Graduate Programs in Chinese Philosophy

Here follows an alphabetic list of PhD programs in philosophy in which one can study Chinese philosophy in English. For each program, we include:

  • Link to department
  • Names of those whose specialization relates to Chinese philosophy, with links to their webpages
  • Link to placement information
  • Further information about studying Chinese philosophy there

At the bottom of the list, we also list MA-specific programs that include an emphasis on Chinese philosophy, as well as “Cognate Programs” (i.e., non-Philosophy PhD programs) with specialists in Chinese philosophy. (We hope to include more each information on programs in each of these categories in the near future.)

We have chosen to present descriptive information without guidance or evaluation. For discussion of how to pursue graduate training in Chinese philosophy, the following might be of use:

The initial work on this list was conducted by Yong Huang, Steve Angle, Jim Behuniak, and Alexus McLeod. We welcome additions, comments, or corrections.

Recent changes:

  • Added Chris Fraser to University of Hong Kong (September 27, 2024)
  • Added University of North Texas (September 10, 2024)
  • Added Loyola University Chicago (March 21, 2024)
  • Added Lancaster University; removed Princeton University and University of Connecticut; a few minor adjustments (March 5, 2024)

Australia National University
Chinese University of Hong Kong
City University of Hong Kong
CUNY Graduate Center
Duke University
East China Normal University
Georgetown University
Hong Kong Baptist University
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Indiana University
Lancaster University
Lingnan University
Loyola University Chicago
Nanyang Technological University (Singapore)
National University of Singapore
University of Auckland
University of British Columbia
University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Riverside
University of Hawaii
University of Hong Kong
University of Macau
University of Michigan
University of New Mexico
University of New South Wales
University of North Texas
University of Oklahoma
University of Toronto
University of Utah

Australia National University

Specialists:

  • Bronwyn Finnigan, philosophy of action, ethics, philosophy of mind and epistemology in Western and Asian philosophical traditions
  • Koji Tanaka, Buddhist Philosophy and Logic, Chinese Philosophy

Placement information

Further information:

Chinese University of Hong Kong

Specialists:

  • David Chai, Daoist philosophy, comparative philosophy
  • Chung-yi Cheng, Confucianism, Chinese philosophy, comparative philosophy
  • Yong Huang, Chinese philosophy, comparative philosophy, moral philosophy
  • Kai-chiu Ng, Chinese philosophy, Confucianism
  • Zhihua Yao, Buddhist philosophy, Chinese philosophy, Indian philosophy

Placement information not available

Further information:

City University of Hong Kong (Department of Public Policy)

Specialists:

Placement information not available

Further information:

CUNY Graduate Center

Specialists:

  • Graham Priest, Philosophical logic, Philosophies of Mathematics and Language, Metaphysics, History of Philosophy (East and West), Buddhist Philosophy
  • Hagop Sarkissian, Moral Psychology, Metaethics, Chinese Philosophy, Cognitive Science of Religion

Placement Information

Further Information:

Duke University

Specialists:

  • David B. Wong, Chinese Philosophy, Comparative Philosophy, Ethics

Placement information

Further Information:

East China Normal University

Specialists (for details on all the below individuals in English, see here; for more on the department faculty in Chinese, see here):

  • Yang Guorong, metaphysics, ethics, history of Chinese philosophy, comparative philosophy
  • Zong Desheng, philosophy of language, ethics, comparative philosophy
  • Yu Zhenhua, metaphysics, epistemology and comparative philosophy
  • Fang Xudong, Neo-Confucianism, Confucian Ethics, Interpretation of classics
  • Xue Yu, Chinese Buddhism
  • Liu Liangjian, Chinese philosophy, comparative study of Chinese and Western philosophy
  • Paul Joseph D’Ambrosio, Chinese philosophy, Neo-Daoism (Xuanxue), comparative study of Western and Chinese philosophy, ethics

Placement information not available

Further information:

See the departmental link above for more information on the history and scope of the department’s English-language programs; see also this post from our blog (November, 2021).

Georgetown University

Specialists:

  • Erin Cline (primary appointment in Theology; Associate Member of the Philosophy Department and a member of its Primary Dissertation Faculty), early Chinese ethical, religious, and political thought
  • Philip J. Ivanhoe (Professor and Chair, East Asian Languages and Cultures)

Placement information

Further information:

Students can apply to the Philosophy PhD program to work with Professor Cline and/or other Philosophy department members with appreciation for Asian or comparative philosophy. Georgetown offers classical Chinese and has many other Asianists in East Asian Languages and Cultures, history, religious studies, and elsewhere. Students can also apply to the Ph.D. program in Theological and Religious Studies (housed in the Theology Department) to study Chinese philosophy.

