This introduction to Chinese philosophy is offered as a substantive
overview to a vast and far-reaching tradition. If we do indeed mark
the beginning of Chinese philosophy at 1500 years bce and bring
it to the present day, it represents the longest continuous heritage
of philosophical reflection among human beings. Trying to mention
each philosopher in this enduring tradition is an impossible task in an
introduction such as this. In fact, even covering every significant thinker
is not possible. So, by necessity, I have been selective, choosing those
philosophers who are most representative of the key contributions
Chinese philosophy can make to the conversation of world philosophy.
I have not tried to equalize the number of words given to each
philosopher. Neither have I tried to choose a thinker to represent
every historical period of Chinese philosophy. In fact, I propose no
periodization of China’s philosophical reflection in this work, since it
is an introduction, not a history of Chinese philosophy. I have selected
those thinkers who actually advance the conversation of philosophy.
Sometimes, this means I have selected several thinkers from roughly
the same period, while some historical eras have no representative on
a particular question. Likewise, some philosophers make significant
contributions on a given topic and contribute almost no real advance
in the conversation on others.