Online research in philosophy

Clower, Jason: The Unlikely Buddhologist, Tiantai Buddhism in M ou Zongsan’s New Confucianism Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-4 DOI 10.1007/s11712-011-9261-y Authors Sébastien Billioud, Univ Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité. UFR LCAO/East Asian Studies Department, Case 7009, 16 rue Marguerite Duras, 75205 Paris Cedex 13 Paris, France Journal Dao Online ISSN 1569-7274 Print ISSN 1540-3009.

Xiahui. While Confucius’ actions are intermediate between the actions of these three sages, the sages’ character traits do not bracket Confucius’ character traits. Instead, the failings of the three sages are skew to each other. Boyi lacks righteousness; Y i Yin lacks benevolence; and L iu Xiahui lacks wisdom. The comparison of the sages centers on the question of when to resign an advisory position. According to Mencius, one should resign only if one’s advice will not be heeded, or if (...) declining to resign would somehow lead to wrongdoing. Associating with wrongdoers and benefiting from the wrongdoing of others might lead to wrongdoing. Wrong motives might distort one’s advice. Insults from the advisee might be evidence of the futility of giving advice. But in themselves, fastidiousness, non-benevolent motives, and mistreatment by the advisee are not legitimate reasons to resign. (shrink)

Kam-por Yu, Julia Tao, and Philip J. Ivanhoe (eds.), Taking Confucian Ethics Seriously: Contemporary Theories and Applications Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-6 DOI 10.1007/s11712-011-9253-y Authors Karyn Lai, School of History of Philosophy, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia Journal Dao Online ISSN 1569-7274 Print ISSN 1540-3009.

Abstract This article examines the writings of the controversial 16th century thinker L i Zhi 李贄, also named ( hao 號) Zhuowu 卓吾 (1527–1602), and argues that he articulates a coherent and compelling vision of a good life focused on the expression of genuine feelings distinctive to each individual. Through a study of literary texts and terms of art he refers to in his critical essay “On the Child-like Heart-mind” ( Tongxin Shuo 童心說), as well as the metaphors and images (...) he fleshes out throughout his writings, I characterize Li’s ethical vision and show that it is rooted in a particular loose and accommodating conception of human nature and centered on the simple and intuitive act of daily maintaining the birthright of our “child-like heart-mind.” Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-19 DOI 10.1007/s11712-011-9258-6 Authors Pauline C. Lee, Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, and Program in Religious Studies, Washington University in Saint Louis, Campus Box 1111, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130-4899, USA Journal Dao Online ISSN 1569-7274 Print ISSN 1540-3009. (shrink)

Abstract Comparative studies involving early Confucian ethics often appear to assume that it is a unified approach to morality. This essay challenges that assumption by arguing that Confucius had a significantly different conception of ren , commonly viewed as central to Confucian ethics, from that of Mencius. It is generally accepted that ren has two senses: in a narrow sense, it is the virtue of benevolence (or compassion); in a broad sense, it is the all-encompassing ethical ideal. Both senses fail (...) to capture Confucius’ conception of ren , for the narrow sense fits only Mencius’ understanding of ren , while the broad sense lacks emphasis and precision. I propose a third sense of ren , that is, ren as an integral, higher-order virtue with respect as its most salient component. This sense of ren is more in keeping with the textual evidence in the Analects . It played a key role in Confucius’ political-moral thinking and made his doctrine diverge considerably from that of Mencius, who understood ren primarily as compassion. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-14 DOI 10.1007/s11712-011-9256-8 Authors Shirong Luo, Philosophy Department, Simmons College, 300 The Fenway, Boston, MA 02115-5898, USA Journal Dao Online ISSN 1569-7274 Print ISSN 1540-3009. (shrink)

Sun, Wei 孫偉, Reconstruction of Confucianism: A Re-Examination of Xunzi’s Thought 重塑儒家之道—荀子思想再考察 Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-5 DOI 10.1007/s11712-011-9260-z Authors Winnie Sung, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, 14 Nanyang Drive #06-01, 637332 Singapore, Singapore Journal Dao Online ISSN 1569-7274 Print ISSN 1540-3009.

Abstract This article examines the issue of the paradoxicality of institution, de-institutionalization, or the counter-institutionalization in classical Chan thought by focusing on the texts of Hongzhou School. It first analyzes the problem of 20th century scholars in characterizing the Chan attitude toward institution as iconoclasts, and the problem of the recent tendency to return to images of the Chan masters as traditionalists, as opposed to iconoclasts. Both problems are examples of imposing an oppositional way of thinking on the Chan masters. (...) The essay then introduces a new paradigm for interpreting the Chan attitude toward institution, the model of de-institutionalization, which borrows certain insights from Derrida’s idea of the counter-institutional. However, the new model is supported by the Chan heritage of Mahayana Buddhist philosophy. This model can more consistently construe the Chan understanding of the paradoxicality of institution, the subtle Chan relationship of being “with and against” institution, and the Chan “middle way” to make institution remain open to its outside and to transformation. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-17 DOI 10.1007/s11712-011-9255-9 Authors Wang Youru, Department of Philosophy and Religion Studies, Rowan University, Bunce Hall, 3rd Floor, 201 Mullica Hill Road, Glassboro, NJ 08028, USA Journal Dao Online ISSN 1569-7274 Print ISSN 1540-3009. (shrink)

Abstract From the perspective of world philosophy, one phenomenon of the 20th century is quite intriguing. Certain philosophers in China as well as in the West, finding the traditional conception of epistemology too narrow-minded, argued that its scope should be expanded. The Chinese way of expanding epistemology might be called the metaphysical approach, and the Western way the practical approach. In this article, I will first give an outline of both approaches and then try to demonstrate that a substantial dialogue (...) can be created between them. By focusing on the problem of the articulation of what we know, I will make the metaphysical approach and the practical approach engage each other and thus prove to be mutually complementary. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-18 DOI 10.1007/s11712-011-9259-5 Authors Zhenhua Yu, The Institute of Modern Chinese Thought and Culture, Department of Philosophy, East China Normal University, 500 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai, 200241 China Journal Dao Online ISSN 1569-7274 Print ISSN 1540-3009. (shrink)

Park, Jin Y. and Gereon Kopf, ed., Merleau-Ponty and Buddhism Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-4 DOI 10.1007/s11712-011-9262-x Authors Nobuo Kazashi, Graduate Schoool of Humanities, Kobe University, 1-1 Rokkodai-cho, Nada-ku, Kobe, Hyogo, 657-8501 Japan Journal Dao Online ISSN 1569-7274 Print ISSN 1540-3009.

Wang, Kai 王楷, Naturalistic Human Nature and Cultivation of the Self: The Spirit of Xunzi’s Virtue Philosophy 天然與修為—荀子道德哲學的精神. Beijing 北京: Peking University Press, 2011, 206 pages Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-4 DOI 10.1007/s11712-011-9252-z Authors Elizabeth Woo Li, Department of Philosophy, Peking University, Beijing, China Journal Dao Online ISSN 1569-7274 Print ISSN 1540-3009.

Cheng, Chunyi 鄭宗義, Confucianism, Philosophy and the Contemporary World 儒學、哲學與現代世界 Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-4 DOI 10.1007/s11712-011-9254-x Authors Ching Kit Wu, Philosophy Department, The School of Humanity, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084 China Journal Dao Online ISSN 1569-7274 Print ISSN 1540-3009.