Despite the detachment from reality and dissent from Confucian humanism that the Tao Te Ching teaches, Taoists were and are generally not misanthropes or nihilists and see humans as an important class of things in the world. However, in most Taoist views humans were not held to be especially important in comparison to other aspects of the world and Taoist metaphysics that were seen as equally or more special. Similarly, some Taoists had similar views on their gods or the gods of other religions.
Despite the detachment from reality and dissent from Confucian humanism that the Tao Te Ching teaches Taoists were and are generally not misanthropes or nihilists and see humans as an important class of things in the world. However, in most Taoist views humans were not held to be especially important in comparison to other aspects of the world and Taoist, metaphysics that were seen as equally or more special. Similarly, some Taoists had similar views on their gods or the gods of other religions.