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8The Emotion of shame and the virtue of righteousness in MenciusDao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy 2 (1): 45-77. 2002.
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2Sim, May, Remastering Morals with Aristotle and Confucius: New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007, 224 pagesDao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy 8 (1): 109-111. 2009.
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12Virtue ethics and consequentialism in early Chinese philosophyCambridge University Press. 2007.In this book, Bryan W. Van Norden examines early Confucianism as a form of virtue ethics and Mohism, an anti-Confucian movement, as a version of consequentialism. The philosophical methodology is analytic, in that the emphasis is on clear exegesis of the texts and a critical examination of the philosophical arguments proposed by each side. Van Norden shows that Confucianism, while similar to Aristotelianism in being a form of virtue ethics, offers different conceptions of “the good life,” the vi…Read more
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4Review: Posted May 7, 1995 (review)acedo's article is the first of five in a "Symposium on Citizenship, Democracy, and Education." Macedo follows Rawls (especially Political Liberalism [Columbia University Press, 1993]) in distinguishing "political liberalism" (PL) from "comprehensive liberalism" (CL), and advocating the former. CL defends liberalism based on "a comprehensive liberal ideal of life as a whole centered on autonomy or individuality." (Amy Gutmann and John Dewey are offered as examples of such liberals.) In contrast,…Read more
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14Zhuangzi’s Ironic Detachment and Political CommitmentDao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy 15 (1): 1-17. 2016.Paul Gewirtz has suggested that contemporary Chinese society lacks a shared framework. A Rortian might describe this by saying that China lacks a “final vocabulary” of “thick terms” with which to resolve ethical disagreements. I briefly examine the strengths and weaknesses of Confucianism and Legalism as potential sources of such a final vocabulary, but most of this essay focuses on Zhuangzian Daoism. Zhuangzi 莊子 provides many stories and metaphors that can inspire advocates of political plurali…Read more
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165The dao of kongziAsian Philosophy 12 (3). 2002.This paper introduces the Analects of Kongzi (better known to English-speakers as 'Confucius') to non-specialist readers, and discusses two major lines of interpretation. According to one group of interpretations, the key to understanding the Analects is passage 4.15, in which a disciple says that 'loyalty' and 'reciprocity' together make up the 'one thread' of the Master's teachings. More recently, some interpreters have emphasised passage 13.3, which discusses 'correcting names': bringing word…Read more
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6Priest, Graham, One: Being an Investigation into the Unity of Reality and Its Parts, Including the Singular Object which Is Nothingness: New York: Oxford University Press, 2014, xxviii + 252 pagesDao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy 15 (2): 307-310. 2016.
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48An Open Letter to the APAProceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association 70 (2): 161-163. 1996.I am writing because I am disturbed by the apparent policy of many mainstream philosophy journals toward Chinese and comparative philosophy. The assumption seems to be that such work should be confined to the handful of specialist journals. I believe that this is an antiquated and counterproductive policy. Philosophers have recognized for a long time that any well-educated ethicist needs to know something about Aristotle, Kant, and the secondary work published on them. Because of changes in our …Read more
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5Letters to the EditorProceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association 70 (2): 155-165. 1996.
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133Principles, Virtues, or Detachment? Some Appreciative Reflections on Karen Stohr’s On MannersDao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy 15 (2): 227-239. 2016.Karen Stohr’s book On Manners argues persuasively that rules of etiquette, though conventional, play an essential moral role, because they “serve as vehicles through which we express important moral values like respect and consideration for the needs, ideas, and opinions of others”. Stohr frequently invokes Kantian concepts and principles in order to make her point. In Part 2 of this essay, I shall argue that the significance of etiquette is better understood using a virtue ethics framework, lik…Read more
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9Introduction to classical Chinese philosophyHackett. 2011.■ ■ 1 the historical context I am not of their age or time and so have not personally heard their voices or seen their faces, but I know this by what is ...
