Being Nature
Cognitio Revista de Filosofia December 20, 2025 Valentina de Feo
This article compares Emerson and Zhuangzi, arguing that both share an ethical-cosmic core in which ethics is a way of attending to the world rather than a set of dogmas. The philosophical quest for both is oriented by eudaimonia, or the good life, but they propose an alternative path of nurture: a daily exercise free of specific goals that cultivates oneself in constant relationship with Nature. The metaphor of the pastoral attitude—Proteus in Emerson, yang-sheng in Zhuangzi—illustrates this. Despite substantial metaphysical differences between their concepts of Nature (natura naturans versus ziran), both advocate a disposition of listening and agreement to Nature, inviting readers to nurture life without aspiring to happiness and to welcome the flow of becoming.