Please choose one of the following philosophers of early China:
Confucius (Kongzi), Mozi, Laozi, Mencius (Mengzi), Xunzi, Han Feizi, or Zhuangzi.
In an essay of between 1,700 and 1,800 (including footnotes, but excluding bibliography) you should introduce the thinker and his works, explain the main strands of his thought and contextualise this against the background of the political situation of the Eastern Zhou.
Particular attention should be paid to the sources that exist for reconstructing the thought of your chosen philosopher. See Loewe, Michael, ed. Early Chinese Texts: A Bibliographical Guide. Berkeley: The Society for the Study of Early China (Institute of East Asian Studies), University of California, 1993.
Suggested bibliography:
Graham, Angus, Disputers of the Tao: Philosophical Argument in Ancient China. LaSalle: Open Court, 1989.
Liu, JeeLoo. An Introduction to Chinese Philosophy: From Ancient Philosophy to Chinese Buddhism. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Publishing, 2006.
Nivison, David. 1999 “The Classical Philosophical Writings’ in The Cambridge History of Ancient China: From the Origins of Civilization to 221 B.C., 124-231. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Schwartz, Benjamin, The World of Thought in Ancient China. Cambridge MA: Belknap Press, 1985.

Category: Essays