I am a philosopher interested in the social and political realms, with a primary focus on early Chinese thought. My work examines how a range of classical thinkers addressed the relationship between morality and governance, and I aim to show how their insights can shed light on contemporary debates in political philosophy and ethics.

More specifically, my current work investigates early Chinese approaches to law, institutions, and moral cultivation, with particular attention to the ways in which Legalist critiques of Confucianism unsettle both traditional justifications and modern theoretical assumptions. I also explore a range of other understudied philosophers of time in order to highlight the range of early Chinese approaches to morality and politics, and to show how they can serve as valuable interlocutors in contemporary philosophical scholarship.

I currently work as an associate professor in Colorado State University’s Department of Philosophy. I’m extremely lucky to have a great group of colleagues and to be in one of the most diverse programs around, with a deep and enduring commitment to a wide variety of areas of philosophy beyond the Western world. Before making this move, I spent quite a few years in Hong Kong, most recently at Hong Kong Baptist University and earlier at City University. I have also taught at Yonsei University’s Underwood International College in Seoul, South Korea and at Santa Clara University in California, and spent a sabbatical as a Visiting Fellow at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.

Some Recent Publications:

• Explaining and Illustrating the Laozi: The Earliest Commentaries on the Daodejing, co-edited Eric L. Hutton, will soon be released by Oxford.
• My small volume on Meritocracy in Early Chinese Political Thought is forthcoming from Cambridge.
• My volume on EarlyThe 3rd edition of Hackett’s Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy includes my translation of 10 chapters of the Han Feizi.
• The Oxford Handbook of Chinese Philosophy includes my chapter, “The Dao of Han Fei.”
• The Routledge Handbook of Traditional Chinese Literature includes my chapter, “Mozi and Han Feizi.”
• Chinese Philosophy and Its Thinkers includes my chapter, “Early Chinese Political Realists: From Shen Buhai to Han Fei.”
• The Dao Companion to China’s fa Traditions includes two of my chapters:
  • “Morality vs. Impartial Standards in the Shenzi Fragments.”
  • “Human Motivations in the fa Traditions: Visions From the Shenzi Fragments, Shangjunshu, and Han Feizi.”
•  Warfare Ethics in Comparative Perspective: China and the West includes my chapter, “Normativity of War and Peace: Thoughts from the Han Feizi“