Philosophy East and West

Abstract:

In this essay a particular Chinese conception of wisdom (the one we come across in the Zhongyong and Zhou Dunyi's Tongshu) is brought into a dialogue with a small part of the contemporary Anglo-European philosophical debates on autonomy. This conversation not only aims at deepening our appreciation of that conception of wisdom, it also attempts to explore new conceptualizations of autonomy. In order to make sense of autonomous agency within the framework of this particular conception of wisdom, it discusses several understandings of autonomy. In the end, it proposes an understanding of autonomy that is modeled on what is introduced as acquiescence as suited to reconcile autonomy and the idea of wisdom under scrutiny here.