Brook Ziporyn's carefully crafted, richly annotated translation of the complete writings of Zhuangzi-including a lucid Introduction, a Glossary of Essential Terms, and a Bibliography-provides readers with an engaging and provocative deep dive into this magical work.

Neo-Confucianism is the sophisticated revival of Confucian theorizing, responding to challenges from Buddhism and Daoism, which began around 1000 C.E. and came to dominate the Chinese intellectual scene for centuries thereafter. What would happen if we took Neo-Confucianism and its central ideal of sagehood seriously as contemporary philosophy? Sagehood represents supreme human virtue: a flawless, empathetic responsiveness to every situation in which one finds oneself. How could this be possible? How might one work toward such a state? According to Neo-Confucians, we should all strive to become sages, whether or not we ultimately achieve it. Taking neo-Confucianism seriously means to explore the ways that its theories of psychology, ethics, education, and politics engage with the views of contemporary philosophers. Angle's book is therefore both an exposition of Neo-Confucian philosophy and a sustained dialogue with many leading Western thinkers--and especially with those philosophers leading the current renewal of interest in virtue ethics. The book's significance is two-fold: it argues for a new stage in the development of contemporary Confucian philosophy, and it demonstrates the value to Western philosophers of engaging with the Neo-Confucian tradition.

"Rarely is a work in comparative philosophy itself an original philosophical contribution. But that is the case in this instance in which Angle brings Neo-Confucian philosophy into fruitful conversation with contemporary Western, virtue-ethics based analytic philosophers.The result is a presentation of Neo-Confucianism that advances it beyond any previous Neo-Confucian: Angle is the best in the line so far, at least among those writing or written about in English." - Robert Cummings Neville, The Review of Metaphysics
"This book does an outstanding job of engaging a wide range of sources not only from different areas of philosophy (such as virtue ethics and Chinese philosophy) but also from the disciplines of religious studies and Asian studies. Indeed, one thing that makes this book worth reading is the way it puts new and interesting sources into conversation with one another in order to shed new light on the topics at hand. While this work is certainly recommended for specialists in comparative ethics and Chinese philosophy, it is also a resource for philosophers interested in learning how non-Western philosophy might potentially contribute to work in ethics today." - Eric Cline, Mind
"Throughout the book, Angle makes good use of recent empirical studies. His book is very accessible for readers with a wide variety of backgrounds. Philosophers with no background in Chinese thought will find challenging and interesting discussions of many issues relevant to their own work. Furthermore, I think this book is also quite appropriate to assign to strong undergraduate students. I recommend it highly." - Bryan W. van Norden, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

Modern Hinduism in Text and Context brings together textual and contextual approaches to provide a holistic understanding of modern Hinduism. It examines new sources - including regional Saiva texts, Odissi dance and biographies of Nationalists - and discusses topics such as yoga, dance, visual art and festivals in tandem with questions of spirituality and ritual. The book addresses themes and issues yet to receive in-depth attention in the study of Hinduism. It shows that Hinduism endures not only in texts, but also in the context of festivals and devotion, and that contemporary practice, devotional literature, creative traditions and ethics inform the intricacies of a religion in context. Lavanya Vemsani draws on social scientific methodologies as well as history, ethnography and textual analysis, demonstrating that they are all part of the toolkit for understanding the larger framework of religion in the context of emerging nationhood, transnational and transcultural interactions.

Essential reading for serious students of Chinese practical arts, including medicine, martial arts and FengShui, Master Zhongxian Wu and Dr Karin Taylor Wu provide a detailed explanation of the 22 GanZhi symbols in this book, outlining the characteristics of each, and their interactions and relationships. TianGan (Heavenly Stems) and DiZhi (Earthly Branches), commonly abbreviated to GanZhi, originated in the ancient Chinese cosmological sciences and is a complex calendrical system which was created to codify the patterns of life and of the universe itself. The ten symbols of Gan express the Yin or Yang perspective of Five Elements and embody the Way of Heaven. The 12 symbols of Zhi, made manifest in the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac, hold the root of each Element and embrace the Way of Earth. Poetic summaries from the Song dynasty give the reader a deep understanding of the nature of each Stem and their relationship to each other. Offering an unprecedented insight into the subtleties and far-reaching influence of this ancient system, this book will be invaluable for the study or practice of Chinese medicine, FengShui, Chinese astrology, traditional Chinese cosmology, Qigong, Taiji, and other inner cultivation practices. A set of study cards (9781848191501), also published by Singing Dragon, are available to accompany this book.

