Hon-Yin and Suet-Fong Chan Professor, School of Chinese, University of Hong Kong
Our new Stanford Encyclopedia article on Dai Zhen 戴震 — co-authored by Frank Chong and myself — has finally been published: Dai Zhen. Along with the forthcoming Dao Companion volume on Dai Zhen and Justin Tiwald’s work in progress, this piece is part of a well-deserved surge of interest in Dai, who is among the most…
On February 2, the very constructive Sihaiweixue 四海為學 program organized by Paul D’Ambrosio hosted a book discussion on my recent book, Late Classical Chinese Thought. It was an honor and a pleasure to discuss the book with Karyn Lai, Winnie Sung, and Ellie Wang, among with Paul and other participants. A recording of the conversation…
I’ve argued in the past that in early Chinese philosophical discourse the concept of dao (way) is more fundamental than the concept of truth. In a new article, I give a detailed account of just how truth relates to dao in the philosophy of the Xúnzǐ, the early Chinese “masters” text that probably devotes the…
My new book Late Classical Chinese Thought goes on sale in the UK next week. The North American edition is scheduled to be available July 1.
On October 4 I’ll be speaking at a colloquium in the Department of East Asian Studies at McGill University in Montreal. I’m grateful to Professors Jeehee Hong and Robin Yates for arranging this event. My topic is “The Xunzian Critique of Legalism and Its Contemporary Significance.” This presentation is a preliminary selection from my work…
I’m looking forward to an upcoming visiting lecture on Sept 30 in the Department of Philosophy at Concordia University in Montreal. The event announcement is here. My lecture will be based on the paper posted here. Much thanks to Jing Hu 胡靜 for arranging the talk, and it will be a delight to visit Montreal,…
I recently had a productive and enjoyable visit with colleagues from the Center for Human Nature, Artificial Intelligence, and Neuroscience and the Center for Applied Ethics and Philosophy at Hokkaido University. The title of my talk was “A Path with No End: Skill and Ethics in Zhuangzi and Mozi.” The event announcement is here and…
Congratulations to Douglas Cairns and Curie Virag, who are putting the finishing touches on a novel, collaborative anthology that brings together specialists in early Chinese and ancient Greek thought to explore various understandings of emotion in the Chinese and Hellenistic traditions. The title of this volume, forthcoming from Oxford University Press, is In the Mind,…
I’ve been intrigued for years by the possibility that a Zhuangist stance toward dao might overlap considerably with the standpoint of contemporary moral particularism, primarily as defended in the work of Jonathan Dancy. This year I finally had a chance to look into this issue carefully, reading up on Dancy’s work and that of his…
Eric Schliesser recently posted a thoughtful discussion of how the Mohist account of the shift from a state of nature to political society might resemble some varieties of social contract views. I posted a comment in response, which led to a fruitful exchange about the Mohist conception of the origin of political authority. The entire…