Emperor Whisperers: A Comparative History of Ancient Chinese and Western Philosophy

Emperor Whisperers charts a comparative history of the two largest strains of ancient philosophy, from the first millennium BC to around AD 500. The book examines how philosophy arose from atheism in both China and Greece but entered a cul de sac when atheism spread from the elites to the middle classes. China's philosophy evolved to oppose law with morals, which created a mandarin class of "emperor whisperers," while Western philosophy was complicated by competing political systems that were only harmonized by the triumph of the Roman Empire. As antiquity came to an end, imported new religions - Buddhism and Christianity - reintroduced faith into elite thought and kickstarted the Middle Ages.

Author: David Roman
Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Academica Press
Published: 04/11/2023
Pages: 290
Weight: 1.23lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.69d
ISBN: 9781680537321