Scholar, philosopher and political sage, Confucius lived at a turbulent time in his country's history, the so-called 'Spring and Autumn Period' of the sixth century BC, during which China was wracked by warfare between rival feudal states. Against this backdrop he developed a system of social and political behaviour that he hoped could be used to create harmony and peace throughout the land. The teachings of Confucius attracted a large number of pupils, but were largely ignored by the rulers of China's various kingdoms. As a result, he did not see his philosophical teachings applied during his lifetime. After his death, however, his teachings were kept alive by his followers, and within a few centuries, his philosophy (as outlined in The Analects, which record the words and acts of Confucius and his disciples) was adopted by China's rulers and became the foundation for Chinese government, education and social structure. Beyond its profound influence on the culture and history of East Asia, Confucianism has also exerted a powerful fascination for western thinkers and philosophers. Meher McArthur's accessible and thoughtful biography not only traces the outline of her subject's life, but also examines why Confucius and his teachings are still relevant today.

In this engaging volume, Daniel Gardner explains the way in which the Four Books-- Great Learning , Analects , Mencius , and Maintaining Perfect Balance --have been read and understood by the Chinese since the twelfth century. Selected passages in translation are accompanied by Gardner's comments, which incorporate selections from the commentary and interpretation of the renowned Neo-Confucian thinker, Zhu Xi (1130-1200). This study provides an ideal introduction to the basic texts in the Confucian tradition from the twelfth through the twentieth centuries. It guides the reader through Zhu Xi's influential interpretation of the Four Books, showing how Zhu, through the genre of commentary, gave new coherence and meaning to these foundational texts. Since the Four Books with Zhu Xi's commentary served as the basic textbook for Chinese schooling and the civil service examinations for more than seven hundred years, this book illustrates as well the nature of the standard Chinese educational curriculum.

In this controversial new book, Christopher A. Colmo offers a view of the 10th century Arab philosopher Alfarabi that draws attention to a previously unremarked aspect of his philosophic project. Colmo argues that as a philosopher Alfarabi felt compelled to question the philosophic tradition as deeply as he might question religious tradition, and this he did with such power and brilliance that the result was a new philosophic perspective. With unique access to both Islamic and pagan philosophical traditions, Alfarabi took the side of Greek philosophy as representative of human reason and defended its ultimate autonomy. However, Alfarabi went further, moving away from Plato and Aristotle's vision of philosophy as divine to an understanding of philosophy in a way that allowed it to be seen as knowledge and action in the service of human power and happiness. Alfarabi offers a powerful new answer to the question, why philosophy? His subtle defense of and debate with the ancients raises questions of hermeneutics as well as substantive questions of philosophy, politics, and theology. Breaking With Athens sheds new light on Alfarabi's enduring answers to perennial questions, making it essential for students of philosophy, political science, theology, and the history of ideas.

Running through the articles in this volume is the theme of the appropriation and subsequent naturalization of Greek science by scholars in the world of medieval Islam. The opening paper presents the historiography of this process, and the focus is then placed on Ibn al-Haytham, one of the most original and influential figures of the 11th century, and in particular in his contribution to the science of optics, both mathematical and experimental, and the psychology of vision. Professor Sabra then continues the analysis of how Greek thought was developed in the Islamic world with two studies of work based on Euclid's geometry and two on critiques of Ptolemaic astronomy. The final articles turn specifically to questions in the history of logic - Aristotelian syllogism, and Avicenna's views on the subject - matter of logic.

The motivation behind this important volume is to weave together two distinct, but we think complementary, traditions - the philosophical engagement with race/whiteness and Buddhist philosophy - in order to explore the ways in which these traditions can inform, correct, and improve each other. This exciting and critically informed volume will be the first of its kind to bring together essays that explicitly connect these two traditions and will mark a major step both in understanding race and whiteness (with the help of Buddhist philosophy) and in understanding Buddhist philosophy (with the help of philosophy of race and theorizations of whiteness). We expand upon a small, but growing, body of work that applies Buddhist philosophical analyses to whiteness and racial injustice in contemporary U.S. culture. Buddhist philosophy has much to contribute to furthering our understanding of whiteness and racial identity, the mechanisms that create and maintain white supremacy, and the possibility of dismantling white supremacy. We are interested both in the possible insights that Buddhist metaphysical, epistemological, and ethical analyses can bring to understanding race and whiteness, as well as the potential limitations of such Buddhist-inspired approaches. In their chapters, contributors draw on Buddhist philosophical and contemplative traditions to offer fresh, insightful, and powerful perspectives on issues regarding racial identity and whiteness, including such themes as cultural appropriation, mechanisms of racial injustice and racial justice, phenomenology of racial oppression, epistemologies of racial ignorance, liberatory practices with regard to racism, Womanism, and the intersections of gender-based, raced-based, and sexuality-based oppressions. Authors make use of both contemporary and ancient Buddhist philosophical and contemplative traditions. These include various Asian traditions, including Theravada, Mahayana, Tantra, and Zen, as well as comparatively new American Buddhist traditions.

