Empire, Ethics, and Tradition: An International Conference on the Han Dynasty [conference program]

Han dynasty (206 BCE - 220 CE) thought is a curiously understudied field. While scholars lavish attention on the Confucian Analects, the Daodejing, and other texts from the Warring States period (ca. 475 - 221 BCE), they largely neglect the thinkers and texts of the Han dynasty. Indeed, one position in the field is that the Han dynasty was the beginning of a "philosophical dark age" (Chad Hanse, A Daoist Theory of Chinese Thought: A Philosophical Interpretation, Oxfor UP, 1992). In contrast to this view, we see something new and exciting happening in the Han--a rethinking of tradition under the new empire, and a retooling of the methods involved in ethical and political arguments. We believe that a new and focused study of the Han dynasty will spark greater interest in Han thought and reshape the study of Chinese thought as a whole. This conference is one step in this direction. It brings together an international cohort of scholars, from North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia, to present their latest research on the Han dynasty