An introduction to Chinese philosophy

2006

2024

Alongside the giants of Chinese philosophy, such as Confucius, Zhu Xi, and Li Zehou, the selection includes philosophers often neglected from traditional surveys, figures such as Huan Tan, Cheng Xuanying, Ye Shi, Jiao Xun, Zhang Shenfu, and Li Xiaojiang. A focus on the rhetoric form and cultural background of Chinese philosophical thought runs through each volume, together with a discussion of seismic political, social, and economic events: the fall of dynasties, the rise of the imperial examination system, the modernization of Chinese academia, up to post-1978 politics. Thinkers and traditions are connected to broader, topical themes – Zhuangzi and the idea of perspectivism; Tiantai and the problem of evil; Zhang Junmai and models of democracy – and interconnections between theories and meditative, moral, and medical practices are explored. This is a history of Chinese philosophy that handles recently excavated bamboo texts, women philosophers in ancient China, Buddhist logic, medieval aesthetics, Sino-Muslim thought, and modern ethnic minority philosophy. Close attention is paid to the mutual exchange of ideas between China, East Asia, and Europe, providing a much-needed perspective that captures the monumental contribution of Chinese thinkers and builds a truly global history of philosophy.

Philosophy East and West 72/2, 2022

Recent anglophone scholarship on Chinese philosophy provides students and scholars with a great variety of introductory materials, especially when it comes to encyclopedias and manuals on the history of Chinese philosophical traditions. It is therefore increasingly difficult for scholars to produce innovative studies on the subject that can provide a significant and original contribution to the field, especially when addressing both specialists and enthusiasts. In this context, The History of Chinese Philosophy Through its Key Terms by Nanjing University’s Wang Yueqing 王月清, Bao Qinggang 暴庆刚, and Guan Guoxing 管国兴 certainly represents a valuable and innovative contribution. Instead of presenting the history of Chinese thought by sectioning it in terms of thinkers or schools of thought, as it is traditionally done in encyclopedic works, the book considers the historical and conceptual evolution of specific key terms which characterize the evolution of those philosophical traditions which form the broad and diversified framework of Chinese philosophy. The book is composed of thirty-seven chapters (varying from 8 to 18 pages in length), each of which is devoted to a detailed discussion of a specific key term in both its historical and conceptual evolution. The great majority of chapters discuss the evolution of terms within the broad historical framework ranging from classical thought to the end of the Qing dynasty.

China Review International, 2008

No one history of the early Chinese "Masters" can meet the needs of every audience. Benjamin Schwartz's The World of Thought in Ancient China (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1985) has special appeal, I think, to scholars working in the broad humanistic traditions of religious studies and intellectual history. In contrast, A. C. Graham's Disputers of the Tao (Chicago: Open Court Press, 1989) is written from a more distinctively philosophical perspective. To give just two more examples, although neither has written a general history of the period, the works of Mark Lewis and Paul Goldin particularly emphasize the interplay between social history, archaeology, and philology. 1 Scholars will sometimes dismiss methodologies other than their own as "uninteresting, " as "projecting concepts onto the text, " or as making claims that are "improvable. " But "interesting, " like "delicious, " is a matter of taste; all interpretation is "projection" to one degree or another; and as if anything nontrivial were "provable"! So we should not begrudge our colleagues their own methodologies and interests because each is potentially legitimate. Of course, this does not mean that anything goes. Someone can be using a particular methodology well or poorly, expertly or crudely. My own primary approach to Chinese thought is that of "analytic philosophy. " (Other scholars working in this style include Kwong-loi Shun and David Wong.) 2 Consequently, it was with great pleasure and anticipation that I discov-

