Introduction to Classical Chinese Philosophy

I just finished Bryan Van Norden's book Introduction to Classical Chinese Philosophy: and to make a long review short: it's highly recommended!I bought the book a few years ago, after the author and I became mutual followers on Twitter, having discovered some of his tweets. Even though, as someone who researches Chinese issues, I felt I had a decent grasp of the main ideas of many of the philosophical schools, but I thought the book might help fill in some of the holes. However, due to the fact that I own more books than I can read, the book sat on my bookshelf collecting dust, until I started to dig deeper into a book on Neo-Confucianism (the Chinese version of Peter K. Bol's Neo-Confucianism in History), and wanted to refresh myself on Confucian thinkers.In any case, the book goes over the major schools in the Eastern Zhou dynasty, with chapters as the following: 1. The Historical Context; 2. Kongzi and Confucianism; 3. Kongzi and Virtue Ethics; 4. Mohist Consequentialism; 5. Yang Zhu and Egoism; 6. Mengzi and Human Naure; 7. Language and Paradox in the "School of Names"; 8. The Daodejing and Mysticism; 9. Zhuangzi's Therapeutic Skepticism and Relativism; 10. Xunzi's Confucian Naturalism; 11. Han Feizi; 12. Later Chinese Thought.The content of each thinker is skillfully and empathetically presented, and subsequently critiqued. One of Van Norden's strengths is writing in a simple and straightforward manner but without being simplistic.Van Norden is now perhaps most well known as an advocate for greater diversity in (still predominately Euo-centric) philosophy departments in the West, and indeed, some of his passionate views are indirectly on display here. These Chinese thinkers are not presented in an esoteric, Orientalist fashion, but instead, while situating the thinkers in their particular historical context, Van Norden also often compares and contrasts their ideas with ideas generated in the West, such as how wisdom varies in the philosophies of Confucius and Aristotle, or how South Park's Cartman can help us critique the psychological egoism that could be associated with Yang Zhu, These lively comparisons help make the book quite entertaining. In general, I enjoyed the book the most in the author's explanation of the subtleties in Mengzi views of human nature as positive and in showing how viewing Zhuangzi's work through a therapeutic lens can hold various seemingly contradictory strands together. Of course, this is just an introductory book, and some may say that not everything is covered, or to the depth that some may desire. However, the author's suggestions for further reading look like a helpful guide to further studies.Overall, highly recommended.

Really good book, used it in class. As far as text books go it was very engaging for me (who is familiar with Chinese culture and history but not philosophy), and the guy who sits next to me (who is very familiar with philosophy but not Chinese culture or history).The books is good as a standalone, but to get full use of the books you must also use "Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy" by Van Norden and Ivanhoe.

I really enjoyed reading this book. This is the first one I read about Chinese Philosophy. As a beginner in the topic, I wanted something easy to digest/grasp. I found the information very insightful, detailed, and broad.Each chapter comes with exercises in the end regarding what's read, I found that interesting. Although I rarely stopped to answer them, I think it is important to make sure we answer it so that we can have an idea of what we really got from the reading. That's something I plan to do in my next reading of this book.I didn't give 5 stars because I thought it was way too broad sometimes. The timeline was very well explained but I missed some correlation with worlds events. For people who are starting out in Chisene Philosophy, specially from the west, we can't relate or understand well if context is not given in regard to our understanding of what happened around here.But a nice read indeed! :)

Having read the works of several western philosophers I felt it important to read some works by eastern philosophers the more so because I have lived in the east for much of my life and many of my graduate students are from the east. This book makes a comfortable introduction to the scope and major players in eastern philosophy.John BarnesBangkok

Scholarly yet accessible, Professor Van Norden has provided clear perspectives on the Classical Chinese Tradition. Perhaps his greatest service is the thoughtfulness and skill in which the material is organized, with useful back matter and study questions for the independent reader. Highly recommended.

Great read for beginners in Chinese thought like myself. Found it easy to understand the concepts and I always want to read more and find out more! Definitely gonna re-read it again just to stick the info into my memory. Very interesting stuff I've always wanted to know about.

Excellent as a companion to Ivanhoe's Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy. This book gives the backgrounds of the philosophers and their time periods. It goes a long way in making the meanings of the various readings understandable with concrete examples in Western terms.

I thought this book was easy to understand and had interesting information about classical Chinese philosophers and their philosophies. It really was an introduction though, so if you already know a lot about philosophy this might not be the right book for you.

Nicely written, understandable, interesting, engaging

The book really presents in an easily way some of the fundamental early Chinese Philosopher. Also, it comes with some extra information related with the hermeneutics of symbols and a little of Chinese references to deepens your study.

I bought this book as a companion to a course on edx.org on Early Chinese thought... which was a really excellent course. This book was a most helpful resource and I would highly recommend it to anyone wanting to get an overview of this most fascinating subject. I have studied western philosophy and I have to say I think the early Chinese were 2 millennia ahead of the west in their considerations on ethics and human psychology.

Good book. Thank you