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person165-110 BCE

Sima Tan

Disciplines:
philosophy
history/historiography

Summary

Han dynasty court historian and father of the great historian Sima Qian, who wrote the Treatise on the Six Schools of Thought — the earliest systematic overview of pre-Han philosophical schools.

Core Contribution

Treatise on the Six Schools: the first systematic philosophical classification of the Yin-Yang, Confucian, Mohist, Legalist, Logician, and Daoist schools, arguing Daoism is superior because it synthesizes the others' insights without their dogmatism.

Notable Works & Achievements

Treatise on the Six Schools

Historical Influences

Daoism Han Confucianism

Intellectual Lineage

Han Huang-Lao Taoism

Contemporaries & Peers

Dong Zhongshu

Minds Influenced

Sima Qian

Intellectual Posterity

History of Chinese Philosophy

Discussing

Sima Tan

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