Features
- Cover Type: Paperback with 516 pages
- Published by: Open Court Publishing Company April 1, 1989
- Written in: English
- ISBN 10 Number: 0812690885
- ISBN 13 Number: 978-0812690880
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Book Dimensions:
9 x 6 x 1.1 inches
- Weighs: 1.6 pounds
Product Description
Describes the classical age of Chinese philosophy (500-200 B.C.) that coincides with the final decline of the Chou empire and the period of 'warring states' (403-221 B.C.), an exceptional era in Chinese history when there was no central authority which could claim to rule the entire civilized world. In the absence of a single unified state power enforcing conformity, there blossomed a hundred schools of thought. Philosophical argument and rational debate flourished in China as never before or since.
Reader ReviewsA. C. Graham's "Disputers of the Tao" is an excellent introduction to pre-Qin philosophical argumentation. I would highly recommend it for personal study; it would serve well as a textbook for an advanced-level seminar in Chinese thought. The chapter on "The Cosmologists" has a thought-provoking response to the oft-debated question of why, after such a promising, world-leading start in science, the Chinese fell behind the West in later centuries of the Common Era. My major criticism of this book is that the editing could have been a lot tighter: there are a number of inelegant and often nearly incomprehensible sentences. Perhaps it was thought to honor Professor Graham by giving him free rein to his personal expression, but if so, that was a mistake. Otherwise, this is a wonderful book.
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