section_path: Society/Political aspects
section_name: Political aspects
paragraph_text: Political aspects
  
  Taoism never had a unified political theory. While Huang–Lao positions justified a strong emperor as the legitimate ruler, the Taoist "primitivists" (of chapters 8–11 of the Zhuangzi) argued for a kind of anarchism. A more moderate position is presented in the Inner Chapters of the Zhuangzi in which the political life is presented with disdain and some kind of pluralism or perspectivism is preferred.
  
  The syncretist position found in texts like the Huainanzi and some of the Outer Chapters of the Zhuangzi blend Taoist positions with Confucian views.