Philosophical Reflections on the “Fish Happiness” Anecdote

Zhuangzi’s observation of “fish happiness” is his direct reflection of the scene—supported by his resonance with the fish. In asking Zhuangzi how he knows the fish are happy, Hui Shi treats Zhuangzi’s reflection as a proposition about the fish. Hui Shi’s questions reflect a narrow empiricist epistemic approach while Zhuangzi’s replies intimate that Hui Shi’s notion of how one knows is too restrictive (even for common usage). Zhuangzi thus intimates innovative ideas about language use and cognition, and resonance and epistemic grounds, that respond to Hui Shi’s commonsense challenge.