Zhuangzi

Zhuangzi was a Chinese philosopher who, alongside Laozi, is regarded as one of the founding figures of Taoism. His writings — collected in the text bearing his name — are among the most vivid and playful in all of philosophy, deploying paradox, fable, and dialogue to challenge fixed categories and conventional certainties. The famous Butterfly Dream — "Am I a man dreaming I am a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming I am a man?" — encapsulates his scepticism about the boundaries between self and world, sleep and waking, life and death.