Origins of Moral-Political Philosophy in Early China: Contestation of Humaneness, Justice, and Personal Freedom

A remarkable and fascinating tour of Classical Chinese philosophy up until the end of the Warring States period, from Confucious to Han Feizi. Tao Jiang tracks the fate of ideas of humaneness, justice, and personal freedom in the Confucian, Daoist, and Fajia philosophers and how these ideas evolved and influenced each other over time. These ideas were formed during an era of great human suffering and political turmoil during the Warring States period and its final denuement with the emergence of the centralized imperial bureaucratic state. Different Chinese thinkers imagine different solutions to the existential problems of the day—some emphasizing personal cultivation of virtue, some universalized forms of justice, some how these universalized forms of justice might be institutionalized in the emerging bureaucractic state, and Zhuangzi, off on his own, imagining cultivating a personal space of freedom within and outside the confines of the state. Tai Jiang also traces the evolution of ideas concerning Heaven and the Dao during this period how these ideas also influence moral-political thought. The book ends with an exploration of Isaiah Berlin's two types of freedom, and how his work illuminates some limitations in Classical Chinese ideas regarding positive and negative freedom and the cult of sages and self-development. Tao Jiang spent 15 years on developing and writing this treatise, and all that work pays off. He displays a deep aquaintance with these classical texts, an encyclopedic knowledge of the Chinese and Anglophone scholarly research on them, and an appreciation for all the complexities involved in interpreting received texts that evolved over time and whose true origins are shrouded in the dim historical past.

This is an excellent book if you want to learn about pre-modern Chinese philosophies. This book is structured in a way to take you through each thinker with historical context, and it does a wonderful job of comparing thinkers to one another so you can see how thoughts around humaness, justice, human nature, etc... develop over time. The way the chapters are structured weaves a narrative that keeps it fresh and intriguing.Jiang also includes plenty of supporting evidence from the original texts as well as perspectives and interpretations given by other scholars in addition his own opinions and interpretation which adds depth to the book. There is a lot of information, but it is not overwhelming. A summary is provided at the beginning and end of each thinker/chapter to tie the flesh of the chapter together.All in all, the amount of information, detail, and care taken to write this book makes it well worth the price. I would highly recommend this book for someone who wants to learn beyond the surface level about these thinkers but does not want too deep of a dive on any one thinker in particular.

First, I am am an amateur rather than a scholar. I haven't read the entire work yet, but more the section pertaining to the Fajia or "Legalists". Albeit with an undoubtedly common Grahamist gloss, Tao Jiang's recollection of works ultimately add to accuracy and clarity of the subject for the future. Although I don't personally regard Tao Jiang's exploration as completely accurate, in part seeing as the Fajia are a dead subject, the same could be said for any exploratory work. I give it five stars for resurrecting the subject. I haven't had this much fun in ages, and I hope that you do also.

A brilliant survey of the landscape of early Chinese philosophy. Beautifully written. Completely recommend for anyone with even a passing interest in early Chinese thought.