Public reason as a political ideal aims to reconcile reasonable disagreement; however, is public reason itself the object of reasonable disagreement? Jonathan Quong, David Estlund, Andrew Lister, and some other philosophers maintain that public reason is beyond reasonable disagreement. I argue this view is untenable. In addition, I consider briefly whether or not two main versions of the public reason principle, namely, the consensus version and the convergence version, need to satisfy their own requirements. My discussion has several important implications (...) for the debate on public reason. (shrink)

Much of contemporary political philosophy revolves around debates over perfectionism, which is the view that the state may, or should, promote valuable conceptions of the good life and discourage conceptions that are worthless or bad. Collis Tahzib has recently proposed a unique theory of perfectionism. I examine two central aspects of his theory: the amalgamation of public reason and perfectionism, and the employment of the Rawlsian lexical priority. I argue that Tahzib’s idea of perfectionist public reason has certain serious problems. (...) Additionally, Tahzib, like many other perfectionists, has neglected that many excellences are at once personal and civic. I sketch a perfectionist account of civic virtue, with the hope of opening up space for defending and justifying perfectionism. (shrink)

Confucian scholars should satisfy two conditions insofar as they think their theories enable Confucianism to make contributions to liberal politics and social policy. The liberal accommodation condition stipulates that the theory in question should accommodate as many reasonable conceptions of the good and religious doctrines as possible while the intelligibility condition stipulates that the theory must have a recognizable Confucian character. By and large, Joseph Chan’s Confucian perfectionism is able to satisfy the above two conditions. However, contrary to Chan and (...) many other Confucian scholars, I argue that any active promotion of Confucianism will violate the liberal accommodation condition. I propose the “wide view of moderate perfectionism,” which enables Confucianism to shed light on a wide range of political and social issues without promoting Confucianism actively. Thus, I present a new approach to the long-standing question of how Confucianism may improve political and social development in a liberal society. (shrink)

(Winner of The Res Publica Essay Prize) This article defends a moderate version of state perfectionism by using Gerald Gaus’s argument for liberal neutrality as a starting point of discussion. Many liberal neutralists reject perfectionism on the grounds of respect for persons, but Gaus has explained more clearly than most neutralists how respect for persons justifies neutrality. Against neutralists, I first argue that the state may promote the good life by appealing to what can be called “the qualified judgments about (...) the good life,” which have not been considered by liberal perfectionists including Joseph Chan and Steven Wall. Then I clear up several possible misunderstandings of these judgments, and argue that: (a) moderate perfectionism does not rely on controversial rankings of values and is committed to promoting different valuable ways of life by pluralistic promotion; and (b) moderate perfectionism requires only an indirect form of coercion in using tax money to support certain moderate perfectionist measures, which is justifiable on the grounds of citizens’ welfare. Thus, I maintain that moderate perfectionism does not disrespect citizens, and is not necessarily unfair to any particular group of people. It is, in fact, plausible and morally important. The defence of moderate perfectionism has practical implications for the state’s policies regarding art development, drug abuse, public education, and so on. (shrink)

Some Confucian scholars have recently claimed that Confucian political meritocracy is superior to Western democracy. I have great reservations about such a view. . . .

In Public Reason Confucianism, Sungmoon Kim presents an important Confucian political theory that seeks to combine a specific conception of Confucianism and the ideal of public reason. My article examines this theory and identifies some of the theoretical complications with Rawlsian public reason.

What role, if any, should Confucianism play in the politics of our time? In some of my previous works, I claimed that modern liberal states are not permitted to promote Confucian values on the basis of their intrinsic merits. Yet, drawing insights from Joseph Chan’s moderate state perfectionism and John Rawls’s wide view of public political culture, I proposed the “wide view of moderate perfectionism.” According to this view, in public political discussion, citizens should be allowed to deliberate whether and (...) how Confucianism, among other reasonable moral doctrines, can make positive contributions to their social and political thinking and public policymaking, provided that certain conditions are met. This view has been criticized by some scholars, in particular Zhuoyao Li. Li argues that the practice of the wide view of moderate perfectionism would inevitably harm civility. In this article, I clarify and develop the wide view and respond to Li’s criticisms. (shrink)

Basic course of study of elementary Buddhist logic and dialectical studies.

