This course is designed to give students a thorough introduction to early (pre-221 BCE) Chinese thought, its contemporary implications, and the role of religion in human well-being. This period of Chinese history witnessed the formation of all of the major indigenous schools of Chinese thought (Confucianism, Daoism, Mohism and Legalism), which in turn had an impact on the development of East Asian cultural history that is still felt today. We will also explore parallels with Western philosophical and religious traditions, the relevance of early Chinese thought for contemporary debates in ethics, moral education, and political philosophy, and the manner in which early Chinese models of the self-anticipate recent developments in the evolutionary and cognitive sciences.

What you'll learn:

• An empirically-grounded framework for studying other cultures and cultural history

• The origins of early Chinese culture and religion

• Early Confucianism, Daoism and Mohism

• The mid-Warring States “language crisis” and “physiological turn”

• How to analyze philosophical and religious arguments and debates

• Alternative models of ethics, the self, and the individual-society relationship

• The universality and contemporary relevance of basic ethical dilemmas

• The power of spontaneity, and the tensions involved in attaining it

• Religion or spirituality and the role of meaning in human well-being

Taught by Prof. Edward Slingerland, Distinguished University Scholar and Professor of Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia, where he also holds adjunct appointments in Philosophy and Psychology. Revolving enrollment. Please enroll HERE.