魚是莊子追求生命逍遙自在的象徵。莊子藉魚喻人，認為人惟有如「化而為鳥」之魚遨遊天地，如「相忘江湖」之魚自然忘我，才能通達於道而至美至樂。莊惠二人在濠梁觀魚，因觀看事物的視角與心境之殊異，而展開一場「魚之樂」之論辯。惠施偏客觀知識的邏輯分析，以「分別之知」觀察水中之魚，是以人魚有別，物我有隔，因而斷言「人不知魚之樂」；莊子則重主觀審美的直覺體會，以「無待之心」觀賞水中「出游從容」之魚，是以人魚如一，物我混同，故莊子能「感知魚之樂」。 「魚之樂」的故事，並非著意於莊惠論辯之勝負，而是從人與人、人與物之間，彼此尊重為出發點，以不起分別作用之心靈，觀照世間；以調暢逸豫之精神，遊於人間，體現莊子追求逍遙自在、審美超越的生命境界。

Chuang Tzu implied symbol of freedom and easiness to fish. In his writings, there was a huge fish which transformed to a giant bird and soars high into the sky. And there was a [tortoise] which would rather be alive and dragging its tail in the mud than be dead and honored in the temple. Furthermore, there were stranded fish which would be better to forget their restriction within the real world. These stories signified that Chuang Tzu was yarning for freedom and easiness as fish. Comparing to fish, only if man forgets about the secular bondage would he attain the ultimate beauty and the highest happiness. Chuang Tzu and Hui Shi viewed fish swimming in Hao River and debated on “the enjoyment of fish” from distinct perspectives. Hui Shi stressed on logical analysis of objective knowledge. He viewed fish by discrimination and therefore would not be able to appreciate the enjoyment of fish. Chuang Tzu, on the other hand, preferred subjective esthetics by intuitive realization. He treated all creation without discriminative anticipation so he “saw the fish came out and played around at their ease”. The distinction between the both depends on their attitude toward life. Their argument was nothing to do with win or lose. The point was mutual respect. For Chuang Tzu, the ultimate beauty is to see the world with pureness and without discrimination, and the highest happiness is to experience the easement and freedom.