The story of Carpenter Shih and the Usefulness of Uselessness critiques

Confucianism. In this tale, Carpenter Shih represents a Confucian. Shih takes one
glance at the tree and proclaims Its a worthless tree! Make boats out of it and
theyd sink; make coffins and theyd rot in no time. Use it for doors and it would
sweat sap like pine; use it for posts and the worms would eat them up (Sommers
82). Shih looks for usefulness in the tree based on arbitrary Confucian definitions of
usefulness that would benefit society as a whole. Compare this condemnation of
the tree to the story of Confucius frowning at the hermit farmer because he has not
applied himself by joining society as a civil servant or conforming to the Confucian
view of righteousness (Sommers Analects 48).
The great serrate oak on the other hand represents a Daoist, perhaps even a sage.
The tree follows the Way by simply being a tree. It is not trying to be a boat or a
coffin or a door or a post. Something or someone of use, like a civil servant is
subject to the pulling and tearing of the common mob according to the tree
(Sommers 82). From the trees perspective, perspective being a key concept in
Chuang Tzu and Daoism, its uselessness from the perspective of the ordinary
person or the Confucian is actually of tremendous use to itself because it allows it to
be left alone to just go with the flow and be a tree. Compare this to being free from
entanglement that would prevent one from meditating introspectively and perhaps
even achieving sagehood. The tree also appears to Shih in a dream to rebuke him.
The fact that it has this magical ability to appear to Shih in a dream indicates some
level of higher power that could be associated with a sage. Lastly, the fact that the
tree derives usefulness from uselessness is a Daoist idea itself, referring to the idea
that opposites generate each other.