In contemporary Anglo-American political philosophy, perfectionism is widely understood as the idea that the state may, or should, promote valuable conceptions of the good life and discourage conceptions that are worthless or bad. As such, debates over perfectionism occupy a central place in contemporary political philosophy because political philosophers are deeply concerned about whether or not a liberal state is permitted to promote any particular ethical or religious doctrine or impose it on its citizens. -/- In general, contemporary perfectionists do (...) not argue for the state’s pursuit of any religious doctrine. They only maintain that the state is permitted to make a wide range of public policies with the aim of promoting the good life. These policies, commonly found in liberal democratic societies, may include subsidizing museums and art galleries, preserving cultural heritage, setting up public libraries and providing free access to reading materials, encouraging athletic excellence, conserving nature and biodiversity, and educating citizens about the harm of recreational drugs. Nevertheless, perfectionism remains controversial among philosophers and political scientists. -/- It might be beneficial to take a sympathetic view of perfectionism and consider how perfectionists might defend their position against some of the common objections. These objections mainly include: (a) that the state does not possess legitimate authority to make decisions about the good life and seek to promote it; (b) that perfectionist policies are generally illiberal and paternalistic; and (c) that conceptions of the good life are objects of reasonable disagreement and hence cannot legitimately be promoted by the state. In addition, the nature and importance of perfectionist policies and politics will be discussed. (shrink)

The Philosophical Forum, Volume 52, Issue 1, Page 5-16, Spring 2021.

Popular sovereignty is one of the most widespread but poorly understood notions in modern politics. Exalted as the highest principle of democratic legitimacy, the idea of popular sovereignty has been given various but broadly similar formulations. . . .

History and development of Buddhism in general and Tibet in particular; includes comparative philosophy of Buddhism with Hinduism.

Study on fundamental of Buddhist logic and dialectical studies explaining the difficult points.

Elementary Buddhist logic and dialectical studies.

Study on Madhyamakālaṅkāra text by Śāntarakṣita, 705-762.

Elucidation of some important passages of Buddhist philosophy from various sources with Sanskrit equavalent.

Study on Tibetan Buddhist logic and dialectical method.

Study on the commentary of seven treatises of Buddhist logic (sapta pramanaśastra) of Dharmakīrti, 7th cent.

Study on the commentary of seven pramāṇaśastra (Buddhist logic) by Acharya Dharmakīrti, 7th century.

Study on the commentaries sapta-pramāṇaśāstra (Buddhist logical doctrines) by Ācharya Dignāga, 5th century.

On Buddhist logic and dialectical studies.

Study on seven treatises of Buddhist logical doctrines (sapta-pramāṇa-śāstra) of Acharya Dignāga, 5th cent.

ObjectiveTo test the relationship between social security satisfaction, social fairness, social trust, and people’s subjective wellbeing in China and the serial mediation effect in this study.MethodsWe utilized the data from Chinese Social Survey in 2017 and 2019, involving 31 provinces across the country. There were 5,398 samples in 2017CSS and 2,580 samples in 2019CSS selected by the research objectives. There were 4,269 women and 3,709 men with the average age of participants being 43.ResultsThe results showed that the actual status of (...) social security satisfaction, social fairness and trust, and SWB were greater than the theoretical status overall. Social security satisfaction [β = 0.454, p < 0.001, 95% CI = ], social fairness [β = 0.065, p < 0.001, 95% CI = ], and social trust [β = 0.108, p < 0.001, 95% CI = ] positively influenced people’s SWB, respectively. Social fairness had a positive effect on social trust. Social fairness and social trust partly mediated the relationship between social security satisfaction and SWB, respectively. Social security satisfaction indirectly influenced SWB through the serial effect of social fairness and social trust. The total effect of SWB explained is 47% in the serial mediation model.ConclusionSatisfactory social security is likely to cause a high level of people’s SWB, social fairness, and social trust. It is beneficial to form a virtuous circle in society. Allowing people to obtain satisfactory social security is conducive to social equity, promoting social trust, and improving people’s SWB. (shrink)

Compilation of some important works on basic course of study of elementary Buddhist logic and dialectrical studies of Bkra-śis-lhun-po Monastery, a college of Buddhist studies in Bylakuppe, Karnataka, India.

