Introduction: Later Mohist Logic, Ethics and Science after 25 Years. From the reprint edition of A. C. Graham, Later Mohist Logic, Ethics and Science (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 2003).
Some years ago, I inquired with CUHK Press as to whether they might be interested in publishing a reprint edition of A. C. Graham’s monumental Later Mohist Logic, Ethics and Science, which had long been out of print. (I wanted to finally have a copy of my own, rather than the photocopies I’d used for years, and I assumed that many other people were similarly unable to find a copy.) As it turned out, the Press decided to do so—largely at the urging of Victor Mair, I suspect—and asked me to write a retrospective Introduction to the volume discussing its reception and impact in the 25 years since it was published.
The Introduction I wrote is critical in spirit. My aim was to express appreciation and admiration for Graham’s achievements in this work while also pointing out some of the issues that his various hypotheses raise for further philological and philosophical research.
(My own interpretation of later Mohist thought is summarized in this article.)
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