This is a chronicle of Chinese thought from the third millennium sage-kings to the 1911 overthrow of the oldest monarchical system in the world. The book illuminates the most commonly known schools of Confuciansim and Taoism, and it acquaints readers with Mohism, Yin-Yang, Legalism, Neo-Taosim, Neo-Confucianism, and the introduction of Western philosophy.
Since its original publication in Chinese in the 1930s, this work has been accepted by Chinese scholars as the most important contribution to the study of their country's philosophy. In 1952 the book was published by Princeton University Press in an English translation by the distinguished scholar of Chinese history, Derk Bodde, "the dedicated translator of Fung Yu-lan's huge history of Chinese philosophy" (New York Times Book Review). Available for the first time in paperback, it remains the most complete work on the subject in any language. Volume I covers the period of the philosophers, from the beginnings to around 100 B.C., a philosophical period as remarkable as that of ancient Greece. Volume II discusses a period lesser known in the West--the period of classical learning, from the second century B.C. to the twentieth century.
Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 Chinese civilization has been influenced by philosophy. In China, philosophy has been the concern of every educated person. The Four Books, which consist of the Confucian Analects, the Book of Mencius, the Great Learning, and the Doctrine of the Mean, have been the most important texts of Neo-Confucianist philosophy. #2 Reflective thinking is the process of taking life as its object and thinking about it. The theory of the universe, the theory of knowledge, and the concept of life are all the products of reflective thinking. #3 The Chinese people have had little concern with religion because they have had so much concern with philosophy. They are not religious because they are philosophical. In philosophy, they satisfy their craving for what is beyond the present actual world. #4 The problem that Chinese philosophers have tried to solve is how to achieve the highest form of achievement of which any one kind of man is capable. According to the Chinese, this is nothing less than being a sage, and the highest achievement of a sage is the identification of the individual with the universe.
Chinese traditions of Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism have a profoundly philosophical dimension. The three traditions are frequently referred to as three paths of moral teachings. In this book, Mou provides a clear account of the textual corpus that emerges to define each of these traditions and how this canonical axis was augmented by a continuing commentarial tradition as each generation reauthorized the written core for their own time and place. In his careful exegesis, Mou lays out the differences between the more religious reading of these traditions with their defining practices that punctuate the human journey through life, and the more intellectual and philosophical treatment of the texts that has and continues to produce a first-order culture of annotation that become integral to the traditions themselves. At the center of the alternative religious experience reflected throughout the teachings of Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism is the project of personal cultivation as it comes to be expressed as robust growth in family and communal relations. For Mou, these three highly distinctive and yet complementary ways of thinking and living constitute a kind of moral ecology, wherein each of them complements the others as they stand in service to a different dimension of the human need for an educated spirituality.
The History of Chinese Philosophy is a comprehensive and authoritative examination of the movements and thinkers that have shaped Chinese philosophy over the last three thousand years. An outstanding team of international contributors provide seventeen accessible entries organised into five clear parts: Identity of Chinese Philosophy Classical Chinese Philosophy (I): Pre-Han Period Classical Chinese Philosophy (II): From Han Through Tang Classical Chinese Philosophy (III): From Song Through Early Qing Modern Chinese Philosophy: From Late Qing Through 21st Century This outstanding collection is essential reading for students of Chinese philosophy, and will be of interest to those seeking to explore the lasting significance this rich and complex philosophical tradition.
Featuring contributions from the world's most highly esteemed Asian philosophy scholars, this important new encyclopedia covers the complex and increasingly influential field of Chinese thought, from earliest recorded times to the present day. Including coverage on the subject previously unavailable to English speakers, the Encyclopedia sheds light on the extensive range of concepts, movements, philosophical works, and thinkers that populate the field. It includes a thorough survey of the history of Chinese philosophy; entries on all major thinkers from Confucius to Mou Zongsan; essential topics such as aesthetics, moral philosophy, philosophy of government, and philosophy of literature; surveys of Confucianism in all historical periods (Zhou, Han, Tang, and onward) and in key regions outside China; schools of thought such as Mohism, Legalism, and Chinese Buddhism; trends in contemporary Chinese philosophy, and more.
