The Totality of the Real: Aesthetic Transformation in Zhuangzi and Hadot

Abstract

This essay develops a distinct aesthetic theory grounded in ancient Daoist—especially Zhuangzi’s—and Stoic philosophies. For Zhuangzi, a flourishing life requires a holistic acceptance of the universe and its myriad events—an attitude that, as Pierre Hadot notes, resonates with the Stoic pursuit of fulfillment through cosmic awareness. By contrast, self-interested perception narrows understanding by privileging what seems good while obscuring what seems bad. This selective, utility-oriented mode of vision produces a fragmented image of the world. Only by transcending it can we perceive things in their totality. Such perception not only affords the distinct pleasure of perception itself but also grants access to what remains hidden in ordinary experience: the generative forces of things.