While the resonance of Giambattista Vico's hermeneutics for postcolonialism has long been recognised, a rupture has been perceived between his intercultural sensibility and the actual content of his philological investigations, which have often been criticised as being Eurocentric and philologically spurious. China is a case in point. In his magnum opus New Science, Vico portrays China as backward and philosophically primitive compared to Europe. In this first study dedicated to China in Vico's thought, Daniel Canaris shows that scholars have been beguiled by Vico's value judgements of China without considering the function of these value judgements in his theory of divine providence. This monograph illustrates that Vico's image of China is best appreciated within the contemporary theological controversies surrounding the Jesuit accommodation of Confucianism. Through close examination of Vico's sources and intellectual context, Canaris argues that by refusing to consider Confucius as a "filosofo", Vico dismantles the rationalist premises of the theological accommodation proposed by the Jesuits and proposes a new functionalist valorisation of non-Christian religion that anticipates post-colonial critiques of the Enlightenment.

This book investigates how Buddhism gradually integrated itself into the Chinese culture by taking filial piety as a case study because it is an important moral teaching in Confucianism and it has shaped nearly every aspect of Chinese social life. The Chinese criticized Buddhism mainly on ethical grounds as Buddhist clergies left their parents' homes, did not marry, and were without offspring-actions which were completely contrary to the Confucian concept and practice of filial piety that emphasizes family life. Chinese Buddhists responded to these criticisms in six different ways while accepting good teachings from the Chinese philosophy. They also argued and even refuted some emotional charges such as rejecting everything non-Chinese. The elite responded in theoretical argumentation by (1) translations of and references to Buddhist scriptures that taught filial behavior, (2) writing scholarly refutations of the charges of unfilial practices, such as Qisong's Xiaolun (Treatise of Filial Piety), (3) interpreting Buddhist precepts as equal to the Confucian concept of filial piety, and (4) teaching people to pay four kinds of compassions to four groups of people: parents, all sentient beings, kings, and Buddhism. In practice the ordinary Buddhists responded by (1) composing apocryphal scriptures and (2) popularizing stories and parables that teach filial piety, such as the stories of Shanzi and Mulian, by ways of public lectures, painted illustrations on walls and silk, annual celebration of the ghost festival, etc. Thus, Buddhism finally integrated into the Chinese culture and became a distinctive Chinese Buddhism.

For anyone looking to understand Chinese philosophy, here is the place to start. Introducing this vast and far-reaching tradition, Ronnie L. Littlejohn tells you everything you need to know about the Chinese thinkers who have made the biggest contributions to the conversation of philosophy, from the Han dynasty to the present. He covers: * The six classical schools of Chinese philosophy (Yin-Yang, Ru, Mo, Ming, Fa, and Dao-De) * The arrival of Buddhism in China and its distinctive development * The central figures and movements from the end of the Tang dynasty to the introduction into China of Western thought * The impact of Chinese philosophers ranging from Confucius and Laozi to Tu Weiming and some of the Western counterparts who addressed similar issues. Weaving together key subjects, thinkers, and texts, we see how Chinese traditions have profoundly shaped the institutions, social practices, and psychological character of not only East and Southeast Asia, but the world we are living in. Praised for its completely original and illuminating thematic approach, this new edition includes updated reading lists, a comparative chronology of Western and Chinese philosophers, and additional translated extracts.