This book introduces fifteen representative philosophers in ancient China, including Confucius, Laozi, Mencius, Zhuangzi, influential Neo-Taoist scholars, and prominent Neo-Confucian thinkers. It reveals the fundamental problems of each philosopher, clarifies the connotation of the concept as well as the specific reference of the problem, and presents the inherent context and structure of each philosopher's thoughts. Further, the author analyzes a selection of these ancient philosophers' main propositions and demonstrates the argumentation and proof processes behind the basic philosophical insights. As such, this book is a valuable academic resource for scholars and the interested readers wanting to gain an in-depth understanding of ancient Chinese philosophy today.

This book explores a new model for addressing the central issue of environmental and other collective actions. An alternative to the classical models: central authority, privatization, and self-governance, it has provisionally been named "expert and scholar-based-" or "knowledge-driven governance". The book also identifies seven working rules (or design principles) for successful knowledge-driven governance, and argues that the more strictly these rules are abided by, the more successful this model of governance becomes. Lastly, it demonstrates that in addition to Lindblom's observed intellectually guided society and preference-guided/volition-guided society, there may be the possibility of a knowledge-driven society in which knowledge or intellect plays a greater role. The results obtained are supplemented by numerical calculations, presented as tables and figures. This book is intended for graduate students, lecturers and researchers working in environmental management, environmental science and engineering, sustainable development, collective action, and public administration.