Podcast
History of Philosophy: India, Africana, China
Peter Adamson teams up with Jonardon Ganeri, Chike Jeffers, and Karyn Lai to represent the philosophical traditions of ancient India, Africa and the African diaspora, and classical China. Website: www.historyofphilosophy.net.
- Philosophy chart
- #75
- Episodes
- 268
- Releases
- Every two weeks
- Typical length
- 21 min
- On air since
- 2015
- Latest episode
- 3 days ago
Episodes
268 episodes, newest first
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24 min
HPC 63. The Match Game: Correlative Cosmology
Episode 242
Show notes
Why did philosophers in the Han period find it so illuminating to identify correlations and correspondences between natural phenomena and human affairs?
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26 min
HPC 62. Just Going Through a Phase: Han Metaphysics
Episode 241
Show notes
Accounts of the underlying natures of things in the Han period, focusing on the concepts of qi, yin-yang, and the “five phases.”
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28 min
HPC 61. The Cosmos in Motion: Han Dynasty Philosophy
Episode 240
Show notes
An overview of Han Dynasty philosophy: its attention to change, its views on the cosmos, resonances across the myriad things, and the tripartite relation between Heaven, Earth and humanity, all within the political context of the Han.
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31 min
HPC 60. Alice Yao on Han Archeology
Episode 239
Show notes
What can archeological finds tell us about the political and intellectual culture of Han China? We find out from an expert in the field (literally).
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19 min
HPC 59. Forget Me Not: Han History Writing
Episode 238
Show notes
How historians like Sima Qian and Ban Gu have shaped our understanding of ancient Chinese history, including the history of philosophy.
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19 min
HPC 58. Historical Fiction? Texts in the Han
Episode 237
Show notes
How were the texts of the Han dynasty different from those in the Warring States period? How historical circumstances shaped philosophical writing, and how texts in turn shaped Han political culture.
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18 min
HPC 57. Rise and Fall, and Rise and Fall: the Han Dynasty
Episode 236
Show notes
The relationship between philosophy and politics in the Han Dynasty, focusing on the example of Huang-Lao, a typically “eclectic” tradition of thought.
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34 min
HPC 56. Yuri Pines on Legalism
Episode 231
Show notes
An interview about fa-thinkers like Shang Yang and Han Feizi, exploring their relationship to the Qin dynasty and to other schools of thought.
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21 min
HPC 55. More Gain, Less Pain: the Legalists on Human Nature
Episode 235
Show notes
Did the fa-thinkers recognize that human beings natural have moral capacities or dispositions? How did they try to manipulate human nature?
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20 min
HPC 54. Learning to Unlearn: Han Feizi and Confucianism
Episode 234
Show notes
Does Han Feizi’s focus on “standards” allow him to provide a more realistic political theory than the Confucian focus on moral cultivation?
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23 min
HPC 53. A Worm Riding Clouds: Standards, Strategy and Power in the Han Feizi
Episode 233
Show notes
The Han Feizi and its “three pillars” of Legalist philosophy: fa (standards), shu (strategy), and shi (positional power).
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18 min
HPC 52. The Empire State: the Qin Dynasty
Episode 232
Show notes
Was the short-lived Qin empire, which unified China to put an end to the Warring States period, Legalism in action?
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21 min
HPC 51. Standard Bearers: What is “Legalism"?
Episode 227
Show notes
The “fa-thinkers” Shang Yang and Han Feizi encourage the rigorous application of “standards,” including law, reward, and punishment.
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59 min
HPC 50. Bryan Van Norden on Warring States Philosophy
Episode 230
Show notes
To celebrate reaching 50 episodes in this series, Karyn and Peter both chat to a leading scholar of Warring States philosophy.
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29 min
HPC 49. Hans-Georg Moeller on the Zhuangzi
Episode 229
Show notes
An interview on humor and amoral ethics in a Daoist classic, the Zhuangzi - and its relation to Confucianism and Legalism.
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16 min
HPC 48. Off the Beaten Path: Wandering in the Zhuangzi
Episode 228
Show notes
How is it possible to walk two roads simultaneously? And where does wandering lead us?
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18 min
HPC 47. Live and Let Die: the Zhuangzi on Death
Episode 226
Show notes
Why does the Zhuangzi tell us that death is nothing to fear, to the point that it recommends celebrating the death of loved ones?
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18 min
HPC 46. Turning the Tables: Confucius in the Zhuangzi
Episode 225
Show notes
How are we to make sense of the different images of Kongzi (Confucius) in the Zhuangzi?
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21 min
HPC 45. Practice Makes Perfect: Skill Stories in the Zhuangzi
Episode 224
Show notes
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.
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19 min
HPC 44. Like a Fish Out of Water: Animal Stories in the Zhuangzi
Episode 223
Show notes
The many stories about animals in the Zhuangzi encourage us to adopt a perspective that goes beyond the human point of view.
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