Abstracts

On the Philosophical Function of Humorous Fiction in the Zhuangzi

The Zhuangzi, one of the central texts of the Daoist tradition, is constituted in large parts of fictional narratives. Typically, these fictional narratives contain humorous elements, including parody, satire, and irony. In this paper a quite well-known narrative from the Zhuangzi—the story of the diver at the Lüliang waterfall—will be discussed. It will be shown how the story illustrates basic aspects of the philosophical usage of fictional humor in a Daoist context.