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318Laozi Through the Lens of the White Rose: Resonance or Dissonance?Oxford German Studies 52 (1): 62-79. 2023.A surprising feature of the White Rose anti-Nazi resistance pamphlets is their appeal to a foundational classical Chinese text, the Laozi (otherwise known as the Daodejing), to buttress their critique of fascism and authoritarianism. I argue that from the perspective of a 1942 educated readership, the act of quoting the Laozi functioned as a subtle and pointed nod to anti-fascist intellectuals in pre-war Germany, many of whom had interpreted the Laozi as an anti-authoritarian and pacifist text. …Read more
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40The Future of the History of PhilosophyThe Philosopher. 2023.One way to scry the future of philosophy is to look at its past. However, the history of philosophy – both as a field of academic study and in more popular literature – tends to tell a rather narrow and parochial story. This story predominantly focuses on Europe to the exclusion of almost everywhere else. The shift away from such a bias has already begun, especially in the specialist history of philosophy literature, but there are still deeply Eurocentric assumptions built into the most influent…Read more
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223Thales – the ‘first philosopher’? A troubled chapter in the historiography of philosophyBritish Journal for the History of Philosophy 30 (5): 727-750. 2022.It is widely believed that the ancient Greeks thought that Thales was the first philosopher, and that they therefore maintained that philosophy had a Greek origin. This paper challenges these assumptions, arguing that most ancient Greek thinkers who expressed views about the history and development of philosophy rejected both positions. I argue that not even Aristotle presented Thales as the first philosopher, and that doing so would have undermined his philosophical commitments and interests. B…Read more
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120Zhuangzi on ‘happy fish’ and the limits of human knowledgeBritish Journal for the History of Philosophy 28 (2): 216-230. 2020.The “happy fish” passage concluding the “Autumn Floods” chapter of the Classical Chinese text known as the Zhuangzi has traditionally been seen to advance a form of relativism which precludes objectivity. My aim in this paper is to question this view with close reference to the passage itself. I further argue that the central concern of the two philosophical personae in the passage – Zhuangzi and Huizi – is not with the epistemic standards of human judgements (the established view since Hansen, …Read more
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Cambridge UniversityFaculty of Philosophy, Peterhouse College
Faculty of ClassicsPost-doctoral Fellow
Sheffield, South Yorkshire, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Areas of Specialization
1 more
Classical Chinese Philosophy |
Classical Daoism, Misc |
Zhuangzi |
Pre-Socratic Philosophy |
Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy |
Parmenides |