Heidegger’s Phusis (φύσις) and Daoist Ziran (自然): A phenomenological comparison of ‘Things-Themselves’ in Inter-dependence

This article explores a key notion of classical Daoism, ziran 自然, through Martin Heidegger's interpretation of the Greek word phusis. I discuss whether a comparison between these terms allows us to understand ziran differently, and whether a “ziranist” reading sheds more light on how Heidegger understands phusis. I argue that Heidegger challenged the dominance of metaphysics as dualist representational thinking, and that his phenomenological challenge to the dominant Western categories of thought allows us a clearer understanding of ziran in Daoism. I argue that both terms have gone through a similar development in history, which unfortunately does not do those terms justice. While phusis and ziran are often understood as indicating things being “in themselves”, purely self-generated and perceived as separate entities, my reading provides a new way to understand phenomenology's core mission of returning to “the things themselves”, consisting in seeing things as fundamentally processual and relational.