Questions about difference are at the heart of many debates within contemporary feminism in the United States. In Transcultural Feminist Philosophy: Rethinking Difference and Solidarity Through Chinese-American Encounters, Yuanfang Dai critically assesses various approaches to the feminist difference critique, arguing that the fact that women experience gender oppression in different forms due to different social and cultural locations does not lead to the conclusion that it is impossible to generalize women's experiences. She thus proposes that we can construct a category of women that captures and respects differences among women and the possibility and the dynamics of what women can be in the future. To challenge the troubling ideology of multiculturalism and its institutionalization, Dai advances the claims of multicultural feminism and the postcolonial feminist critique by arguing that we need to reconceptualize not only culture, but also need to rethink multiculturalism as a framework. Examining Chinese feminist scholarship in transcultural settings, she then proposes a shift to transculturalism and argues that a transcultural approach is mediates assumed tensions between cultural diversity and gender equality. The transcultural approach promises to be a very useful framework by which feminists can explore the conditions of women's collective struggles.

Joseph Grange's beautifully written book provides a unique synthesis of two major figures of world philosophy, John Dewey and Confucius, and points the way to a global philosophy based on American and Confucian values. Grange concentrates on the major themes of experience, felt intelligence, and culture to make the connections between these two giants of Western and Eastern thought. He explains why the Chinese called Dewey "A Second Confucius," and deepens our understanding of Confucius's concepts of the way (dao) of human excellence (ren). The important dimensions of American and Chinese cultural philosophy are welded into an argument that calls for the liberation of what is finest in both traditions. The work gives a new appreciation of fundamental issues facing Chinese and American relations and brings the opportunities and dangers of globalization into focus.

Although the French philosopher, Hellenist and sinologist Francois Jullien has published more than thirty books, half of which have been translated into English, he remains much less known in the English-language universe than many of his fellow "French philosophers", which may be due to his work being perceived as within the limits of sinology. This book attempts to rectify this, highlighting Jullien's work at the intersection of Chinese and Western thought and drawing out the "unthought-of" in both traditions of thinking. This 'unthought-of' can be seen as the culture that conditions our thought, lessening our capacity for new ways of thinking and understanding. This notion of 'unthought-of' is at the core of Jullien's methodology, operating in what he calls the 'divergence of the in-between'. Written in an engaging style, Arne de Boever offers an accessible introduction to Francois Jullien's work, in the process emphatically challenging some of the core assumptions of Western reasoning.

This book presents the syllabus of Hu Shih's course on the History of Chinese Thought, which he taught at Harvard University from 1944 to 1945, and has been transcribed from his (more than 1500) hand-written notes. This book focuses on Hu Shih's in-depth study and interpretation of Chinese intellectual history and philosophy, etc. It also distills the development of China's long and complex intellectual history over the past 3,000 years into a clear and succinct outline. Transcribing, collating and publishing this valuable hand-written manuscript for the first time, the book represents a truly unique historical document.

Chris Fraser presents a rich and broad-ranging study of the culminating period of classical Chinese philosophy, the third century BC. He offers novel and informative perspectives on Confucianism, Daoism, Mohism, Legalism, and other movements in early Chinese thought while also delving into neglected texts such as the Guanzi, Lu's Annals, and the Zhuangzi 'outer' chapters, restoring them to their prominent place in the history of philosophy. Fraser organizes the history of Chinese thought topically, devoting separate chapters to metaphysics and metaethics, political philosophy, ethics, moral psychology, epistemology, and philosophy of language and logic. Focused specifically on the last century of the Warring States era, arguably the most vibrant, diverse period of philosophical discourse in Chinese history, the discussion covers the shared concerns, rival doctrines, and competing criticisms presented in third-century BC sources. Fraser explicates the distinctive issues, conceptual frameworks, and background assumptions of classical Chinese thought. He aims to introduce the philosophical discourse of early China to a broad audience, including readers with no prior familiarity with the material. At the same time, the thematic treatment and incisive interpretations of individual texts will be of interest to students and specialists in the field.