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Dialogues of Confucius

The Complete Text
Brief Description
Labelled a forgery and ignored for centuries, the Dialogues of Confucius was nevertheless preserved and passed down through the generations, purportedly a companion to the Analects. Recent archaeological finds and renewed analysis now suggest that the Dialogues can be accepted as authentic and that it accurately... Read More
Format: Hardback
$7999
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The first complete English translation of the Dialogues, a rediscovered companion to the Analects.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Labelled a forgery and ignored for centuries, the Dialogues of Confucius was nevertheless preserved and passed down through the generations, purportedly a companion to the Analects. Recent archaeological finds and renewed analysis now suggest that the Dialogues can be accepted as authentic and that it accurately represents the thinking of Confucius on a wide array of topics.

In this book, Brian Bruya and Wenwen Li offer the first complete translation of the text into English, as well as a detailed introduction discussing Confucian philosophy, the history of the text, and the debates around its authenticity. This new translation shows that the Dialogues deserves a rightful place next to the Analects. In the Dialogues, as in the Analects, Confucius converses with his students and local potentates. The topics range from education to social norms to cosmology, and from cultivating individual virtues to instituting a meritocratic government.

As Bruya and Li argue, the main value of the Dialogues lies in its many philosophical clarifications and elaborations. At its core, it offers a valuable resource for understanding Confucius, his interactions with his students, and his philosophy. Each chapter includes both the original Chinese text and the English translation.

The introduction includes a philosophical lexicon, and a 600-entry glossary at the end of the book provides context from the time of Confucius, enabling readers to understand how Confucius viewed his place in the world.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780691276465

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Format: Hardback

Date Published: 10 March 2026

Country: United States

Imprint: Princeton University Press

Illustration: 1 b/w illus. 1 table.

Contributors:

  • Translated with commentary by Brian Bruya
  • Translated with commentary by Wenwen Li

Audience: General / adult, Tertiary education

DIMENSIONS

Width: 156.0mm

Height: 235.0mm

Weight: 975g

Pages: 616

About the Author

Brian Bruya is professor of philosophy at Eastern Michigan University. He is the author of Ziran: The Philosophy of Spontaneous Self-Causation and the editor of The Philosophical Challenge from China and Effortless Attention: A New Perspective in the Cognitive Science of Attention and Action. He has translated several volumes in Princeton's Illustrated Library of Chinese Classics series, most recently A Cure for Chaos, C. C. Tsai's graphic version of selections from the Mencius.

Wenwen Li is the coauthor of several Chinese-language books on the philosophy of Confucius, including Studying the Dialogues of Confucius and The Logic of the Analects.

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