•  59
    Plato's theory of knowledge and belief is an important topic in Platonic scholarship. There are at least two interpretations of Plato's theory of knowledge and belief. (a) The two worlds (or objects) interpretation (TW), and it has two versions: the degree of existence interpretation (DE) and the degree of reality interpretation (DR). According to DE, objects of knowledge fully exist, and objects of belief do not fully exist. According to DR, objects of knowledge are fully real, and objects of b…Read more
  •  23
    Wang Yangming believes that human nature is entirely good. A question naturally arises: where is evil from? It has been argued that Wang’s idealism gives rise to the problem of evil. I first argue...
  •  38
    How Do We Make Sense of the Thesis “ Bai Ma Fei Ma ”?
    Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy 18 (2): 163-181. 2019.
    In this article, I introduce a new interpretation of the puzzling thesis “bai 白 ma 馬 fei 非 ma 馬 ” argued by Gongsun Long 公孫龍 in his essay “On White Horse.” I argue that previous interpretations, which can be grouped under the name of “attribute-object interpretations,” are not satisfactory, and that the thesis on the new interpretation is not about attributes or objects, but about names. My argument focuses on the disagreement over inseparability of white between Gongsun Long and his interlocuto…Read more
  •  33
    The Problem of Overdetermination
    Southwest Philosophy Review 16 (2): 73-86. 2000.
  •  27
    Virtues, vices, and situations: What warrants the ascription of character traits
    Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology 36 (3): 142-157. 2016.
    Abstract In recent years, Situationism in psychology has caught the attention of philosophers. Some have defended it. Some have argued against it. The Situationist has challenged the traditional view shared by personality psychology and virtue ethics that people differ in terms of character or character traits and that we can explain and predict people’s behavior by character traits people have. Previous responses to Situationism try to show that experiments from social psychology do n…Read more
  •  127
    Kant has argued that moral requirements are categorical. Kant's claim has been challenged by some contemporary philosophers; this article defends Kant's doctrine. I argue that Kant's claim captures the unique feature of moral requirements. The main arguments against Kant's claim focus on one condition that a categorical imperative must meet: to be independent of desires. I argue that there is another important, but often ignored, condition that a categorical imperative must meet, and this second…Read more
  •  40
    Response to Frisina’s Response
    Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy 8 (3): 333-336. 2009.
    In this response to Frisina's response, I discuss four general disagreements between Frisina's and my understanding of Wang Yangming's doctrine of unity of knowledge and action. 1) The first disagreement is about whether Wang's concept "innate knowledge" (良知) is an instinctive and non-reflective (or "primordial"/"pre-cognitive") experience. 2) The second disagreement is about whether Wang's unity doctrine applies to other forms of knowledge or applies to only moral knowledge. 3) The third disagr…Read more
  •  70
    Great dream and great awakening: Interpreting the butterfly dream story
    Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy 4 (2): 253-266. 2005.
    In this article, I examine two conflicting readings of Zhuangzi's butterfly dream story in the second chapter of the book named after him: the internal transformation and the external transformation reading. I argue that the external interpretation is better supported by the theme of the second chapter and stories in the second chapter and other chapters. However, I argue, the internal transformation interpretation does not necessarily contradict the external transformation interpretation; rathe…Read more
  •  89
    Some issues in chinese philosophy of religion
    Philosophy Compass 3 (3). 2008.
    Chinese philosophy of religion is a less discussed and less clearly formed area in the study of Chinese philosophy. It is true that there is virtually no discussion in Chinese philosophy about rationality or justification of religious beliefs comparable to the discussion of the same issues in Western philosophy of religion. The inquiry about rationality and justification of religious beliefs has shaped Western philosophy of religion. However, the scope of philosophy of religion in the Western co…Read more
  •  8
    Classic Asian Philosophy: A Guide to the Essential Texts. By Joel J. Kupperman (review)
    Journal of Chinese Philosophy 30 (2): 271-275. 2003.
  •  143
    No one denies the importance of applying knowledge to actions. But claiming identity (unity) of knowledge and action is quite another thing. There seem to be two problems with the claim: (1) the identity claim implies that the sole cause for one to fail to act on what one judges to be right is ignorance, but it is obviously false that the sole cause of failure in moral actions is ignorance. (2) The identity statement implies non-separation of knowledge and action. But knowledge does not necessar…Read more
  • The Nature of Moral Judgments: Expressivism Vs. Descriptivism
    Dissertation, The University of Nebraska - Lincoln. 1999.
    What is the nature of moral judgments? This question can be asked in a more specific way: When one sincerely utters a moral judgment, what does one express? A belief the content of which represents moral facts or properties, and is truth-apt, or a non-cognitive attitude the content of which does not represent moral facts or properties, and is not truth-apt? If moral judgments assert moral facts or properties, what are moral facts or properties? If moral judgments express beliefs, how can they be…Read more
  •  49
    It is an assumed view in Chinese philosophy that the grammatical differences between English or Indo-European languages and classical Chinese explain some of the differences between the Western and Chinese philosophical discourses. Although some philosophers have expressed doubts about the general link between classical Chinese philosophy and syntactic form of classical Chinese, I discuss a specific hypothesis, i.e., the mass-noun hypothesis, in this essay. The mass-noun hypothesis assumes that …Read more
  •  24
    Hume's View on Personal Identity: Scepticism or Nonscepticism?
    History of Philosophy Quarterly 15 (1). 1998.
    In this paper, I examine whether Hume's view on personal identity is skeptical or not. the controversy stems from the question of whether, according to Hume, we can find a condition for a kind of real identity which a changing object satisfies. I argue that Hume holds a skeptical view on personal identity and his skepticism rests on his two principles: 1) all our perceptions are distinct; 2) we never perceive any real connection among objects.
  •  18
    A Moral Psychology without the Concept of Reason?
    History of Philosophy Quarterly 23 (4). 2006.
    Abstract Though issues concerning moral philosophy in the classic or pre-Qin period have been the central issues in the contemporary literature on pre-Qin philosophy, the issues concerning the concept of reason, the role of reason, and the relation between reason and emotion in moral psychology have not been given an extensive discussion. In Western tradition, moral psychology centers on the contrast between reason and desire/emotion, and no one disputes that the concept of reason and …Read more