History of Philosophy: India, Africana, China

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 as counterpoints to officials in the Zhuangzi’s time.

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”?

HPC 39. Robin Wang on Yin-Yang Thinking

An interview on the pervasive use of the yin-yang relational pair in classical Chinese thought generally, and in Daoism in particular.