HKU Moodle

What justifies political authority? By what means should rulers govern? What is the proper role of government? What is the proper relation between people and the state? To what extent can the state justifiably exert control over people? These are among the central issues in political philosophy that attracted the attention of influential Chinese thinkers throughout history. This course guides students in reading, interpreting, and evaluating primary sources in traditional Chinese political thought from the classical, medieval, and late imperial periods. We devote special attention to the distinctive character of central issues in Chinese political thought, such as debates over the role of formal standards versus that of moral character, the interplay between institutions and ethical discretion, the role of education versus legal coercion, and the advantages of centralized versus local administration.

Readings may include selections from the “Shào Announcement 召誥,” Guǎnzǐ 管子, Mòzǐ 墨子, Analects 論語, Mèngzǐ 孟子, Xúnzǐ 荀子, Dàodéjīng 道德經, Zhuāngzǐ 莊子, Hánfēizǐ 韓非子, Yán Tiě Lùn 鹽鐵論, Guō Xiàng 郭象, Bào Jìng Yán 鮑敬言, Oūyáng Xiū 歐陽修, Chéng Yí 程頤, Wáng Ānshí 王安石, Chéng Hào 程顥, Zhāng Zǎi 張載, Hú Hóng 胡宏, Chén Liàng 陳亮, Fāng Xiàorú 方孝孺, Gù Yánwǔ 顧炎武, Huáng Zōngxī 黄宗羲, and Táng Zhēn 唐甄.

Class meetings will focus mainly on discussion of primary texts, with less than one-half of the time devoted to lecture. A major aim of the course is for students to engage directly in interpreting and exploring the implications of the primary texts. The course presupposes no prior knowledge of Chinese philosophy or the Chinese language. For students who do read Chinese, bilingual materials will be provided for all primary source readings.

This is a lecture and discussion course that explores selected topics in Chinese philosophy, varying in topic from year to year. The 2024 version of the course will guide students in close study of primary source texts reflecting the content and significance of the debate over the role of people’s nature (xìng) in pre-Qín ethics and moral psychology. The course will examine the origins of the debate as reflected in discussions in Lǚ’s Annals and the Zhuāngzǐ “primitivist” writings. We will look briefly at the concept of xìng in the Guō Diàn manuscripts and then move on to discuss how passages in Mèngzǐ appear to be responding to the sorts of views found in the Annals and primitivism. We will then explore the development of Xunzian discourse on people’s nature as a response to both primitivist and Mencian ideas. Finally, we will consider whether the Zhuāngzǐ and Huáinánzǐ present a further “Daoist” development of xìng discourse. We will also consider the underlying question of to what extent, if any, appeals to xìng can ground or constrain normative claims. Class time will be divided roughly evenly between lecture and discussion. Students may be asked to take turns leading discussion. 

本課程旨在涵蓋傳統中國政治實踐中所涉及到的幾個重要的歷史面向，包括政府制度與組織、王權的集中與消亡、地方政府如何維持法治與秩序、以及民族的融合等。其中探討的主要議題有：不同政治制度的有效性、代表性的治術與經世思想、中央與地方社會的依存關係，以及對於少數民族的統治政策等。

上課內容包括每週的講課 (lectures) 和學期中一共四次的討論課 (tutorials)，以廣泛閱讀和討論文本，並佐以影片賞析和田野考察等教學方式來加強學習效果。