 Daoist ethics are often cited as exemplars of substantial difference with the Western tradition. Both the Zhuangzi’s and Daodejing’s commendation of wuwei is a case in point. It is a commendation of a style of action that consists in being receptive rather than aggressive, following from behind rather than leading in front, accommodating rather than confrontational, and being flexible and ready to change with the situation rather than rigid and operating from general predetermined principles. While the theme of attunement with the world is present at the roots of Western traditions, no major ethic in the West gives the ideal of spontaneous, effortless attunement the kind of centrality Daoism gives to it, and indeed, Slingerland (2003) argues that the ideal of spontaneous and effortless action that is in accord with the normative order of the cosmos is quite important to the early Confucian thinkers. Ames (1994) traces the wu-wei ideal as it is applied to rulership in Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism.