The Path: What Chinese Philosophers Can Teach Us About the Good Life
Co-authored with Professor Michael Puett
Forthcoming in April 2016 from Simon & Schuster (US)
See The Path: International Editions for a full list of international territories
Why is a course on ancient Chinese philosophers one of the most popular at Harvard?
It’s because the course challenges all our modern assumptions about what it takes to flourish. This is why Professor Michael Puett says to his students, “The encounter with these ideas will change your life.” As one of them told his collaborator, author Christine Gross-Loh, “You can open yourself up to possibilities you never imagined were even possible.”
These astonishing teachings emerged two thousand years ago through the work of a succession of Chinese scholars exploring how humans can improve themselves and their society. The Path introduces its readers to these texts and these ideas, upending everything we are told about how to lead a good life. Sometimes voices from the past can offer possibilities for thinking afresh about the future.