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PODCAST

History of Philosophy: India, Africana, China

Peter Adamson, Jonardon Ganeri, Chike Jeffers

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.

society & culture philosophy

All Episodes

28:00

HPC 61. The Cosmos in Motion: Han Dynasty Philosophy

History of Philosophy: India, Africana, China ·

2026/10/04

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.

en

30:37

HPC 60. Alice Yao on Han Archeology

History of Philosophy: India, Africana, China ·

2026/09/20

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).

en

19:04

HPC 59. Forget Me Not: Han History Writing

History of Philosophy: India, Africana, China ·

2026/08/01

How historians like Sima Qian and Ban Gu have shaped our understanding of ancient Chinese history, including the history of philosophy.

en

18:53

HPC 58. Historical Fiction? Texts in the Han

History of Philosophy: India, Africana, China ·

2026/07/19

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.

en

18:11

HPC 57. Rise and Fall, and Rise and Fall: the Han...

History of Philosophy: India, Africana, China ·

2026/07/05

The relationship between philosophy and politics in the Han Dynasty, focusing on the example of Huang-Lao, a typically “eclectic” tradition of thought.

en

33:45

HPC 56. Yuri Pines on Legalism

History of Philosophy: India, Africana, China ·

2026/06/21

An interview about fa-thinkers like Shang Yang and Han Feizi, exploring their relationship to the Qin dynasty and to other schools of thought.

en

20:44

HPC 55. More Gain, Less Pain: the Legalists on Human...

History of Philosophy: India, Africana, China ·

2026/06/07

Did the fa-thinkers recognize that human beings natural have moral capacities or dispositions? How did they try to manipulate human nature?

en

19:42

HPC 54. Learning to Unlearn: Han Feizi and Confucianism

History of Philosophy: India, Africana, China ·

2026/05/24

Does Han Feizi’s focus on “standards” allow him to provide a more realistic political theory than the Confucian focus on moral cultivation?

en

22:51

HPC 53. A Worm Riding Clouds: Standards, Strategy and...

History of Philosophy: India, Africana, China ·

2026/05/10

The Han Feizi and its “three pillars” of Legalist philosophy: fa (standards), shu (strategy), and shi (positional power).

en

18:07

HPC 52. The Empire State: the Qin Dynasty

History of Philosophy: India, Africana, China ·

2026/04/26

Was the short-lived Qin empire, which unified China to put an end to the Warring States period, Legalism in action?

en

21:11

HPC 51. Standard Bearers: What is “Legalism"?

History of Philosophy: India, Africana, China ·

2026/04/12

The “fa-thinkers” Shang Yang and Han Feizi encourage the rigorous application of “standards,” including law, reward, and punishment.

en

59:14

HPC 50. Bryan Van Norden on Warring States Philosophy

History of Philosophy: India, Africana, China ·

2026/03/29

To celebrate reaching 50 episodes in this series, Karyn and Peter both chat to a leading scholar of Warring States philosophy.

en

28:30

HPC 49. Hans-Georg Moeller on the Zhuangzi

History of Philosophy: India, Africana, China ·

2026/03/15

An interview on humor and amoral ethics in a Daoist classic, the Zhuangzi - and its relation to Confucianism and Legalism.

en

16:24

HPC 48. Off the Beaten Path: Wandering in the Zhuangzi

History of Philosophy: India, Africana, China ·

2026/03/01

How is it possible to walk two roads simultaneously? And where does wandering lead us?

en

18:21

HPC 47. Live and Let Die: the Zhuangzi on Death

History of Philosophy: India, Africana, China ·

2026/02/15

Why does the Zhuangzi tell us that death is nothing to fear, to the point that it recommends celebrating the death of loved ones?

en

18:23

HPC 46. Turning the Tables: Confucius in the Zhuangzi

History of Philosophy: India, Africana, China ·

2026/02/01

How are we to make sense of the different images of Kongzi (Confucius) in the Zhuangzi?

en

20:43

HPC 45. Practice Makes Perfect: Skill Stories in the...

History of Philosophy: India, Africana, China ·

2026/01/18

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.

en

18:38

HPC 44. Like a Fish Out of Water: Animal Stories in...

History of Philosophy: India, Africana, China ·

2026/01/04

The many stories about animals in the Zhuangzi encourage us to adopt a perspective that goes beyond the human point of view.

en

32:40

HPC 43 Chiu Wai-Wai on the Zhuangzi and Mohism

History of Philosophy: India, Africana, China ·

2025/12/21

An interview on debates over language and reasoning between the Mohists and the Daoist classic, the Zhuangzi.

en

18:56

HPC 42. A Black and White World: the Zhuangzi on...

History of Philosophy: India, Africana, China ·

2025/12/07

The Zhuangzi’s critique of dogmatic approaches to argumentation and governing the state.

en

61 results

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