By Professor Karyn Lynne Lai

Books

Lai K, 2017, An Introduction to Chinese Philosophy, Cambridge University Press, http://www.cambridge.org/au/academic/subjects/philosophy/philosophy-general-interest/introduction-chinese-philosophy-2nd-edition?format=PB#3rVBKmItS8SxCZv5.97

Lai KL, 2008, Introduction to Chinese Philosophy, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511800832

Lai KL, 2006, Learning from Chinese Philosophy: Ethics of Interdependent and Contextualised Self, Taylor and Francis, http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781315591902

Book Chapters

Lai K, 2026, 'Zhuangzi on Responsive Agency', in Understanding the Zhuangzi, Springer Nature, pp. 235 - 264, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-25506-8_12

Lai K, 2025, 'The Zhuangzi: Disruptive and Harmonious Engagements with the World', in Considering Questioning and Re Imagining Harmony Multicultural Multihistorical and Multidisciplinary Reflections, pp. 81 - 102, http://dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781350466654.ch-004

Lai K, 2025, 'Being Spontaneous: Zhuangzi on Mastery', in Tiwald J (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Chinese Philosophy, Oxford University Press, New York, pp. 240 - 262, http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199945498.013.18

Lai K, 2024, 'Philosophy and Life: Nagel and Zhuangzi on Absurdity and Equanimity', in Bruno GA; Vlastis J (ed.), Transformation and the History of Philosophy, Routledge, London, pp. 35 - 48, http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781003056409

Lai K, 2023, 'PHILOSOPHY AND LIFE: Nagel and Zhuangzi on Absurdity and Equanimity', in Transformation and the History of Philosophy, pp. 35 - 48, http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781003056409-5

Lai K, 2022, 'Performance and Agency in the Zhuangzi', in Chong K-C (ed.), Dao Companion to the Philosophy of the Zhuangzi, Springer, Switzerland, pp. 661 - 682, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-92331-0

Lai K, 2022, 'Performance and Agency in the Zhuangzi', in Dao Companions to Chinese Philosophy, pp. 661 - 682, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-92331-0_28

Lai K, 2022, 'Dao and Agency: What do the Zhuangzi's Skill Stories Tell Us about Life?', in Angiers T; Raphals L (ed.), Skill in Ancient Ethics The Legacy of China, Greece and Rome, Bloomsbury Publishing, London & New York, pp. 281 - 303, https://www.bloomsbury.com/au/skill-in-ancient-ethics-9781350104334/

Lai KL, 2022, 'Knowers and Knowledge in East-West Philosophy Epistemology Extended Introduction', in Lai KL (ed.), KNOWERS AND KNOWLEDGE IN EAST-WEST PHILOSOPHY, PALGRAVE MACMILLAN, pp. 1 - 14, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-79349-4_1

Lai K, 2022, 'Models of Knowledge in the Zhuangzi: Knowing with Chisels and Sticks', in Lai K (ed.), Knowers and Knowledge in East-West Philosophy Epistemology Extended, Springer Nature, Cham, Switzerland, pp. 319 - 343, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-79349-4_14

Lai K, 2020, 'Receptivity, Reason, and Responsiveness: From Feeling and Thinking to Action', in Huang Y (ed.), Michael Slote Encountering Chinese Philosophy A Cross-Cultural Approach to Ethics and Moral Philosophy, Bloomsbury Publishing, London and New York, pp. 19 - 32, http://dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781350129870.ch-002

Lai K, 2019, 'The Cicada-Catcher: Learning for Life', in Lai K; Chiu WW (ed.), Skill and Mastery Philosophical Stories from the Zhuangzi, Rowman and Littlefield International, London, pp. 143 - 162, http://dx.doi.org/10.5040/9798881811600.ch-010

Lai K; Chiu WW, 2019, 'Introduction', in Skill and Mastery Philosophical Stories from the Zhuangzi, pp. vii - xviii

