights and the spirit of social contract?
Both Yang Zhu and Epicurus take the ease and comfort of individual life as the highest good, advocating distance from political turmoil and unnecessary desires. But Yang Zhu emphasizes the boundary of individual rights (not losing a single hair), while Epicurus emphasizes inner tranquility and the joy of friendship.
Is the highest good in life the preservation of individual pleasure or the pursuit of values beyond the individual? Between Yang Zhu's self-cherishing and Epicurus's philosophy of pleasure, which better settles the modern soul?
Yang Zhu's "not losing a single hair" and Stirner's "the Unique and Its Property" both assert the inviolability of individual self-sovereignty, challenging moral collectivism from an extreme individualist stance. Both are heretics and lonely prophets of their respective eras.
Is extreme individualism a threat to social morality or a defense of individual dignity? Do the lonely rebellions of Yang Zhu and Stirner foreshadow the irreconcilable tension between individual and collective in modern society?
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