Podcast Episodes

Episode 29: Shen Dao on Law

Early in Chinese history, a number of political thinkers developed sophisticated arguments for relying on consistent application of laws rather than the personal discretion of political authorities t…

Published on 8 hours ago

Episode 28: Mencius Against Mohist Impartialism

Season 1 Episode 28

In this episode, we continue our exploration of Mohist impartial caring (jian'ai 兼愛) by examining two of Mencius’s most influential objections: (1) the “Without a Father” Argument (Mencius 3B9) and (…

Published on 4 weeks ago

Episode 27: Mohism—Two Arguments for Impartial Caring

Season 2 Episode 27

This episode examines the Mohist doctrine of impartial caring (jian'ai) via two arguments in the Mozi -- the Caretaker Argument and the Filial Piety Argument. We examine the arguments' logical struct…

Published on 1 month, 3 weeks ago

Episode 26: The White Horse Dialogue: Language, Logic, and Categories in Early China

Season 2 Episode 26

According to a speaker in a famous historical dialogue, "A white horse is not a horse." In this episode, we’re joined by Dr. Lisa Indraccolo (Associate Professor, Tallinn University) to unpack one of…

Published on 2 months, 2 weeks ago

Episode 25: Daoist Utopia

Season 2 Episode 25

In this episode, we delve into Chapter 80 of the Daodejing, one of the most vivid portraits of Daoist social ideals. We unpack its vision of a “simple agrarian utopia,” where people live in small com…

Published on 3 months, 1 week ago

Episode 24: Robber Zhi—Honor Among Thieves?

With a big assist from our guest, Stephen C. Walker, we discuss a highly unusual philosophical dialogue in classical Chinese literature, the "Robber Zhi Dialogue" (from the Miscellaneous Chapters of …

Published on 3 months, 3 weeks ago

Episode 23: Confucianism on the Assessment of Character

In this episode, Justin and Richard discuss how historical Confucian philosophers have proposed to recognize people of good moral character (virtue). How, exactly, did they think that we could tell t…

Published on 4 months, 2 weeks ago

Episode 22: The Good Life in the Analects

Season 1 Episode 22

What sort of vision of the good life does Confucius recommend? In this episode, we explore one of the most intriguing passages in the Analects (11.26), where Confucius asks four disciples about their…

Published on 5 months, 1 week ago

Episode 21: Xunzi’s Way—Discovered or Invented?

This episode is our first on the classical Confucian philosopher Xunzi 荀子 (3rd century BCE), who was famous for arguing that human nature is bad and for casting doubt on the more supernatural or supe…

Published on 5 months, 4 weeks ago

Episode 20: Confucianism vs. Buddhism (first "live show")

One influential justification for becoming Buddhist is to end suffering, starting (it seems) with the Buddhist practitioner's own suffering. Does this indicate that Buddhist practitioners are selfish…

Published on 6 months, 2 weeks ago