History of Philosophy: India, Africana, China

Epizody

• HPC 57. Rise and Fall, and Rise and Fall: the Han Dynasty 05.07.2026 18min

  The relationship between philosophy and politics in the Han Dynasty, focusing on the example of Huang-Lao, a typically “eclectic” tradition of thought.
• HPC 56. Yuri Pines on Legalism 21.06.2026 33min

  An interview about fa-thinkers like Shang Yang and Han Feizi, exploring their relationship to the Qin dynasty and to other schools of thought.
• HPC 55. More Gain, Less Pain: the Legalists on Human Nature 07.06.2026 20min

  Did the fa-thinkers recognize that human beings natural have moral capacities or dispositions? How did they try to manipulate human nature?
• HPC 54. Learning to Unlearn: Han Feizi and Confucianism 24.05.2026 19min

  Does Han Feizi’s focus on “standards” allow him to provide a more realistic political theory than the Confucian focus on moral cultivation?
• HPC 53. A Worm Riding Clouds: Standards, Strategy and Power in the Han Feizi 10.05.2026 22min

  The Han Feizi and its “three pillars” of Legalist philosophy: fa (standards), shu (strategy), and shi (positional power).
• HPC 52. The Empire State: the Qin Dynasty 26.04.2026 18min

  Was the short-lived Qin empire, which unified China to put an end to the Warring States period, Legalism in action?
• HPC 51. Standard Bearers: What is “Legalism"? 12.04.2026 21min

  The “fa-thinkers” Shang Yang and Han Feizi encourage the rigorous application of “standards,” including law, reward, and punishment.
• HPC 50. Bryan Van Norden on Warring States Philosophy 29.03.2026 59min

  To celebrate reaching 50 episodes in this series, Karyn and Peter both chat to a leading scholar of Warring States philosophy.
• HPC 49. Hans-Georg Moeller on the Zhuangzi 15.03.2026 28min

  An interview on humor and amoral ethics in a Daoist classic, the Zhuangzi - and its relation to Confucianism and Legalism. 
• HPC 48. Off the Beaten Path: Wandering in the Zhuangzi 01.03.2026 16min

  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 15.02.2026 18min

  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 01.02.2026 18min

  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 18.01.2026 20min

  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 04.01.2026 18min

  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 21.12.2025 32min

  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 07.12.2025 18min

  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 23.11.2025 23min

  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 09.11.2025 18min

  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 26.10.2025 42min

  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 12.10.2025 23min

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