The main objective of this volume is to provide a reference book which gives a
systematic, comprehensive, in-depth but accessible, and up-to-date examination of
the major and most important movements of thought that have shaped Chinese
philosophy over the past 3,000 years.
It is organized around a series of significant movements of thought and philosophical
currents in Chinese philosophy, which are classified into four major,
distinctive periods, and the book begins with my introduction to some methodological
issues concerning studies of Chinese philosophy. The main text of the book is made up
of eighteen essays, organized into five parts, which have been written by experts on the
subjects. Generally speaking, each chapter in the main text is intended to fulfill the
four aims and thus consist of the four contents. (1) The author presents an authoritative
and reliable survey of the state of the art of study of the topic or subject under
examination in a balanced and systematic way. (2) At the same time, the author gives
his or her interpretation and critical understanding of the subject matter and interpretation
of the particular issues, which are essential to the integrity and systematic
character of his/her chapter. (3) The author gives reliable English translations (either
by the author him/herself or by someone else) of some significant passages from the
relevant Chinese source texts and literature via in-text citations. (4) The author
presents a bibliography at the end of each chapter that gives a relatively complete but
selective listing of the relevant works.