Introduction to Chinese Philosophy

Week 1: Stylistic and theoretical distinctiveness of Chinese philosophy

Week 2: Origins of Chinese thought

Week 3: Confucius and his disciples

Week 4: Mencius

Week 5: Xunzi

Week 6: Mozi and the Mohists

Week 7: School of Names

Week 8: Laozi and the Laoists

Week 9: Zhuangzi

Week 10: Chinese Statists: from Art of War to Han Fei

Week 11: Western Han philosophy

Week 12: Eastern Han thinkers

Week 13: Mysterious Learning and Pure Conversations

Week 14: Daoist religion and millenarianism

General, non-obligatory readings. For background and overview of the classical Chinese philosophy please consult the following texts:

1. Bryan W. Van Norden, Introduction to Classical Chinese Philosophy, Hackett Publishing, Indianapolis 2011.

2. Karyn Lai, An Introduction to Chinese Philosophy, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2008.

3. JeeLoo Liu. An Introduction to Chinese Philosophy: From Ancient Philosophy to Chinese Buddhism, Blackwell Publishing, Maiden 2006.

4. Chan Wing-tsit, A Sourcebook in Chinese Philosophy, Princeton University Press, Princeton 1969.

5. Dawid Rogacz, Chinese Philosophy of History. From Ancient Confucianism to the End of the Eighteenth Century, Bloomsbury Academic, London 2020.

Specific, obligatory readings for each class will be provided at the first meeting.