Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Katrina Gulliver
“Yang Zhu (440–360 BC) was a Chinese philosopher whose ideas were considered daring and transgressive for his time, but can strike us as modern in their focus on individual freedom. His lessons were shared through early texts and referred to by scholars in the following centuries. He lived during the ‘Warring States’ period, the phase of clashes between regional powers in what would later be unified as China. This was a time of not only military conflicts but also intellectual battles. Daoism was emerging as the dominant religious force in China (Buddhism would not arrive for another two centuries), and Yang Zhu’s philosophy reflects a Daoist worldview.” (10/22/25)
https://fee.org/articles/yang-zhu-and-the-freedom-of-the-self/