Philosophy, Daoist and Confucian Studies
Isaiah Berlin - The Russian-British philosopher and political thinker. Though not writing about China, Berlin cuts through the enthusiasm for meritocracy as a determinant of ability to govern. On Political Judgment. New York Review of Books, October 3, 1996. On Political Judgment
Lucian W. Pye – Political scientist, taught at MIT. Known for political psychology, using history and culture to inform domestic and foreign policy. Sample work - China: Erratic State, Frustrated Society. Foreign Affairs Magazine, Fall 1990. Erratic State, Frustrated Society and International Relations in Asia: Culture, Nation, and State. Sigur Center for Asian Studies, George Washington University, July, 1998 International Relations in Asia and Civility, Social Capital, and Civil Society: Three Powerful Concepts for Explaining Asia. Journal of Interdisciplinary History XXIX:4 (Spring, 1999) Civility, Social Capital, and Civil Society and The Spirit of Chinese Politics. Harvard University Press, 1992.
David Hall and Roger Ames – Individually and together, authors of primary reference works on Confucianism and Chinese philosophy. Roger Ames is professor of philosophy at the University of Hawaii. David Hall is professor of philosophy at the University of Texas. Chinese thinking as ars contextualis. Some sample work –Section 1 in Chinese Philosophy. Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Routledge
David Hall and Roger Ames. Anticipating China: Thinking Through the Narratives of Chinese and Western Culture. SUNY Press, 1995.
David Hall and Roger Ames. Chinese Philosophy. Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Article Summary Routledge Summary
Useless Tree – Ancient Chinese Thought in Modern American Life - Sam Crane's Blog – A wonderful site for serious thought about Taoism and Confucianism in China and the US, now and long ago. Sam also writes at the Los Angeles Review of Books China Channel Sample work – The Continuing Decline of Filiality. Useless Tree blog, at Decline of Filiality September 09, 2011 and Further to a Critique of "The China Model." Useless Tree blog, December 9, 2015. Further to a Critique of "The China Model"
Warp, Weft, and Way – A group blog addressing Chinese and comparative philosophy, managed by Stephen Angle and Manyul Im. Warp, Weft, and Way
Tu Weiming – Tu is probably the best known Confucian scholar in the US. He has written and lectured extensively in the US. Certainly the most recognized current thinker on New Confucianism. Articles, books, and videos are readily available and easily readable. Tu Weiming.net Sample work - Confucianism and Liberal Education for a Global Era, Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, Georgetown University, October 1, 2013 Berkley lecture and Confucian Humanism as a Spiritual Resource for Global Ethics, Peace and Conflict Studies, 16:1, August 1, 2009 Confucian Humanism
Stephen Angle – Professor of Philosophy at Wesleyan University University site Sample work - Pluralism in Practice: Incommensurability and Constraints on Change in Ethical Discourses. Varieties of Ethical Reflection, Michael Barnhart, ed. Lexington, 2002. Abstract
Ci Jiwei – Ci does not have a personal blog or web site, but he is an very influential writer on political philosophy in China. Many of his papers can be found at Ci Jiwei papers Sample work –
What is in the Cloud? A Critical Engagement with Thomas Metzger on “The Clash Between Chinese and Western Political Theories.” Boundary 2, 34:3(2007) Ci-Metzger
His book Moral China in the Age of Reform, Cambridge University Press, 2015 is the indispensable source for understanding moral freedom and its lack in China. Moral China in the Age of Reform
Joseph Chan – Chan does not have a personal blog or web site. He teaches at Hong Kong University. His recent book, Confucian Perfectionism, is a must read for applying Confucian ideas to western culture. University CV Confucian Perfectionism
Haiyan Lee – Professor of languages and literature at Stanford. Further discussion of moral lacunae in current day China. The Stranger and the Chinese Moral Imagination. Stanford University Press, 2014 The Stranger
Guy Alitto – Professor of history and east Asian languages at University of Chicago. Further work on moral freedom. Sample work - The Meaning of Freedom: Yan Fu and the Origins of Chinese Liberalism (review). China Review International 18:2, September 19, 2011. Available at Chinese Liberalism
Michael Sandel - Sandel teaches the famous Justice course at Harvard. He does not claim to be a Confucian or a communitarian, but he is certainly a fellow traveler in virtue ethics. Sample work – all the videos of the Justice course are available at Justice course lectures, starting with lecture 1 from 2015. Starts with the trolley car story.
George Orwell. 1984. Signet Classic, 1961. Origin of doublethink and related. Available at Orwell 1984
Thomas A. Metzger - Metzger taught philosophy at the University of California – San Diego for many years. Sample work – The Western Concept of the Civil Society in the Context of Chinese History. Hoover Essays, Book 21. Hoover Institution Press, 1998. Western Concept of Civil Society
His 2005 book, A Cloud Across the Pacific : Essays on the Clash between Chinese and Western Political Theories Today explains quite clearly the how and why of political differences between China and the west. A key distinction is that between Asian epistemological optimism and faith in leaders, and western epistemological pessimism and belief in the Lord Acton provision. The Amazon source - A Cloud Across the Pacific
Wm. Theodore de Bary – scholar of Confucian studies at Columbia; died 2017. National Endowment for the Humanities Medal Sample work - The Great Civilized Conversation: Education for a World Community (CUP, 2013) and
Asian Values and Human Rights: A Confucian Communitarian Perspective. Harvard University Press (2000) and The Trouble with Confucianism, (Harvard University Press, 1991) Lecture format Tanner Lecture
