Chinese Logic
My recent study of fundamental concepts and models of early Chinese logic and philosophy of language appears in History and Philosophy of Logic 34.1 (2013), 1–24, and is available here. An abstract follows.
Landscape and Travel in Daoism
“Landscape, Travel, and a Daoist View of the ‘Cosmic Question.’” This paper is to appear in the anthology Landscape and Travelling East and West: A Philosophical Journey, edited by Hans-Georg Moeller and Andrew Whitehead (Bloomsbury Academic, 2013). The paper is based on a talk I gave at “Landscape and Travelling—East and West.” Académie du Midi, Alet…
Language and Logic in Xunzi
I’ve just completed an extensively revised draft of a longish (15,000 words) article on the philosophy of language and logic of the Xunzi. The article will appear as a chapter in the forthcoming Dao Companion to Xunzi edited by Eric Hutton. (Much thanks to Eric for taking on this massive project.) Besides a detailed summary…
Tsinghua Logic Talk
I recently returned from Beijing, where I gave a talk at an occasional logic forum at Tsinghua University, organized by Liu Fenrong. Much thanks to Fenrong for arranging my visit. My talk and many other past and upcoming events are announced here and here. The talk was based on a forthcoming paper, “Truth in Mohist…
Comments on Bell, “Confucianism & Nationalism”
Back in April 2011, Joseph Chan, of HKU’s Department of Politics and Public Administration, organized a mini-workshop on Confucian Political Philosophy here at HKU. I commented on a paper by Daniel A. Bell, of Tsinghua University, entitled “Confucianism and nationalism: A reconciliation.” Since Daniel has recently published several articles in popular media whose content overlaps this…
Mohism and Self-Interest
I’m posting here an article about the interpretation of Mohism that I published in 2008. It appears in Journal of Chinese Philosophy 35.3 (2008): 437–54. Key points from this article will appear in my forthcoming book on Mohism. A main significance of the article is that it refutes a widespread misunderstanding of Mohist thought —…
Ethics in Early China
Our recent anthology Ethics in Early China, published by HKU Press, is available through Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and similar sites. For the table of contents and Introduction, see this page.
Early Modern Philosophers in Simple English
Jonathan Bennett, a well-known philosopher and scholar of early modern philosophy, has published online a series of paraphrases of important early modern philosophical works in simple contemporary English. Bennett’s paraphrases are careful and thorough and should be of great help to all students reading the original texts, especially those, such as most HKU students, whose…
Opening Dao: A Documentary on Daoism and Martial Arts
In October 2010, a short documentary called “Opening Dao” by Gennaro Ambrosino was released in which I am interviewed discussing classical Daoism. The film is a bit of a mixed bag, but I hope my part came out well. I actually spoke mainly about the Zhuangzi, but most of that material was cut in order…
RTHK “The Big Idea”
I was recently interviewed for a pair of RTHK radio shows in the fun and interesting series “The Big Idea,” hosted by the delightful Vanessa Collingridge. The most recent episode, on Daoism, aired January 21, 2012, and can be heard here. The other interviewee is my teacher and colleague Chad Hansen. An earlier episode, on…