History of Philosophy: India, Africana, China

HPC 59. Forget Me Not: Han History Writing

How historians like Sima Qian and Ban Gu have shaped our understanding of ancient Chinese history, including the history of philosophy.

HPC 58. Historical Fiction? Texts in the Han

How were the texts of the Han dynasty different from those in the Warring States period? How historical circumstances shaped philosophical writing, and how texts in turn

HPC 57. Rise and Fall, and Rise and Fall: the Han Dynasty

The relationship between philosophy and politics in the Han Dynasty, focusing on the example of Huang-Lao, a typically “eclectic” tradition of thought.

HPC 56. Yuri Pines on Legalism

An interview about fa-thinkers like Shang Yang and Han Feizi, exploring their relationship to the Qin dynasty and to other schools of thought.

HPC 55. More Gain, Less Pain: the Legalists on Human Nature

Did the fa-thinkers recognize that human beings natural have moral capacities or dispositions? How did they try to manipulate human nature?

HPC 54. Learning to Unlearn: Han Feizi and Confucianism

Does Han Feizi’s focus on “standards” allow him to provide a more realistic political theory than the Confucian focus on moral cultivation?

HPC 53. A Worm Riding Clouds: Standards, Strategy and Power in the Han Feizi

The Han Feizi and its “three pillars” of Legalist philosophy: fa (standards), shu (strategy), and shi (positional power).

HPC 52. The Empire State: the Qin Dynasty

Was the short-lived Qin empire, which unified China to put an end to the Warring States period, Legalism in action?

HPC 51. Standard Bearers: What is “Legalism"?

The “fa-thinkers” Shang Yang and Han Feizi encourage the rigorous application of “standards,” including law, reward, and punishment.

HPC 50. Bryan Van Norden on Warring States Philosophy

To celebrate reaching 50 episodes in this series, Karyn and Peter both chat to a leading scholar of Warring States philosophy.

HPC 49. Hans-Georg Moeller on the Zhuangzi

An interview on humor and amoral ethics in a Daoist classic, the Zhuangzi - and its relation to Confucianism and Legalism. 

HPC 48. Off the Beaten Path: Wandering in the Zhuangzi

How is it possible to walk two roads simultaneously? And where does wandering lead us?

HPC 47. Live and Let Die: the Zhuangzi on Death

Why does the Zhuangzi tell us that death is nothing to fear, to the point that it recommends celebrating the death of loved ones?

HPC 46. Turning the Tables: Confucius in the Zhuangzi

How are we to make sense of the different images of Kongzi (Confucius) in the Zhuangzi?

HPC 45. Practice Makes Perfect: Skill Stories in the Zhuangzi

In addition to sages who show us the way, the Zhuangzi features people taking on daily activities such as woodworking and butchering: we discuss how these figures serve a

HPC 44. Like a Fish Out of Water: Animal Stories in the Zhuangzi

The many stories about animals in the Zhuangzi encourage us to adopt a perspective that goes beyond the human point of view.

HPC 43. Chiu Wai-Wai on the Zhuangzi and Mohism

An interview on debates over language and reasoning between the Mohists and the Daoist classic, the Zhuangzi.

HPC 42. A Black and White World: the Zhuangzi on Shi-Fei Dogmatism

The Zhuangzi’s critique of dogmatic approaches to argumentation and governing the state.

HPC 41. To Speak or Not to Speak: Skepticism in the Zhuangzi

We introduce the second great classic of Warring States Daoism, the Zhuangzi, and ask whether it adopts a position of radical skepticism.

HPC 40. Antiheroes: Sunzi’s Art of War

Are the methods of warfare proposed in the famous Art of War an example of “applied Daoism”?