Hong Kong Baptist University

Specialists:

  • Benedict Chan, Social & Political Philosophy, Applied Ethics & Moral Philosophy, Comparative Philosophy, Chinese Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion, Philosophy of Mind
  • Jonathan Chan, Chinese philosophy
  • James Dominic Rooney, Chinese philosophy and metaphysics

Placement information not available

Further information:

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

Specialists:

Placement information not available

Further Information:

Indiana University

Specialists:

Placement information not available

Further Information:

Stalnaker, Ing, and McLeod all have their main appointments in Religious Studies; see here for more on Religious Studies’s “Chinese Thought” area. Vogt’s appointment is in East Asian Languages & Cultures. Stalnaker has an adjunct appointment in Philosophy and can direct dissertations there.

Lancaster University

Specialists:

  • Philippe Major, Confucianism, Zen Buddhism, topics related to epistemic hegemony

Placement information not available

Further Information:

Lingnan University

Specialists:

Placement information not available

Further information:

Loyola University Chicago

Specialists:

  • Richard Kim, East Asian Philosophy, Ethics, Moral Psychology

Further information:

Nanyang Technological University (Singapore)

Specialists:

  • LI Chenyang, Chinese Philosophy, Comparative Philosophy Ethics, Social and Political Philosophy
  • SUNG Hiu Chuk Winnie, Chinese Philosophy, Self-knowledge , Moral Psychology

Placement information not available

Further information:

The NTU Philosophy Group was established in view of the rich intellectual and cultural resources available at a research-intensive science and technological university located in culturally affluent Singapore. As such, the master plan of our programmes is focused primarily on (1) Philosophy of Science and (2) Chinese Philosophy. Both areas of research are conducted with an interdisciplinary approach and an East-West comparative perspective.

National University of Singapore

Specialists:

  • LOY Hui Chieh, Chinese Philosophy, Greek Philosophy
  • LO Yuet Keung (Chinese studies; classes in Chinese), Chinese Philosophy
  • Scott Cook (Yale-NUS), Chinese texts and intellectual history
  • Matthew Walker (Yale-NUS), Ancient Greek philosophy, comparative philosophy

Placement information not available

Further information:

As a group, the NUS and affiliated Yale-NUS graduate faculty includes numerous philosophers actively working on projects in moral and political philosophy; metaphysics, epistemology, and philosophy of mind; Chinese philosophy, Indian philosophy, and the history of Western philosophy.

University of Auckland

Specialists:

Placement information

Further information:

Asian Philosophy is not listed as an area of expertise in the Auckland program’s listing of postgraduate specializations, but it does say that one can customize a course of study suitable to one’s particular needs and interests.

University of British Columbia

Specialists:

  • Edward Slingerland, Chinese Philosophy, Cognitive Linguistics
  • Evan Thompson, Philosophy of Mind and Cognitive Science, Cross-Cultural Philosophy
  • Catherine Prueitt, Sanskritic pre-modern South Asian philosophies

Placement information

Further information:

As of 2021, Slingerland has moved into the Philosophy Department.

University of California, Berkeley

Specialists:

Placement information

Further information:

There is no regular track or concentration in Chinese philosophy in the Berkeley program, the department stresses however that its Ph.D. program is “structured to give students a high degree of independence in tailoring their studies to their interests.” Professor Shun “teaches two courses a year, primarily on Chinese philosophy and moral psychology, and devotes the rest of his time to researching and promoting the philosophical study of Confucian thought.”

University of California, Riverside

Specialists:

Placement information

Further information:

Raphals is in the department of Comparative Literature and Foreign Languages, but is also affiliated with the Philosophy Department as “Cooperating Faculty”.

University of Hawaii

Specialists:

  • Chung-ying Cheng, Chinese Philosophy (Classical and Neo-Confucianism), Comparative Philosophy
  • Franklin Perkins, Classical Chinese Philosophy, Early Modern European Philosophy, Comparative Philosophy

Placement information

Further information:

A number of other faculty in the Philosophy Department work in areas possibly of interest to students of Chinese Philosophy, including Indian Philosophy, Japanese Philosophy.  Perkins starts at Hawaii in January 2017.

University of Hong Kong

Specialists:

  • Daniel Bell, Confucianism, Chinese political and social philosophy
  • Chris Fraser, Early Chinese philosophy, covering topics in philosophy of language and logic, philosophy of mind, epistemology, action theory, ethics, metaethics, and political philosophy; more recent interests in metaethics and political philosophy in Song, Ming, and Qing dynasty thought.
  • JIN Yutang, Confucian and Chinese political thought, democratic theory, comparative political theory
  • Mark Meulenbeld, Daoism and Chinese religions
  • TANG Siu-fu, Early Confucianism (in particular the thought of Xunzi), ethics and political philosophy, comparative philosophy, and issues of modernity and Chinese thought.
  • Justin Tiwald, Classical and post-classical Chinese philosophy, especially Classical Confucianism, Daoism, and Neo-Confucianism
  • WANG Pei, Chinese intellectual history, French philosophy, comparative philosophy
  • ZHOU Boqun, Early Chinese philosophy, Chinese paleography, history of science and technology in China

Placement information not available

Further information:

Daniel Bell is in the Faculty of Law; JIN Yutang is in the Department of Politics and Public Administration; Chris Fraser, Mark Meulenbeld, Tang Siu-fu, WANG Pei, and ZHOU Boqun are in the School of Chinese.