Lai K, 2018, 'Learning to be Reliable: Confucius' Analects', in Lai K; Benitez R; Kim HJ (ed.), Cultivating a Good Life in Early Chinese and Ancient Greek Philosophy : Perspectives and Reverberations, Bloomsbury Publishing, London and NY, pp. 193 - 207, https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/cultivating-a-good-life-in-early-chinese-and-ancient-greek-philosophy-9781350049574/

LAI K, 2018, 'Zhuangzi’s suggestiveness: Sceptical questions', in Hetherington (ed.), What Makes a Philosopher Great? Thirteen Arguments for Twelve Philosophers, Routledge, New York, pp. 30 - 47, https://www.routledge.com/What-Makes-a-Philosopher-Great-Thirteen-Arguments-for-Twelve-Philosophers/Hetherington/p/book/9781138936164

Lai K, 2017, 'Confucian Business Ethics: Reliability, Relationships, and Responsiveness', in International Handbooks in Business Ethics, Springer Netherlands, pp. 435 - 444, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6510-8_23

Lai KL, 2016, 'Confucian Reliability and Epistemic Agency: Engagements with Feminist Epistemology', in Tan S; Foust M (ed.), Feminist Encounters with Confucius, Brill, Leiden, Boston, pp. 101 - 126, http://www.brill.com/products/book/feminist-encounters-confucius

Lai KL, 2016, 'Close Personal Relationships and the Situated Self: The Confucian Analects and Feminist Philosophy', in Pang-white A (ed.), The Bloomsbury Research Handbook of Chinese Philosophy and Gender, Bloomsbury Publishing, London and New York, pp. 111 - 126, http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/the-bloomsbury-research-handbook-of-chinese-philosophy-and-gender-9781472569868/

Lai K, 2016, '4 Confucian Reliability and Epistemic Agency: Engagements with Feminist Epistemology', in Feminist Encounters with Confucius, De Gruyter, pp. 99 - 126, http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/9789004332119_006

Lai K, 2016, 'Confucian Reliability and Epistemic Agency: Engagements with Feminist Epistemology', in Foust MA; Tan SH (ed.), FEMINIST ENCOUNTERS WITH CONFUCIUS, BRILL, pp. 101 - 126, http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/978900433219_006

Lai KL, 2016, 'Confucian Business Ethics: Reliability, Relationships, and Responsiveness', in Sison AJG (ed.), Handbook of Virtue Ethics in Business and Management, Springer, Netherlands, pp. 1 - 10, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6729-4_23-1

Lai KL; Hetherington SC, 2015, 'Knowing-How and Knowing-To', in Bruya B (ed.), The Philosophical Challenge from China, MIT Press, Massachusetts, pp. 279 - 302, http://dx.doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/9780262028431.003.0011

Lai KL, 2015, 'Cosmology, divinity and self-cultivation in Chinese thought', in Oppy G (ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Philosophy of Religion, Routledge, pp. 93 - 113, https://www.routledge.com/products/9781844658312

Lai KL, 2015, 'Cosmology, Divinity and Self-Cultivation in Chinese Thought', in Oppy G (ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Philosophy of Religion, Routledge, Oxon and New York, pp. 93 - 113, https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/doi/10.4324/9781315719412.ch7

Lai KL, 2014, 'Dialogue and epistemological humility', in Seibt J; Garsdal J (ed.), How Is Global Dialogue Possible?, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin, pp. 69 - 84, http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/9783110340785.69

Lai KL, 2014, 'Daoism and Confucianism', in Liu X (ed.), Dao Companion to Daoist Philosophy, Springer, Dordrecht, Heidelberg, London, New York, pp. 489 - 511, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2927-0_21

Lai KL, 2014, 'When good relationships are not enough for business: understanding character in Confucian ethics', in Li C; Ni P (ed.), Moral Cultivation and Confucian Character, State University of New York Press, Albany, New York, pp. 235 - 250, http://www.sunypress.edu/p-5917-moral-cultivation-and-confucian.aspx

Lai KL, 2014, 'Ren 仁: An Exemplary Life', in Olberding A (ed.), Dao Companion to the Analects, Springer, Heidelberg, New York, London, pp. 83 - 94, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7113-0

