The Joy of Chinese Philosophy
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ID: 319878
2026
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Abstract
Michael Beaney (畢明安) is best known for his work in the history of analytic philosophy. In recent years, Beaney has extended his research focus to ancient Chinese logic and philosophy, seeking to establish a profound dialogue between Western and Chinese philosophies. He contends that rich analytic traditions exist within ancient Chinese philosophy, which concern themselves with paradoxes, the meaning of language, and the validity of inference. The Joy of Chinese Philosophy focuses on the ‘Dialogue on the Joy of Fish’ (濠梁之辯) at the end of the ‘Autumn Waters’ chapter of the Zhuangzi—a conversation of barely over a hundred characters that has sparked two millennia of debate. The book comprises nine chapters with a highly ingenious structural design. Beaney suggests that readers begin with the two ‘inner’ chapters (Chapters 4 and 5) and then gradually expand outwards. Chapter 4 provides a meticulous conceptual analysis of eight keywords in the dialogue: yóu (遊 – roaming), lè (樂 – joy), chū (出 –coming out), zhī (知 – knowing), běn (本 – root/original), gù (固 – certainly/firmly), ān (安 – how/where), and yú (魚 – fish). It demonstrates the multiple connotations of each Chinese character in classical Chinese and their subtle applications within the dialogue. Chapter 5 systematically examines eight representative interpretations: playful, literary, mystical, contextualist, phenomenological, Western logical, Mohist logical, and species-relativist, before proposing his own ‘connective conceptual analysis’, concerned with the movement not from something to its parts, premises, or paraphrasings but to its connections to appropriate things in the wider whole or system.
| Reference Key |
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| Authors | Zhao Qinghua |
| Journal | The Philosophical Quarterly |
| Year | 2026 |
| DOI |
10.1093/pq/pqag042
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| URL | |
| Keywords | Keywords not found |
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