ABSTRACT

It is both discouraging and encouraging that the Routledge Companion contains this one chapter of 6,000 words on Chinese political philosophy. It is discouraging because, unlike Western political philosophy in which each important figure gets an individual chapter, the entirety of Chinese political philosophy gets only one chapter. But it is encouraging because there is at least one chapter on Chinese political philosophy. For some-perhaps many more a decade or more ago-might think that there is no such thing as “Chinese political philosophy,” and this chapter would thus be already one chapter too many.