A History of Classical Chinese Thought

Li Zehou is widely regarded as one of China’s most influential contemporary thinkers. While known in the Anglophone world for his work in aesthetics, this book is the first English-language translation of Li Zehou’s detailed study of traditional Chinese thought. It includes chapters on the classical Chinese thinkers, including Confucius, Mozi, Laozi, Sunzi, Xunzi, and Zhuangzi, and also on later eras and thinkers such as Dong Zhongshu in the Han dynasty and the Song-Ming Neo-Confucians. The chapters in this book not only discuss these historical figures and their ideas but also consider their historical significance, and how key themes from these early schools shaped later periods and thinkers. The book highlights the breadth of Li Zehou’s scholarship and his syncretic approach. His explanations of prominent thinkers and key periods in Chinese intellectual history blend ideas from the Chinese and Western canons, while also drawing on contemporary thinkers in both traditions. The book also includes an introduction written by the translator that explains key themes in Li Zehou’s work, and its prospects for fostering cross-cultural dialogue with Western philosophy. A History of Chinese Classical Thought will be of interest to advanced students and scholars interested in Chinese philosophy, comparative philosophy, and Chinese intellectual and social history.