Best Peter Adamson Jonardon Ganeri Chike Jeffers Podcasts (2025)

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HPC 36. Fishing for Complements: Polarities in Daoism 17:48

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27m ago17:48

17:48

The significance of the Laozi’s use of opposing pairs, which are treated as complementary rather as exclusive dichotomies.By Peter Adamson, Jonardon Ganeri, Chike Jeffers

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HPC 35. Way Better than Greenwashing: Daoism on Nature 21:30

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The Laozi (Daodejing) refers to the winds, the rain and the waters. We discuss how these ideas express the Laozi’s views on nature.By Peter Adamson, Jonardon Ganeri, Chike Jeffers

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HPC 34. You Don’t Say! the Dao That Cannot Be Told 23:31

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The first rule of dao is: don’t talk about dao. We do so nonetheless, focusing on its role in metaphysics and language.By Peter Adamson, Jonardon Ganeri, Chike Jeffers

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HPC 33. Let Us Count the Ways: What is Daoism? 18:14

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What does “Daoism” refer to in a range of contexts, and how have excavated texts changed our understanding of the tensions between Daoism and Confucianism?By Peter Adamson, Jonardon Ganeri, Chike Jeffers

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HPC 32. Chris Fraser on Mohism 35:15

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We conclude our series on Mohism with an interview that looks at the Mohists' dialectic and its relationship to their ethics.By Peter Adamson, Jonardon Ganeri, Chike Jeffers

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HPC 31. Push and Pull: Mohist Dialectic 22:48

3M ago22:48

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Later Mohists explained in the Canons how to provide compelling philosophical arguments, and how to avoid mistakes in argumentation. Does this count as “logic”?By Peter Adamson, Jonardon Ganeri, Chike Jeffers

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HPC 30. Horse of a Different Color: the Mohists on Language and Knowledge 22:40

4M ago22:40

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What Mohist dialectics and Gongsun Long’s “White Horse Not Horse” argument tell us about the connection between language and knowledge.By Peter Adamson, Jonardon Ganeri, Chike Jeffers

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HPC 29. Ghost Writers: the Mohists on Religion 18:31

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Did Mozi tell people that ghosts exist and that we can change our fate because he thought these things are true, or because it would be beneficial for people to believe them?By Peter Adamson, Jonardon Ganeri, Chike Jeffers

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HPC 28. Ting Mien Lee on Mohism and Confucianism 29:55

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An interview on the contrasting views of Mohists and Confucians on ethical duties and warfare.By Peter Adamson, Jonardon Ganeri, Chike Jeffers

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HPC 27. Give Peace a Chance: the Mohists on War and Politics 19:13

6M ago19:13

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How the Mohist principle of “inclusive care” leads to political order and (mostly) forbids the fighting of wars.By Peter Adamson, Jonardon Ganeri, Chike Jeffers

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HPC 26. Culture Wars: Mohist and Confucian Debates 18:38

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Disagreements between the Mohists and the Confucians: is seeking benefits the right way to approach life? What motivates us to act morally, care for our loved ones or a doctrine of impartiality?By Peter Adamson, Jonardon Ganeri, Chike Jeffers

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HPC 25. Benefit, Then Stop: Mohism and Impartial Care 20:34

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How did the Mohists establish their consequentialist ethic of “impartial care (jian ’ai)”? Was this theory ultimately grounded in the will of Heaven?By Peter Adamson, Jonardon Ganeri, Chike Jeffers

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HPC 24. Measuring Up: Mohist philosophy 20:19

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An introduction to the Mozi, the founding text of an anti-elitist school of thought that tests social and political practices by the measure of “benefit.”By Peter Adamson, Jonardon Ganeri, Chike Jeffers

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HPC 23. Amy Olberding on Confucian Ethics 35:24

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In our final episode on classical Confucianism, our interview guest tells us about the surprising moral depth of the concept of "etiquette"By Peter Adamson, Jonardon Ganeri, Chike Jeffers

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HPC 22. Inside Job: Women in Confucianism 18:18

8M ago18:18

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Can classical Confucianism be redeemed from its reputation for rigidly hierarchical thinking when it comes to the relationship between men and women?By Peter Adamson, Jonardon Ganeri, Chike Jeffers

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HPC 21. Sor-Hoon Tan on Confucian Democracy 38:34

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Can classical Confucian ideas be adapted to produce a theory of democracy fit for today's world?By Peter Adamson, Jonardon Ganeri, Chike Jeffers

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HPC 20. Heaven Can Wait: Ritual and Religion in Confucianism 19:38

9M ago19:38

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Were Confucian ideas about Heaven, ritual, and fate driven by a religious attitude, or a naturalistic one?By Peter Adamson, Jonardon Ganeri, Chike Jeffers

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HPC 19. The Kingly Way: Confucian Political Philosophy 20:30

9M ago20:30

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Mengzi and Xunzi show that a Confucian political theory need not be idealistic.By Peter Adamson, Jonardon Ganeri, Chike Jeffers

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HPC 18. Erica Brindley on Music and the Cosmos in Confucianism 29:42

10M ago29:42

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An interview about the "resonant cosmos" in early Confucianism, and the role played by music in linking sages to the universe.By Peter Adamson, Jonardon Ganeri, Chike Jeffers

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HPC 17. Knowing Me, Knowing You: Confucian Epistemology 18:24

10M ago18:24

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The role of knowing in Confucian ethics: should it be understood as “knowing how,” or even “knowing to,” rather than “knowing that”?By Peter Adamson, Jonardon Ganeri, Chike Jeffers

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HPC 16. To Become or Not to Become: the Confucians on Our Moral Natures 24:01

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Morality is what makes us humans, for the Confucians. But does morality come from inside us, outside us, or both?By Peter Adamson, Jonardon Ganeri, Chike Jeffers

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HPC 15. Flexing Your Moral Muscles: Xunzi on Moral Cultivation 22:00

11M ago22:00

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Xunzi, a thinker who shaped the course of Confucian philosophy by showing how deliberate effort can overcome our wicked natural tendencies.By Peter Adamson, Jonardon Ganeri, Chike Jeffers

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HPC 14. Every Man for Himself: Virtue and the Body 21:18

12M ago21:18

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Several ancient Chinese texts speak of an egoist and hedonist known as Yang Zhu: did he pose a coherent challenge to the Confucians and other ethicists?By Peter Adamson, Jonardon Ganeri, Chike Jeffers

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HPC 13. The Trembling Ox: Mengzi and the Compassionate Heart 22:29

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In the Mengzi, the text that bears his name, Mengzi ("Mencius") holds that the human heart-mind is the wellspring of goodness.By Peter Adamson, Jonardon Ganeri, Chike Jeffers

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HPC 12. Gentlemen’s Agreement: Confucian Virtue Ethics 26:18

1y ago26:18

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Should the remarkable parallels between Aristotelian and Confucian ethics lead us to classify Confucianism as a type of “virtue ethics”?By Peter Adamson, Jonardon Ganeri, Chike Jeffers