Ancient Philosophy: Chuang Tzu

In Chapter 2, of Chuang Tzu’s Adjustment of Controversies, Chuang Tzu tells us about his dream of being a butterfly. He dreamt that he was a “butterfly flying about, feeling that it was enjoying itself” (2.14). During this dream, Chuang Tzu had no idea that he was, in fact, Chuang Tzu; however, upon awakening, he was again “the veritable Zhou” (2.14).
Chuang Tzu’s dream seemed so real that Chuang Tzu wasn’t sure if he was actually awake. He wonders if he dreamt “that he was a butterfly, or […] a butterfly dreaming that it was” (2.14) Chuang Tzu? This dream is so persuasively realistic that it causes Chuang Tzu to question his own existence as a human being; but, “between Zhou and a butterfly there must be a difference. This is a case of what [Chuang Tzu] called the Transformation of Things” (2.14). According to Liu, the butterfly dream demonstrates four arguments. First, “dreams seem to us as real as when we are awake” (Liu 161). Second, “when we are dreaming, we never know that it was just a dream” (Liu 161). Third, “when we think we are awake, we could also be dreaming” (Liu 161)....