
This Is The Way: Chinese Philosophy Podcast
by Richard Kim and Justin Tiwald
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From 11 epsHosts
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Recent episodes
Episode 35: Confucius on Moral Examples
Jun 15, 2026
1h 04m 46s
Episode 34: Deference and Autonomy in Confucian Ethics
May 19, 2026
1h 19m 21s
Episode 33: Carrots, Sticks, and Rituals
Apr 14, 2026
1h 34m 45s
Episode 32: Music Has in It neither Grief nor Joy
Mar 13, 2026
1h 09m 42s
Episode 31: The Great Music Debate -- Mohists vs. Classical Confucians
Feb 8, 2026
1h 13m 07s
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| Date | Episode | Topics | Guests | Brands | Places | Keywords | Sponsor | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6/15/26 | ![]() Episode 35: Confucius on Moral Examples | Confucian philosophers often suggest that having good and bad examples plays a critical role in moral education and motivation. How do good examples figure into our ethical education, and how do bad examples help us discover vices or shortcomings in our selves? In this episode, we discuss this wide-ranging issue in connection with the Analects of Confucius, beginning with Confucius's famous remark that he can find a teacher in just about any social setting (even when out walking with at least... | 1h 04m 46s | ||||||
| 5/19/26 | ![]() Episode 34: Deference and Autonomy in Confucian Ethics✨ | Confucian ethicsmoral autonomy+3 | — | This Is The Way | — | Confucianismautonomy+5 | — | 1h 19m 21s | |
| 4/14/26 | ![]() Episode 33: Carrots, Sticks, and Rituals✨ | corruptionpolitical philosophy+4 | Professor Daniel Bell | University of Hong Kong | — | corruptionXunzi+5 | — | 1h 34m 45s | |
| 3/13/26 | ![]() Episode 32: Music Has in It neither Grief nor Joy✨ | music theoryphilosophy+4 | — | — | — | sad musicemotional response+3 | — | 1h 09m 42s | |
| 2/8/26 | ![]() Episode 31: The Great Music Debate -- Mohists vs. Classical Confucians✨ | musicphilosophy+4 | — | — | — | musicMohists+5 | — | 1h 13m 07s | |
| 1/18/26 | ![]() Episode 30: Confucianism and Reverential Reading✨ | Confucianismreverential reading+3 | — | — | — | Zhu Xireverential attention+3 | — | 1h 26m 19s | |
| 12/25/25 | ![]() Episode 29: Shen Dao on Law✨ | Chinese philosophylegalism+3 | Eirik Lang Harris | Shen Dao | — | Shen DaoChinese Legalism+4 | — | 1h 35m 07s | |
| 11/27/25 | ![]() Episode 28: Mencius Against Mohist Impartialism✨ | MenciusMohist impartial caring+4 | — | Mohist | — | MenciusMohist+5 | — | 1h 26m 16s | |
| 11/4/25 | ![]() Episode 27: Mohism—Two Arguments for Impartial Caring✨ | Mohismimpartial caring+4 | — | Mozi | — | Mohismimpartial caring+4 | — | 1h 02m 43s | |
| 10/11/25 | ![]() Episode 26: The White Horse Dialogue: Language, Logic, and Categories in Early China✨ | Chinese philosophylanguage+4 | Dr. Lisa Indraccolo | Gongsun Longzi | — | White Horse Dialoguelanguage+4 | — | 1h 34m 43s | |
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| 9/18/25 | ![]() Episode 25: Daoist Utopia✨ | Daoismsocial ideals+5 | — | Daodejing | — | DaoismDaodejing+5 | — | 1h 16m 42s | |
| 8/28/25 | ![]() Episode 24: Robber Zhi—Honor Among Thieves?✨ | Chinese philosophyRobber Zhi+3 | Stephen C. Walker | Robber Zhi DialogueZhuangzi | — | Chinese philosophyRobber Zhi+5 | — | 1h 16m 41s | |
| 8/7/25 | ![]() Episode 23: Confucianism on the Assessment of Character | In this episode, Justin and Richard discuss how historical Confucian philosophers have proposed to recognize people of good moral character (virtue). How, exactly, did they think that we could tell the real virtues apart from the phony ones? And what did the historical Confucians think about the use of written examination essays to "test" for virtue? Many thanks to The Hong Kong Ethics Lab for sponsoring this podcast series. Want to continue the discussion? Need links to some of the so... | 1h 06m 44s | ||||||
| 7/18/25 | ![]() Episode 22: The Good Life in the Analects | What sort of vision of the good life does Confucius recommend? In this episode, we explore one of the most intriguing passages in the Analects (11.26), where Confucius asks four disciples about their deepest aspirations. Three students offer increasingly modest political goals—from Zilu's grand vision of governing a besieged state to Zihua's humble wish to serve as a minor functionary in ritual ceremonies. But a fourth student, the musical Zengxi, describes something completely different: a s... | 58m 24s | ||||||
| 6/27/25 | ![]() Episode 21: Xunzi’s Way—Discovered or Invented? | This episode is our first on the classical Confucian philosopher Xunzi 荀子 (3rd century BCE), who was famous for arguing that human nature is bad and for casting doubt on the more supernatural or superstitious justifications for traditional Confucian rituals, among many other things. Since this is the first episode on an important philosopher, we spend some time in part I discussing his "big picture" philosophical worldview. In part II, we turn to the following question: does Xunzi think of th... | 1h 12m 33s | ||||||
| 6/5/25 | ![]() Episode 20: Confucianism vs. Buddhism (first "live show") | One influential justification for becoming Buddhist is to end suffering, starting (it seems) with the Buddhist practitioner's own suffering. Does this indicate that Buddhist practitioners are selfish? After Buddhism became popular in China, many Confucians argued that Buddhism puts personal salvation before ethics, and is thus selfish in that respect. Some Confucians also objected to the particular sort of compassion that Buddhists were supposed to adopt ("unconditioned compassion"), insistin... | 1h 30m 13s | ||||||