Basic course of study of elementary Buddhist logic and dialectical studies.

Critical analysis on essential points of the seven texts of Buddhist logic (Sapta Pramāṇaśāstra).

The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted mobility worldwide. As a corollary, the health of top- and lower-level athletes alike is profoundly reliant on movement and exercise. Thus, the aim of this study is to understand impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown on athletes’ motivation to exercise and train. In detail, we aim to better understand who reported a change in motivation to train due to the lockdown, why they reported lower motivation, what they did to help themselves, what support they (...) received from others, and what they are looking forward to after the lockdown. Questionnaire data and answers to these open-ended questions were assessed via an online questionnaire, completed by 95 amateur and recreational athletes during the first COVID-19 lockdown in Germany. Results show that greater numbers of female athletes are less motivated to train in comparison to male athletes. No differences in motivation were found regarding type of sport and number of competitions during the year. Also, more motivated to train amateur and recreational athletes showed lower athletic identity than athletes who reported no change in motivation to exercise during the lockdown. Additionally, differences in state emotional, perceived stress, and personality variables were found between athletes who stated that they were less motivated to train compared to athletes who reported no changes in motivation. In particular, closure of sports facilities and social distancing measures were perceived to be highly problematic. Even though athletes received emotional support, organized themselves via routines and schedules, and trained using online tools, they predominately stated that they wished that their coaches would have supported them more. Understanding the impacts of a pandemic-related lockdown on athletes’ motivation, athletes’ coping strategies, and their desired support will help better support them in future crises. (shrink)

Explanation of the philosophical position (siddhānta) of the Vaibhāṣika, Sautrāntika, Yogācārya, and Mādhyamika schools of Buddhism.

Study on Pramnānabhūta, Buddhist logic of authoritative.

Since 1973 the world economy has been characterized by a relatively slow pace of expansion in output and trade, accompanied by high unemployment and strong inflationary pressures. With this has gone an emerging energy problem, monetary instability, a growing pressure for protectionism, a declining demand for certain products and a change in the pattern of the international movement of labour and capital.In this article, the consequences of these international features for the Flemish economy are analysed. From this analysis, it has (...) become clear that the international economic crisis has revealed more clearly the structural problems of the Flemish economy, especially in the field of economic growth, competitiveness, pattern of investments and industrial structure. This has resulted in a very high unemployment rate, which moreover will probably not disappear with an eventual improvement of theinternational economic situation : whereas the Flemish economy has gained largely from the oil based industrial expansion, it is not participating at present in the socalled third, by sofisticated technology led industrial revolution.Consequently, more and more labour-intensive activities are taken over by less developed countries, whereas some of the capital-intensive industrial sectors have to cope with a growing technological gap.To stem this unfavourable development, there is an urgent need for a powerful and planned structural policy, which must as a matter of priority force back the unemployment rate to an acceptable level. In this context, regionalisation might be a powerful instrument, as it offers to the regions the possibility of creating own solutions for their own problems. (shrink)

Review of Douglas S. Duckworth (2019). Tibetan Buddhist Philosophy of Mind and Nature. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Selected writings of Dmu-dge Thub-bstan-rgya-mtsho, etc. on diverse subjects of Tibetan Buddhist doctrines and philosophy.

Harald Grimen: Hva er tillit. Universitetsforlaget, 2009. 151 sider.

Explanation of the stages of refuge, the principle practice of Bon.

Basic course of study of elementary Buddhist logic and dialectical studies.

volume ka-pa [1-13]. ʼDul ba -- volume ka-a [14-25]. ʼBum [Sher phyin] -- volume ka-kha, a [26-28]. Nyi khri -- volume ka-nga [29-32]. Khri brgyad stong pa -- volume ka [33]. Brgyad bstong pa -- volume ka [34.] Sher phyin sna tshogs -- volume ka-ga, a [35-38]. Phal chen -- volume ka-cha [39-44]. Dkon brtsegs -- volume ka-am [45-76]. Mdo sde -- volume ka-wa [77-96]. Rgyud ʼbum -- volume ka-ga [97-99]. Rnyin rgyud -- volume shri [100]. Dus ʼgrel -- volume (...) e-wam101-102. Gzungs ʼdus -- volume 103. Dkar chag. (shrink)