A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy covers the entire historical development of Chinese philosophy from its ancient origins to today, providing the most wide-ranging and authoritative English-language anthology of Chinese thought available. This superb book brings together key selections from all the great thinkers and schools in every period—ancient, medieval, modern, and contemporary—and presents these texts in their entirety. Each selection is accompanied by explanatory aids and scholarly documentation that shed invaluable light on all aspects of Chinese thought.
Featuring elegant and faithful translations of some of the most important classical writings, some translated here for the first time, A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy is an indispensable resource for students, scholars, and anyone interested in Chinese philosophy and culture.
Wing-tsit Chan (1901–1994) was the Anna R. D. Gillespie Professor of Philosophy at Chatham University and professor emeritus of Chinese philosophy and culture at Dartmouth College.
"[E]normous chunks of the philosophers, and the commentary reduced to the essential minimum. Mr Chan's theme is Chinese humanism, because this is the unavoidable theme of Chinese philosophy in nearly all ages. Heroically he has translated his philosophers himself, with the result that for the first time the entire map is seen through a consistent eye. 'Source Book': no. Please look on it instead as a massive and superb anthology."—Robert Payne, Saturday Review
"[Mr. Chan's] brilliant scholarship has enabled him to strike a balance between modern, medieval and ancient periods as well as between Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism, and for the first time a leading Chinese scholar has carefully weighed the influences and importance's as well as the themes of many of the Chinese philosophers."—John Coombes, Columbus Enquirer
"[T]he Neo-Confucian translations in particular are the most reliable yet made, and show a familiarity with classical allusions, early colloquial idiom and the turns of Neo-Confucian thought which no Western translator can hope to emulate."—A. C. Graham, Journal of the American Oriental Society
"[T]he volume is virtually an encyclopedia."—Journal of Bible and Religion
“Indispensable to western students of Chinese philosophy.”—Times Literary Supplement
“Chan’s theme is Chinese humanism, because this is the unavoidable theme of Chinese philosophy in nearly all ages. Heroically he has translated his philosophers himself, with the result that for the first time the entire map is seen through a consistent eye. ‘Source Book’: no. Please look on it instead as a massive and superb anthology.”—Robert Payne, Saturday Review
“[Chan’s] brilliant scholarship has enabled him to strike a balance between modern, medieval and ancient periods as well as between Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism, and for the first time a leading Chinese scholar has carefully weighed the influences and importance as well as the themes of many of the Chinese philosophers.”—John Coombes, Columbus Enquirer
“The Neo-Confucian translations in particular are the most reliable yet made, and show a familiarity with classical allusions, early colloquial idiom and the turns of Neo-Confucian thought which no Western translator can hope to emulate.”—A. C. Graham, Journal of the American Oriental Society
“The volume is virtually an encyclopedia.”—Journal of Bible and Religion
