Episode 36: Zhuangzi's happy fish debate episode artwork

EPISODE · Jul 7, 2026 · 1H 13M

Episode 36: Zhuangzi's happy fish debate

from This Is The Way: Chinese Philosophy Podcast · host Richard Kim and Justin Tiwald

In this episode, we take up one of the most puzzling and fascinating passages in the Zhuangzi: the “Happy Fish” debate between Zhuangzi and Huizi. Can Zhuangzi really know that the fish are happy if he is not a fish? Along the way, we explore skepticism, language, animal minds, and the ordinary but surprisingly sophisticated ways we recognize joy in other living things.Want to skip to the episode's primary philosophical issue? Go to12:22 Preface to today's topic13:57 The Zhuangzi's happy fish debateMany thanks to The Hong Kong Ethics Lab for sponsoring this podcast series.Want to continue the discussion? Need links to some of the sources mentioned? Go to the support page for this episode on Warp, Weft, and Way.We thank Lena Li (LI La 李拉) for her expert editing and sound engineering.Co-hosts:Richard Kim's websiteJustin Tiwald's website

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Jul 7, 2026

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In this episode, we take up one of the most puzzling and fascinating passages in the Zhuangzi: the “Happy Fish” debate between Zhuangzi and Huizi. Can Zhuangzi really know that the fish are happy if he is not a fish? Along the way, we explore skepticism, language, animal minds, and the ordinary but surprisingly sophisticated ways we recognize joy in other living things. Want to skip to the episode's primary philosophical issue? Go to 12:22 Preface to today's topic13:57 The Zhuangzi's happy fi...

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Episode 36: Zhuangzi's happy fish debate

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