Spiritual Geography of Early Chinese Thought

Kelly James Clark is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Ibn Haldun University, Istanbul.Justin Winslett is University Lecturer in Chinese Studies at the University of Sheffield, UK.

• List of TablesIntroductionPart I. High Gods and their Critics1. Heaven and the High God(s) in Early China2. Heaven in the Xunzi, Mozi and Zhuangzi3. The Depersonalization of Heaven?Part II. Gods and “the Philosophers”4. Was Confucius a Theist?5. Mencius on HeavenPart III. Ancestors and Afterlife6. The Soul and the Afterlife7. SacrificePart IV. A Deeper Dive8. The Evolutionary Psychology of Chinese Religion9. Lesser Deities of the Pre-Imperial EraAppendix: The Curious Case of Dong ShongshuNotesBibliographyIndex

Of the many Orientalist myths about China, the idea that the ‘humanist’ early Chinese lacked anything like a Western conception of the supernatural, souls or god(s) is one of the most pernicious. Clark and Winslett’s careful debunking of this misconception is an important and useful corrective.