This book presents an introductory survey of the major themes, thinkers and texts, philosophical genres and profound insights of the Chinese philosophical tradition. Its coverage ranges from the foundational history of Chinese thought in the 6th–5th centuries BCE up to the present day.

Explore philosophical research and education at the Leiden Institute for Philosophy. Our scholars study knowledge, ethics and existence, connecting classical and contemporary thought.

Lu, Man defended his thesis on 28 September 2017.

These courses address all language skills: speaking, writing, listening and reading.

While phenomenology and Yogacara Buddhism are both known for their investigations of consciousness, there exists a core tension between them: phenomenology affirms the existence of essence, whereas Yogacara Buddhism argues that everything is empty of essence (svabhava). How is constructive cultural…

This thesis presents a thorough survey of the central aspects of the phonology of Shaoxing Chinese from a synchronic perspective and on the basis of recent theoretical phonological developments, with the secondary goal of casting some light on current issues in Modern Chinese (Mandarin).

Learn about the Institute’s mission, structure and academic community within Leiden University’s Faculty of Humanities.

Cody Bahir defended his thesis on 1 June 2017.

This study proposes a theory for the encoding of specificity and definiteness in the Chinese nominal based on Cantonese, Mandarin and Wenzhou data.

LIAS aims to advance the globally conscious vision of area studies, both within and outside the academic community. Focusing on Asia and the Middle East, the institute is a meeting place of multiple fields of inquiry, theories and methods, historical periods, and areas.

Kazimierz Twardowski (1866-1938) is the founder of the Lvov-Warsaw School with its strong tradition in logic and its scientific approach to philosophy. Twardowski’s unique way of doing philosophy, his method, is of central importance for understanding his impact as a teacher.

Tonal bilinguals of two closely related Chinese dialects are amazing people. They handle two tonal systems in their mind; their two vocabularies are from closely related dialects, and they write translation equivalents with common Chinese characters. Their unique language situation makes their mind…

Learn about PhD research at Leiden University’s Institute for Philosophy: information for current and prospective candidates, supervision, and academic development within the Faculty of Humanities.

This project studies the theory and practice of moral education in the (Neo)Platonic tradition.

Chinese Linguistics at Leiden University offers you an excellent opportunity to benefit from our long-standing expertise in Chinese linguistics

Arts and leisure, Arts and leisure

This Philosophy: Global and Comparative Perspectives bachelor's programme is unique. It offers comparative perspectives from around the world that will enable you to be part of the next generation of thinkers, someone studying and shaping philosophy for a globalised 21st century.

Taught by top researchers from a wide range of disciplines, the MA Chinese Studies at Leiden University combines in-depth knowledge with advanced language proficiency with a year-long stay in China.

Chinese organisations increasingly operate across the borders of China, and growing numbers of people from outside China are coming to live there. Professor Frank Pieke believes these movements have a significant effect on central and local government policy in China.

Mei-Wen Chen defended her thesis on 29 June 2016

Do humans have free will? Does the world look different than it really is? Can moral judgements be right or wrong? In the Dutch-taught Bachelor's programme Philosophy at Leiden University you will ask questions that cross different disciplines and you will study the theories of classical thinkers,…

The Academic Language Centre Leiden offers Chinese language courses at three different levels and tailor-made Chinese language courses. The courses are practical in nature: focusing on the use of the language. More information can be found here >

Over a billion people live in China, it has the most spoken language in the world and is a major player on the world stage. Do you want to broaden your knowledge about this fascinating and powerful country? Study the language, culture, economy and politics on a high academic level with China Studies…

In this thesis the most dominant academic perspectives pertaining to the relationship between myth and philosophy are questioned and repositioned and Plato’s use of myth is analyzed to demonstrate this reevaluation.

In this research, for the first time a detailed description as well as systematic and comparative analysis of the final particle system in Chinese are provided.

An overview of the educational profile of the Leiden Institute for Philosophy, including its global teaching focus, curriculum themes, and supervision model.

This dissertation explores Aristotle’s use of teleology as a principle of explanation, especially as it is used in the natural treatises.

Building on its extensive holdings in Asian studies, including much material that can support the study of “unofficial” histories and cultures, Leiden University Libraries has established the Leiden Chinese Queer Collection (LCQC).

On Friday 22 November 2024 Ye Jiang successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated.

The philosophers at the Institute for Philosophy develop new perspectives and insights not only on topical themes such as immigration and climate change, but also on more fundamental philosophical questions.

The one-year master's programme in Philosophy at Leiden University offers advanced training in an array of philosophical approaches in a pluralistic and collegial environment. We offer specializations in the major branches of both analytic and continental philosophy, as well as in global and comparative…

The master's programme in Modern European Philosophy at Leiden University focuses on continental philosophy ranging from German Idealism and Phenomenology via Deconstruction and Poststructuralism through 21st century developments in the field. It explores different approaches to thinking in a critical…

The master's programme in Theoretical Philosophy at Leiden University offers students the opportunity to investigate fundamental questions concerning the nature of reality using the tools of analytic philosophy.

Neil Young and Philosophy, edited by Douglas L. Berger, explores the meanings, importance, and philosophical dimensions of the music, career, and life of this prolific singer/songwriter over the past five decades.

The two-year master’s programme in Philosophy at Leiden University investigates the philosophical foundations of particular disciplines. It provides you with the tools to think systematically and creatively about the foundations of your chosen discipline, using the conceptual and argumentative resources…

The Leiden Centre for Theoretical Philosophy (LCTP) is a platform for analytic philosophy in a broad sense at Leiden University. Its members do research in philosophy of science, philosophy of logic and metaphysics, with a keen interest in the history of topics such as mind, knowledge, truth, and ti…

Many stimulating philosophical analyses have been written on contemporary technology; this book examines on the contrary how changes in contemporary technological environment have been reflected onto philosophy itself. The book shows how technological changes have marked a number of key concepts of…

Explore the research of the Institute for Philosophy, organised into five centres that connect historical and systematic approaches to ethics, logic, and the history of ideas.

An overview of Academic E-Resources and Bibliographies

Leiden University Centre for Intercultural Philosophy (LUCIP) is housed in the Institute for Philosophy at Leiden University.

Are you thinking about studying Philosophy (120 EC)? Learn more and watch the introduction video.

Are you thinking about studying Philosophy (60 EC)? Learn more and watch the introduction video.

This thesis investigates the connection between tonal realization and tone change (tone sandhi) in Wenzhou Chinese, and whether and how such a connection is conditioned by prosodic structure and focus marking.

The Centre for Political Philosophy (CPP) at Leiden University is an interdisciplinary platform for political thought. It aims to bring together all those with an active interest in the field from different institutes, branches and fields of study at Leiden University.

China is a one-party regime, yet elections are held for the local congresses. PhD candidate Wang Zhongyuan investigated how the Communist Party uses this democratic instrument to strengthen the authoritarian regime. PhD defence 31 January.