Rituals of the Way
The Philosophy of Xunzi

Paul Rakita Goldin

In this first study of the Xunzi in over 70 years, Paul Rakita Goldin explores how the founder (sharing the same name as his philosophy) influenced Confucianism and other Chinese philosophies through his emphasis on "the Way." Xunzi's thought covers the areas of moral philosophy, civil philosophy, philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, and metaphysics, raising questions about ritual, language, government, and self-cultivation. Goldin investigates the areas in which Xunzi anticipated many problems of contemporary philosophy and the ways in which his responses differ from those of today.

"Although not well known in the West, Xunzi is one of the greatest philosophers in the Chinese tradition. Goldin's Rituals of the Way is the best study of Xunzi in English, and also one of the best books on early Chinese philosophy to have come out in recent years."
—Bryan W. Van Norden
Vassar College

"Throughout this stimulating examination . . . we find an effective blending of philology and philosophy, an illuminating comparison of ancient East and modern West. This is an elegant yet rigorous study of a major early Confucian, one which raises (and often solves) important issues not only for Sinology but for scholars of contemporary European and American ideas as well."
—Victor H. Mair
University of Pennsylvania

"A signal addition to the growing corpus of Western scholarship dealing with the ancient Chinese thinker. . . Goldin makes clear that Xunzi's defense and elaboration of the Confucian vision are no less philosophically important and relevant today than when they were first put forth over twenty-two hundred years ago."
—Henry Rosemont, Jr.
St. Mary's College of Maryland