Chris Fraser

Chris Fraser specializes in classical Chinese philosophy and comparative philosophy, particularly in how early Chinese theories of mind, knowledge, and language intersect with contemporary epistemology, action theory, and ethics. Of late, he has also begun working on the history of Chinese political thought and its philosophical implications. His recent publications include Late Classical Chinese Thought (Oxford, forthcoming), The Essential Mozi (Oxford, 2020), and The Philosophy of the Mozi: The First Consequentialists (Columbia, 2016). Other projects at various stages of development include a book on Zhuangzi and ethics, another on language and world in early Chinese thought, and a third on the Daoist concept of wuwei (non-action). A native of Canada, Fraser was raised in Québec and Massachusetts but lived in Taiwan, Thailand, Hong Kong, and Japan from the 1980s until returning to Canada in 2021. He holds degrees from Yale University, National Taiwan University, and the University of Hong Kong. Before joining the University of Toronto as Lee Chair in Chinese Thought and Culture, he was previously Professor and Chair in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Hong Kong. He has also taught in the Department of Philosophy at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute of Chinese Literature and Philosophy, Academia Sinica, Taipei.