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17Teaching Philosophy & Graduate Student EducationProceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association 78 (2): 15-20. 2004.
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15Ethics in the Confucian Tradition: The Thought of Mencius and Wang YangmingJournal of Religious Ethics 28 (3): 449-470. 2000.Scholars of early Chinese philosophy frequently point to the nontranscendent, organismic conception of the cosmos in early China as the source of China's unique perspective and distinctive values. One would expect recent works in Confucian ethics to capitalize on this idea. Reviewing recent works in Confucian ethics by P. J. Ivanhoe, David Nivison, R. P. Peerenboom, Henry Rosemont, and Tu Wei-Ming, the author analyzes these new studies in terms of the extent to which their representation of Conf…Read more
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3Review of Jean-Paul Reding, Comparative Essays in Early Greek and Chinese Rational Thinking (review)Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews 2004 (9). 2004.
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7Kelleher, M. Theresa, trans., The Journal ofWuYubi: The Path to Sagehood: Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 2013, xliv + 187 pagesDao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy 14 (3): 459-462. 2015.
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20Confucius and the Analects: New Essays (edited book)Oxford University Press USA. 2001.Confucius is one of the most influential figures--as historical individual and as symbol--in world history; and the Analects, the sayings attributed to Confucius and his disciples, is a classic of world literature. Nonetheless, how to understand both figure and text is constantly under dispute. Surprisingly, this volume is the first and only anthology on these topics in English. Here, contributors apply a variety of different methodologies (including philosophical, philological, and religious) …Read more
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123On “humane love” and “kinship love”Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy 7 (2): 125-129. 2008.
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7The Ways of Confucianism: Investigations in Chinese PhilosophyOpen Court Publishing. 1996."Nivison brings out the exciting variety within Confucian thought, as he interprets and elucidates key thinkers from over two thousand years, from Confucius himself, through Mencius and Xunzi, to such later Confucians as Wang Yangming, Dai Zhen, and Zhang Xuecheng."--Cover.
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11Review of Stephen C. angle, Sagehood: The Contemporary Significance of Neo-Confucian Philosophy (review)Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews 2010 (2). 2010.
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6Letters to the EditorProceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association 74 (2): 99-107. 2000.
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114Review of Boston Confucianism: Portable Tradition in the Late-Modern World by Robert Cummings Neville (review)Philosophy East and West 53 (3): 413-417. 2003.
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9Competing Interpretations of the Inner Chapters of the "Zhuangzi"Philosophy East and West 46 (2): 247-268. 1996.In the Inner Chapters, arguments for a variety of different philosophical positions are present, including skepticism, relativism, particularism, and objectivism. Given that these are not all mutually consistent, we are left with the problem of reconciling the tensions among them. The various positions are described and passages from the Inner Chapters are presented illustrating each. A detailed commentary is offered on the opening of the Inner Chapters, arguing that it is best understood in an …Read more
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26Readings in Later Chinese Philosophy: Han to the 20th Century (edited book)Hackett. 2014.An exceptional contribution to the teaching and study of Chinese thought, this anthology provides fifty-eight selections arranged chronologically in five main sections: Han Thought, Chinese Buddhism, Neo-Confucianism, Late Imperial Confucianism, and the early Twentieth Century. The editors have selected writings that have been influential, that are philosophically engaging, and that can be understood as elements of an ongoing dialogue, particularly on issues regarding ethical cultivation, human …Read more
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583Mengzi and Virtue EthicsJournal of Ecumenical Studies 40 (1-2): 120-36. 2003.I want first to present an overview of what I take to be Mengzi's own systematic ethics, which I shall approach as a version of "virtue ethics," and second to examine some of the standard arguments against Mengzi's position.
Areas of Specialization
2 more
Moral Realism and Irrealism |
Virtue Ethics |
Classical Chinese Philosophy |
Chinese Neo-Confucianism |
Chinese Buddhist Philosophy |
Meta-Ethics |
Asian Philosophy |