University of Macau

Specialists:

  • Victoria Harrison, analytic philosophy of religion with a focus on ancient Indian and classical Chinese philosophies.
  • Ting-Mien Lee, Chinese philosophy, with a specific focus on the interaction of language, power-struggle strategies, and moral theories.
  • Hans-Georg Moeller, Daoist philosophy, social theory, comparative philosophy, Chinese philosophy
  • Qingjie Wang, East-West Comparative Philosophy, Chinese Philosophy, Ethics and Moral Philosophy, contemporary European Philosophy, esp. Heidegge and Hermeneutics
  • Ellen Zhang, Chinese philosophy

Placement information not available

Further information:

https://fah.um.edu.mo/phd-in-philosophy-and-religious-studies/
https://grs.um.edu.mo/index.php/prospective-students/doctoral-degrees-programmes/

University of Michigan

Specialists:

  • Sonja Özbey, classical Chinese philosophy and early modern European philosophy

Placement information

Further information:

University of New Mexico

Specialists:

  • Emily McRae, Buddhist Philosophy, Ethics, Moral Psychology, Feminism

Placement information

Further information:

UNM has a number of faculty in areas that may also be of interest to some studying Chinese Philosophy, such as Indian Philosophy and Tibetan Philosophy.  They are making a hire this year in Buddhist Philosophy.

University of New South Wales

Specialists:

  • Karyn Lai, Chinese philosophy, Environmental philosophy

Placement information not available

Further information:

Classical Chinese philosophy is listed as one of several “History and Philosophical Traditions” concentrations offered in the program.

University of North Texas

Specialists:

  • Leah Kalmanson (Associate Professor and Bhagwan Adinath Professor of Jain Studies), Chinese philosophies, Japanese philosophies, global-critical philosophy of religion, phenomenology and existentialism

Placement information not available.

Further information:

The Department of Philosophy and Religion at the University of North Texas is home to the nation’s first graduate program with a focus on environmental philosophy. It has strengths in history of philosophy, critical theory, science and technology studies, religion and ecology, Asian philosophies, Latinx and decolonial philosophies, Jain studies, and Jewish studies.

University of Oklahoma

Specialists:

Placement information

Further information:

University of Toronto

Specialists:

  • Chris Fraser, Mohist philosophy, Daoist philosophy, Confucian philosophy, ethics, theory of action

Placement information

Further information:

The Toronto program prides itself on offering broad coverage in all areas of the history of Philosophy, as well as “in aspects of the history of non-Western philosophy.”

University of Utah

Specialists:

  • Eric Hutton, Chinese philosophy, ancient Greek philosophy, ethics

Placement information

Further information:

The Philosophy department is willing to offer financial support to both MA/MS and PhD students. Students who are interested in Chinese philosophy may also wish to investigate the MA program in Asian Studies, if they are interested in pursuing a more inter-disciplinary track.

MA only

Beijing Normal University

  • Details here. Instructors include BNU and Renmin University faculty, as well as international guest faculty (see website for details).

Colorado State University

Eastern Michigan University

  • Details here. One of the department’s two MA tracks is in pluralistic philosophical “methodology.”

Fudan University (Shanghai)

East China Normal University (Shanghai)

  • Information on the English-language MA program at ECNU is available here

Loyola Marymount University (Los Angeles)

Renmin University (Beijing)

  • Updated (December 2021) details on the English-language MA Program in “Chinese Philosophy, Religion, and Culture are here

San Francisco State University

San Jose State University

West Chester University (Pennsylvania)

Wuhan University

  • Details on the English-language International MA Program here , and an update here.

Cognate Programs

Georgetown University (Erin Cline, Theology; see also above for Philosophy options)

Harvard University (Michael Puett, Peter Bol)

KU Leuven (Carine Defoort, Nicolas Standaert); see also here.

London School of Economics (Leigh Jenco)

Northwestern (Loubna El Amine)

Pennsylvania State University (Erica Brindley, On-cho Ng)

University of California, Berkeley (Mark Csikszentmihalyi, Michael Nylan)

University of Chicago Divinity School (Brook Ziporyn)

University of Pennsylvania (Paul Goldin)