History of Philosophy: India, Africana, China

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.

HPC 38. Easy Does It: Non-Action in the Laozi

The concept of wuwei or “non-action”: does it mean that the perfect sage or political ruler simply never does anything?

HPC 37. She Stoops to Conquer: Femininity in the Laozi

How the Laozi (Daodejing) applies the lessons of complementarity to the contrast between male and female.

HPC 36. Fishing for Complements: Polarities in Daoism

The significance of the Laozi’s use of opposing pairs, which are treated as complementary rather as exclusive dichotomies.

HPC 35. Way Better than Greenwashing: Daoism on Nature

The Laozi (Daodejing) refers to the winds, the rain and the waters. We discuss how these ideas express the Laozi’s views on nature.

HPC 34. You Don’t Say! the Dao That Cannot Be Told

The first rule of dao is: don’t talk about dao. We do so nonetheless, focusing on its role in metaphysics and language.

HPC 33. Let Us Count the Ways: What is Daoism?

What does “Daoism” refer to in a range of contexts, and how have excavated texts changed our understanding of the tensions between Daoism and Confucianism?

HPC 32. Chris Fraser on Mohism

We conclude our series on Mohism with an interview that looks at the Mohists' dialectic and its relationship to their ethics. 

HPC 31. Push and Pull: Mohist Dialectic

Later Mohists explained in the Canons how to provide compelling philosophical arguments, and how to avoid mistakes in argumentation. Does this count as “logic”?

HPC 30. Horse of a Different Color: the Mohists on Language and Knowledge

What Mohist dialectics and Gongsun Long’s “White Horse Not Horse” argument tell us about the connection between language and knowledge.