2024

Alongside the giants of Chinese philosophy, such as Confucius, Zhu Xi, and Li Zehou, the selection includes philosophers often neglected from traditional surveys, figures such as Huan Tan, Cheng Xuanying, Ye Shi, Jiao Xun, Zhang Shenfu, and Li Xiaojiang. A focus on the rhetoric form and cultural background of Chinese philosophical thought runs through each volume, together with a discussion of seismic political, social, and economic events: the fall of dynasties, the rise of the imperial examination system, the modernization of Chinese academia, up to post-1978 politics. Thinkers and traditions are connected to broader, topical themes – Zhuangzi and the idea of perspectivism; Tiantai and the problem of evil; Zhang Junmai and models of democracy – and interconnections between theories and meditative, moral, and medical practices are explored. This is a history of Chinese philosophy that handles recently excavated bamboo texts, women philosophers in ancient China, Buddhist logic, medieval aesthetics, Sino-Muslim thought, and modern ethnic minority philosophy. Close attention is paid to the mutual exchange of ideas between China, East Asia, and Europe, providing a much-needed perspective that captures the monumental contribution of Chinese thinkers and builds a truly global history of philosophy.

2024

Alongside the giants of Chinese philosophy, such as Confucius, Zhu Xi, and Li Zehou, the selection includes philosophers often neglected from traditional surveys, figures such as Huan Tan, Cheng Xuanying, Ye Shi, Jiao Xun, Zhang Shenfu, and Li Xiaojiang. A focus on the rhetoric form and cultural background of Chinese philosophical thought runs through each volume, together with a discussion of seismic political, social, and economic events: the fall of dynasties, the rise of the imperial examination system, the modernization of Chinese academia, up to post-1978 politics. Thinkers and traditions are connected to broader, topical themes – Zhuangzi and the idea of perspectivism; Tiantai and the problem of evil; Zhang Junmai and models of democracy – and interconnections between theories and meditative, moral, and medical practices are explored. This is a history of Chinese philosophy that handles recently excavated bamboo texts, women philosophers in ancient China, Buddhist logic, medieval aesthetics, Sino-Muslim thought, and modern ethnic minority philosophy. Close attention is paid to the mutual exchange of ideas between China, East Asia, and Europe, providing a much-needed perspective that captures the monumental contribution of Chinese thinkers and builds a truly global history of philosophy.

2008

Though the Analects of Confucius mark the beginning of the “classical period” of Chinese philosophy, many consider Mozi the first true philosopher in ancient China. Whereas the Analects consist of the scattered sayings attributed to Confucius, it is in the Mozi that we first encounter any real philosophical argument. Though he may have studied with the followers of Confucius in his youth, Mozi attacks Confucius and the Confucians and argues for a different dao or way of governing the state. In his own time, the Mohist school founded by Mozi rivaled that of the Confucians. As Mozi was not of the literati class as was Confucius, but rather of the lower class knights, skilled in the technical arts of warfare, it is not surprising that the main thrust of Mozi’s dao was practicality. As the way for Mozi amounted to what is practical, he challenged the Confucian emphasis on the elaborate ceremonies and rites that constitute the li. His most original contribution was the notion of jian’ai,...

Journal of Chinese Philosophy, 2005

The philosophy of the Han Dynasty, especially that of the Eastern Han (25–220 CE), is an unjustly neglected area of scholarship on early Chinese thought. In this article, I introduce the thought of a number of important Eastern Han philosophers, with particular attention to Wang Chong, Wang Fu, Xu Gan, and Wang Su. I also explain the main features of Eastern Han thought as distinct from those of the Warring States and Western Han periods, and consider their origins in reaction to Western Han ideas and their further development in the Wei-Jin period.

Philosophy and Progress

This paper evaluates an ancient system of cosmology as a part of phenomenology of religion that is intrinsic to ancient Chinese philosophic attitude toward life. The ideas of the dynamic balance of opposites i.e. yin and yang duality, the supernatural force (the Tao) relating to the gradual development of events through a process of formulation, and thereby, acceptance of the inevitability of change are taken under consideration. In Chinese tradition, all forms of change are regarded as expressions of the interaction of two auxiliary forces (controlled by the Tao), the yin and the yang, between which equilibrium and harmony are assumed, as well as conflict and opposition. The yin-yang principles are regarded as the two major elements of Chinese cosmology: yin, being the female