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Reading Primary Sources in Chinese Philosophy

A Guide

  • Textbook
Reading Primary Sources in Chinese Philosophy cover

Reading Primary Sources in Chinese Philosophy

A Guide

  • Textbook
Quantity
Available on 10 Dec 2026
£13.49

Available for purchase via Bloomsbury etextbooks on publication date

This title is available for inspection copy requests

Description

A practical and succinct reading guide to classic texts in Chinese philosophy.

Organized around a selection of sources ranging across roughly 2,000 years, this is an introduction to thinkers and themes in classical Chinese philosophy. The guide helps readers engage with one of the world's earliest philosophical traditions: it covers texts by the influential philosophers Confucius, Mencius, and Zhuangzi. And it goes beyond them, introducing thinkers well-known in the tradition but less commonly taught in modern Western classrooms: Zhu Xi, Wang Yangming, and Fang Yizhi.

The focus throughout is on how to read the texts. Tackling complex ideas and philosophical concepts, each chapter follows the same format. The historical context appears before the central themes and arguments are discussed. Textual excerpts accompany both close readings and explanation of philosophical reading practices, teaching readers to unpack arguments with textual sensitivity. A glossary and further reading suggestions give additional support.

For anyone coming to Asian philosophy for the first time, here are the skills and tools you need to read and understand major texts in Chinese philosophy.

Accessibility Information

Additional accessibility information

  • EPUB 3.0
  • Conforms with the requirements of EPUB Accessibility Spec v1.1
  • WCAG level AA
  • WCAG v2.2 compliant
  • accessibility@bloomsbury.com

Hazards

The publication contains no hazards

Support for non-visual reading

  • No accessibility features offered by the reading system, device or reading software are disabled or otherwise unusable with the product
  • Has alternative text descriptions for images

Visual adjustments

Appearance of the text and page layout can be modified according to the capabilities of the reading system (font family and size, spaces, as well as color of background and text)

Navigation

  • Page list to go to pages from the print source version
  • Elements such as headings, tables, etc for structured navigation
  • All or substantially all textual matter is arranged in a single logical reading order
  • Content is enhanced with ARIA roles to optimize organization and facilitate navigation
  • Purposes of all links are made clear

Rich content

Language tagging provided

Table of Contents

List of Tables

Contributors

Series Foreword

Acknowledgments

Pronunciation Guide

Timeline

How to Use

This Book

Maps

Introduction

1 Kongzi's Lunyu (Analects), Alba Curry
2 The Mengzi, Derek Lam
3 The Zhuangzi,Aaron B. Creller and Sarah A. Mattice
4 ZhuXi's Daxue (Commentary on the Great Learning), Leah Kalmanson
5 Wang Yangming's 1522 Letter to Lu Yuanjing, Daryl Ooi
6 Fang Yizhi's Yaodi pao Zhuang (The Apothecary Monk Yaodi Concocts a Zhuangzi), John Williams

Glossary
Index

Product details

Bloomsbury Academic Test
Published 10 Dec 2026
Format Ebook (Epub & Mobi)
Edition 1st
Pages 144
ISBN 9781350552524
Imprint Bloomsbury Academic
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Anthology Editor

Malcolm Keating

Malcolm Keating is Associate Professor of Philosop…

Anthology Editor

Eirik Lang Harris

Eirik Lang Harris is Associate Professor of Philos…

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