Posthumanism and Cross-species Becoming in Zhuang Zi

Posthumanism offers a fresh perspective to reconstructing productive relationships between human and non-human beings, but the prospect of posthumanist egalitarianism has its deficiency. Zhuang Zi's concept of “cross-species becoming” is an edifying alternative: its monistic ontology resolves the contradiction of binary oppositions, its transversal subject replaces the enfolded self, and its integration of “equality of things” with becoming paves the way for egalitarian existence. Diachronically, “cross-species becoming” reflects cosmic development, the existence of zero boundary and fluid boundary. Rigid boundary corresponds to different stages of becoming. Synchronically, “cross-species becoming” interacts with myriad things to produce a polymorphic existence that is analyzed from three aspects: its definition, conditions, and manifestations. Zhuang Zi's concept of “cross-species becoming” and posthumanism theory complement each other; together, they aspire us to reconstruct relationships between human and nonhuman species.