Who is considered the founder of Taoism?

Laozi is generally considered the founder of Taoism, also called Daoism.

Laozi is traditionally associated with the Daodejing, or Tao Te Ching, one of the foundational texts of Taoist philosophy. Its central ideas include the Dao, the underlying way or process of reality, and wuwei, often translated as effortless or non-coercive action. The text’s influence reaches philosophy, religion, political thought, meditation, and Chinese literary culture.

Traditional biographies describe Laozi as a sixth-century BCE archivist of the Zhou court who later met Confucius and departed westward after composing the Daodejing. These stories became important parts of Taoist tradition, but historians remain cautious about treating them as literal biography. Laozi may have been a legendary figure, and the text likely developed through contributions from multiple writers.

Zhuangzi was another major early Taoist thinker, not the usual answer to this question. Taoism itself crystallized from several currents during the Warring States period and later became an organized religious tradition. Thus, Laozi is the conventional founder, even though Taoism had no single historically certain founding moment.