| 4/6/25 | ![]() Episode 19: Zhu Xi on the Unity of the Virtues | Today's topic is really about two things. First, it's about the claim that many instantiations of one virtue necessarily come packaged with other virtues. For example, you can't have great humaneness or benevolence in your charitable giving to other people unless you also show a certain amount of ritual respect to them. Second, it's about the view that one virtue in particular -- the virtue of humaneness or good caring (ren 仁) -- is more central or fundamental than the others. The Neo-C... | 1h 26m 29s | ||||||
| 3/8/25 | ![]() Episode 18: Neo-Confucian Metaphysics | Much of the technical philosophy of Confucianism was developed by sophisticated thinkers that came well after the time of Confucius, starting in the Song dynasty. This episode is our first devoted to the foremost of these "Neo-Confucians," Zhu Xi 朱熹 (1130-1200 CE). To help us with this introduction, we are joined by special guest Stephen C. Angle, one of the leading scholars of Neo-Confucianism. Consider a boat: it’s the nature of a boat to move more easily over water and not over land... | 1h 31m 15s | ||||||
| 2/14/25 | ![]() Episode 17: The Mohist State of Nature Argument | In this episode, we delve into the Mozi’s "state of nature argument," a vision of human life before political order and an explanation of how humans left that state. The Mohists were history’s first consequentialists and an important and influential classical school of thought. Were they right about the foundations of political society and government? Join us as we examine the Mohists' most influential moral and political ideas and explore how moral disagreement and self-interest shape politi... | 1h 19m 33s | ||||||
| 1/22/25 | ![]() Episode 16: Zhuangzi on Uselessness | In this episode, we talk about the theme of uselessness in the Zhuangzi, one of the great foundational texts of philosophical Daoism. What exactly determines whether something is useful or useless? Is usefulness largely or fundamentally a matter of perspective? Does the text's apparent recommendation that we be "useless" (in some sense) entail some sort of realism or objectivism about value? We explore these themes together with our guest, Chris Fraser, a major scholar of the Zhuangzi. Many ... | 1h 19m 41s | ||||||
| 1/1/25 | ![]() Episode 15: Ritual in the Analects | It is indisputable that ritual is at the heart of Confucianism—buy why? In this episode we examine Analects 3.17 in which Confucius seems keen to defend a ritual sacrifice of a lamb which his student regards as excessive. We discuss this passage in light of Richard Wollheim's paper, "The Sheep and the Ceremony" which offers a deep and illuminating exploration of this passage and the value of ritual more broadly. We examine questions about the possibility of seeing ritual as intrinsically valu... | 1h 14m 14s | ||||||
| 12/15/24 | ![]() Episode 14: Women in the Analects | In the received version of the Analects, it’s quite apparent that all of Confucius’s disciples were men. So one might wonder: is this an ethics built just for men? Today we are happy to be joined by Professor Erin Cline, Tagliabue Professor at Georgetown University, to discuss this timely issue, focusing on a controversial passage that features the only woman cited by name in the Analects, Nanzi 南子. Professor Cline argues that the conventional reading of this passage is wrong and that a more ... | 1h 04m 34s | ||||||
| 11/19/24 | ![]() Episode 13: Family Before State | Confucianism is well known for prioritizing familial responsibilities and love over other competing demands such as public interest or duties to the state. In this episode we explore two of the best known passages from early Confucianism that some modern scholars believe makes Confucianism morally problematic. The first passage we discuss is the "Upright Gong" passage, Analects 13.18, which has Confucius advocating mutual "covering up" of crimes by fathers and sons. The second passage is Meng... | 57m 20s | ||||||
| 10/29/24 | ![]() Episode 12: Play | Play seems to constitute an important part of a flourishing human life. Most of us experience play through things like simple childhood games of hide-and-go-seek or more intellectual activities like chess or go. What these experiences of play have in common is that they are circumscribed in various ways by the times, places, and circumstances established by the boundaries and rules of those games. But what if the attitudes that we bring to play were applied to our lives more broadly? In... | 1h 36m 33s | ||||||
| 10/7/24 | ![]() Episode 11: Nonaction | The concept of wu-wei, often translated as nonaction or effortless action is central to classical Chinese philosophy. But what exactly is the idea and what are its practical implications? What puzzles does it raise regarding the nature of human actions, purpose, and intention? We examine these questions by focusing on some central passages from the Daodejing. Many thanks to The Hong Kong Ethics Lab for sponsoring this podcast series. Want to continue the discussion? Need links to some of t... | 1h 11m 48s | ||||||
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