Lai K, 2014, 'Ren 仁: An Exemplary Life', in Olberding A (ed.), Dao Companions to Chinese Philosophy, pp. 83 - 94, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7113-0_5

Lai KL, 2013, 'Environmental concern: Can humans avoid being partial? Epistemological awareness in the Zhuangzi', in Meinert Carmen (ed.), Nature, Environment and Culture in East Asia: The Challenge of Climate Change, Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands, pp. 69 - 82, http://www.brill.com/nature-environment-and-culture-east-asia

Lai KL, 2007, 'Understanding Change: the interdependent self in its environment', in Lai K (ed.), New Interdisciplinary Perspectives in Chinese Philosophy, Blackwell Publishers, Massachusetts, USA, pp. 81 - 99

Lai KL, 2003, 'Confucian Moral Cultivation: Some Parallels with Musical training', in Chong K-C; Tan S-H; Tan CL (ed.), The Moral Circle and the Self: Chinese and Western Approaches, Open Court, Chicago and La Salle, Illinois, pp. 107 - 139, http://www.opencourtbooks.com/books_n/moral_circle_and_self.htm

Lai KL, 2001, 'Classical China', in Dale Jamieson (ed.), A Companion to Environmental Philosophy, Blackwell Publishers, USA, UK, pp. 21 - 36

Edited Books

Lai K, (ed.), 2022, Knowers and Knowledge in East-West Philosophy: Epistemology Extended, Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, Switzerland, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-79349-4

Lai K; Chiu WW, (ed.), 2019, Skill and Mastery: Philosophical Stories from the Zhuangzi, London, https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/skill-and-mastery-9781786609137/56-69c8f1cc-26a8-4f2f-93c9-c833de2da7a7

Lai K; Benitez R; Kim HJ, (eds.), 2018, Cultivating a Good Life in Early Chinese and Ancient Greek Philosophy: Perspectives and Reverberations, Bloomsbury, London, https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/cultivating-a-good-life-in-early-chinese-and-ancient-greek-philosophy-9781350049574/

Lai KL, (ed.), 2007, New Interdisciplinary Perspectives in Chinese Philosophy, Blackwell Publishers, Massachusetts, USA, http://au.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1405185511.html

Journal articles

Lai K, 2026, 'Wandering into the Zhuangzi: how much can we know?', British Journal for the History of Philosophy, ahead-of-print, pp. 1 - 7, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09608788.2026.2681878

Beaney M; Lai K, 2025, 'Towards a deep epistemology: knowing in historical and cross-cultural context', British Journal for the History of Philosophy, 33, pp. 1313 - 1359, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09608788.2025.2578821

Lai K, 2025, 'Learning from models: knowing sages as sages in Confucian philosophy', British Journal for the History of Philosophy, 33, pp. 1448 - 1469, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09608788.2024.2406295

Lai K, 2024, 'Embedded Agency in Early Chinese Philosophy: Time, Place, and Orientation', Yearbook for Eastern and Western Philosophy, 7, pp. 7 - 31, http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/yewph-2024-0004

Lai K, 2023, 'Contempt, Withdrawal and Equanimity in the Zhuangzi', Emotion Review, 15, pp. 189 - 199, http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/17540739231183074

Lai YY; Lai K, 2023, 'Learning from exemplars in Confucius’ Analects: The centrality of reflective observation', Educational Philosophy and Theory, 55, pp. 797 - 808, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2022.2132936

Lai K; Stapleton M, 2022, 'Confucius and the varifocal stance', Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 45, http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X22001303

Lai K, 2022, 'Freedom and agency in the Zhuangzi: navigating life’s constraints', British Journal for the History of Philosophy, 30, pp. 3 - 23, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09608788.2021.1994366

Ryan S; Lai K, 2021, 'Who is a wise person? Zhuangzi and epistemological discussions of wisdom', Philosophy East and West, 71, pp. 665 - 682, http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/pew.2021.0046

Lai KL, 2019, 'Emotional Attachment and Its Limits: Mengzi, Gaozi and the Guodian Discussions', Frontiers of Philosophy in China, 14, pp. 132 - 151, http://dx.doi.org/10.3868/s030-008-019-0008-5

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