Hocbigg - Chinese Philosophy
Contents
Summary
The Chinese Philosophy curriculum is a complete education in Chinese Philosophy using online materials.
Organization
This repository is organized into three main components:
- Core Curriculum (this page): the foundational knowledge of the field;
- Advanced Topics: focused study in specific areas;
- Projects: support learning through practical application throughout the curriculum.
Process: Learners may work through the curriculum independently or collaboratively, and either sequentially or selectively.
- For simplicity, courses in the Core Curriculum are ordered according to their prerequisites.
- The Core Curriculum provides a shared foundation and is intended to be completed in full.
- Advanced Topics are optional; learners are encouraged to select one area of focus and complete all courses within that topic.
Practical work is integrated through the Projects section and may be undertaken alongside coursework.
Note: When there are courses or books that don't fit into the curriculum but are otherwise of high quality, they belong in extras/courses, extras/readings.
Communities
- r/ChinesePhilosophy
- You can also interact through GitHub issues. If there is a problem with a course, or a change needs to be made to the curriculum, this is the place to start the conversation. Read more here.
-
Join our Discord server (for discussions around this and other curricula):
Curriculum
- Orientation
- Historical & Textual Foundations
- The Classical Philosophical Schools Warring States
- Cosmology & Natural Philosophy
- Neo-Confucian Metaphysics
How to use this curriculum
Core
These sections form the backbone of the field. Complete them in the numbered order below before moving to any specialization. They give you the historical context, key texts, and major schools needed to understand Chinese philosophy as a coherent tradition.
I. Orientation: What “Chinese Philosophy” Is: Start here. It prevents common misunderstandings right from the beginning.
II. Historical & Textual Foundations: Extremely important. Learn how the classical Chinese language works and how texts were written, transmitted, and interpreted. Without this foundation, primary texts in later sections will be much harder to read meaningfully.
III. The Classical Philosophical Schools (Warring States): The heart of the tradition. Study all four subsections (Confucianism, Daoism, Mohism, Legalism) in any order within this section, but do not skip any of them.
IV. Cosmology & Natural Philosophy: Builds directly on the classical schools and is necessary to understand almost everything that comes after the Warring States period.
Neo-Confucian Metaphysics: The mature synthesis of the entire tradition up to the Song–Ming period. This is the high point of classical Chinese philosophical thinking for most modern readers.
Once you have completed sections I → IV → VIII in that sequence, you will have a coherent, well-rounded undergraduate-level grasp of Chinese philosophy.
Orientation
What “Chinese Philosophy” Is
| Subject | Resource |
|---|---|
| What is Philosophy Across Cultures? | Bryan Van Norden, Taking Back Philosophy (free borrow/scan available on Internet Archive) |
| How Chinese philosophy differs methodologically | Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP): “Chinese Philosophy” (Note: SEP has multiple related entries; this links to a core overview) |
| Historical Periodization of Early China | SEP: “Warring States Period” (contextual entry covering the era) |
Historical & Textual Foundations
You must understand how Chinese texts work before reading them philosophically.
A. Classical Chinese Language (Minimal Literacy)
Purpose: To understand why words like dao, li, ren, qi have no single English equivalent.
| Subject | Resource |
|---|---|
| How Classical Chinese Works | Harvard Chinese Linguistics site: “Classical Chinese Grammar Notes” (related Harvard resources; direct notes may require site navigation) |
B. How Chinese Texts Are Interpreted
| Subject | Resource |
|---|---|
| Commentarial tradition | |
| Textual transmission & canon | SEP: “Chinese Classics” (related SEP entry on classics/context) |
C. Early Chinese History & Thought World
| Subject | Resource |
|---|---|
| Political & ritual context | Mark Edward Lewis, The Early Chinese Empires: Qin and Han (borrow/preview on Internet Archive) |
| Cosmology & ritual order | SEP: “Heaven (Tian) in Chinese Philosophy” (contextual SEP entry on Tian/heaven) |
The Classical Philosophical Schools (Warring States)
A. Confucianism
| Thinker | Core Text |
|---|---|
| Confucius | Analects (Slingerland or Ames & Rosemont, Amazon) (Ames & Rosemont philosophical translation available on Internet Archive) |
| Mencius | Mencius (Penguin Classics) (borrow/scan on Internet Archive) |
| Xunzi | Xunzi: The Complete Text (Princeton) (borrow/preview on Internet Archive) |
Free supplements: SEP entries on Confucius, Mencius, Xunzi (search SEP directly).
B. Daoism
| Thinker | Core Text |
|---|---|
| Laozi | Daodejing (Ames & Hall translation) (philosophical translation on Internet Archive) |
| Zhuangzi | Zhuangzi: Essential Writings (Ziporyn or Watson) (Ziporyn essential edition borrow on Internet Archive) |
C. Mohism
| Subject | Resource |
|---|---|
| Ethics, logic, science | Mozi: A Complete Translation (full bilingual edition on Internet Archive) |
| Free background | SEP “Mohism” |
D. Legalism
| Subject | Resource |
|---|---|
| Political philosophy | Paul Goldin, Envisioning Eternal Empire (related academic access) |
| Free background | SEP “Legalism in Chinese Philosophy” |
Cosmology & Natural Philosophy
Chinese philosophy treats nature, morality, and politics as one system.
| Topic | Resource |
|---|---|
| Yin–Yang & Five Phases | Robin Wang, Yinyang (SEP contextual entry) |
| Qi and cosmological process | SEP “Qi” (integrated in metaphysics entry) |
| Heaven, Earth, and order | SEP “Tian (Heaven)” |
Neo-Confucian Metaphysics
This is the mature Chinese philosophical system.
| Thinker | Resource |
|---|---|
| Zhu Xi | A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy (Chan Wing-tsit) (borrow on Internet Archive) |
| Wang Yangming | Same Source Book |
| Free background | IEP “Neo-Confucianism” |