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In Michael Sandel the Chinese have found a guide through the ethical dilemmas created by their swift embrace of a market economy - one whose communitarian ideas resonate with China's own rich, ancient philosophical traditions. This volume explores the connections and tensions revealed in this unlikely episode of Chinese engagement with the West.

Consistent with its growing economic, political and military might, China wants due recognition by and engagement with the global community of nations. This aspiration is complicated by the fact that Chinese political leaders and intellectuals continue to struggle with how "Chinese values" fit with "universal values", and whether there is a single global modernity or whether there are multiple modernities and multiple—perhaps competing—universal values. In this paper I examine how some prominent Chinese philosophers are engaging with these issues, despite the fact that in 2013 the topic of "universal values" was prohibited as a discussion topic in universities on the mainland.

A rediscovery of heaven-human oneness -- What matters behind ecumenism? -- Harmonization without being patternized -- The Dao of human experience -- A symbolic way of thinking through fables -- Two models of cultivating wisdom for a good life -- Poetic wisdom in Zen enlightenment -- A new ideal and transcultural pursuit -- A transformational creation of pragmatic reason -- A manifold expectation of poetry -- A debate on the function of music -- A critical illumination of poetic styles -- A moralistic view of poetry -- Between Chinese and Western aesthetics -- Aesthetic criticism of transculturality -- A sublime poetics of Māratic type -- An escalated experience of appreciating nature -- Art as sedimentation.

Cover; Half Title; Series Page; Title; Copyright; Contents; Foreword: Translator's Introduction; Li Zehou and the Articulation of a Chinese Modernity; Li Zehou's Characterization of the Chinese Intellectual Tradition; Assessing Li Zehou's Scholarship; A Note About Translation; 1 Reevaluating Confucius; The Characteristics of 'Ritual'; The Formation of Confucian Humaneness (Ren); i. A Foundation in Bloodline and Kinship; ii. Ritual Propriety Initiated Externally; iii. Humanism; iv. Personal Character; v. Practical Rationality; Strengths and Weaknesses; On Mencius

This thesis is about three concepts in Warring States Chinese philosophy—fǎ 法, xìng 性, and měi 美—that give rise to the three themes that make up the title of this thesis: moral standards, moral spontaneity, and moral beauty. In the first chapter, I defend my choice to focus exclusively on the Chinese concepts. Primarily, I argue that it is often a mistake to ascribe Western philosophical theories and concepts to early Chinese thinkers when we are in the business of interpreting ancient Chinese texts. To do so is to both ascribe too many Western habits of thought to ancient Chinese philosophers, and to give a false sense of similarity between Chinese and Western concepts. To this end, I offer three studies that showcase the importance of understanding the nature and role of Chinese concepts in Chinese philosophical thought. In the second chapter, I discuss the concept of fǎ as the central concept of Mohist moral reasoning. By that I mean that the vast majority of Mohist normative reasoning is ultimately constituted by either direct or indirect appeals to fǎ. This overall interpretation has consequences for a number of contemporary discussions in Mohist scholarship, and I mention some of these consequences at the end of the chapter. In the third chapter, I discuss the concept of xìng and the role it plays in Xunzi's moral philosophy. After offering a charitable interpretation of Xunzi's moral philosophy, I subject it to the criticism of the primitivists, a rival philosophical group. Overall I attempt to show that although the primitivists point to real weaknesses in the conceptual foundation of Xunzi's program of moral education, his proposal is ultimately more practical than theirs given basic social and political realities. In the fourth chapter, I discuss the concept of měi in Xunzi's philosophy. I argue in the first place that as a moral virtue, we might understand měi as a restricted and particular notion of "moral beauty" in so far as it denotes both an aesthetic evaluation and a moral evaluation. I argue in the second place that měi when predicated of institutions, however, retains little of this connection with either aesthetics or morality, and is instead more an assessment of the "orderliness" of social customs. In the fifth chapter, I suggest some of the work that might be done with these concepts as I understand them. The concept of fǎ, for example, might serve as an alternative to thinking of morality exclusively in terms of either laws or virtues. The concept of xìng as a kind of natural spontaneity I think serves as an alternative to conceptions of human nature as what is innate. Finally, the concept of měi when generously reconstructed I think illustrates a virtue worthy of further philosophical examination and use. ; published_or_final_version ; Philosophy ; Master ; Master of Philosophy

"In a historical moment when cross-cultural communication proves both necessary and difficult, the work of comparative philosophy is timely. Philosophical resources for building a shared future marked by vitality and collaborative meaning-making are in high demand. Taking note of the present global philosophical situation, this collection of essays critically engages the scholarship of Roger T. Ames, who for decades has had a central role in the evolution of comparative and nonwestern philosophy. With a reflective methodology that has produced creative translations of key Chinese philosophical texts, Ames-in conjunction with notable collaborators such as D.C. Lau, David Hall, and Henry Rosemont Jr.-has brought China's philosophical traditions into constructive cross-cultural dialogue on numerous ethical and social issues that we face today. The volume opens with two parts that share overlapping concerns about interpretation and translation of nonwestern texts and traditions. Parts III and IV-"Process Cosmology" and "Epistemological Considerations"-mark the shift in comparative projects from the metaphilosophical and translational stage to the more traditionally philosophical stage. Parts V and VI-"Confucian Role Ethics" and "Classical Daoism"-might best be read as Chinese contributions to philosophical inquiry into living well or "ethics" broadly construed. Lastly, Part VII takes Amesian comparative philosophy in "Critical Social and Political Directions," explicitly drawing out the broader dimensions of social constitution and the ideal of harmony. The contributors-scholars working in philosophy, religious studies, and Asian studies-pursue lines of inquiry opened up by the work of Roger Ames, and their chapters both clarify his ideas and push them in new directions. They survey the field of Chinese philosophy as it is taking shape in the wake of Ames's contributions and as it carries forward a global conversation on the future of humanity"--