Bryan Van Norden’s review of Tao Jiang, Origins of Moral-Political Philosophy in Early China (Oxford, 2021) has been published in Mind vol. 134.
Category Archives: Book Review
Obryk Reviews Zhao, Aristotle and Xunzi on shame, moral education, and the good life
Please see the Bryn Mawr Classical Review site here for Matylda Amat Obryk’s review of Jingyi Jenny Zhao, Aristotle and Xunzi on shame, moral education, and the good life. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2024).
Lei and Zhao review Meynard and Major, eds., Dao Companion to Liang Shuming’s Philosophy
The latest issue of Chinese Literature and Thought Today contains a review by Jiahao Lei & Ziqiang Zhao of Thierry Meynard and Philippe Major, eds., Dao Companion to Liang Shuming’s Philosophy (Spring 2023).
Angle Reviews Slote, Philosophical Essays East and West
My review of Michael Slote’s 2023 book Philosophical Essays East and West: Agent-Based Virtue Ethics and other topics at the intersection of Chinese thought and Western analytic philosophy has now been published on-line in Mind (see here). The review begins:
For more than a decade, Michael Slote has been undertaking an ambitious program of philosophical engagement with Chinese philosophy. The volume under review is the latest fruit of this engagement, which to date has resulted in at least seven English-language journal articles (the earliest dating from 2009) and one prior collection of essays; a bilingual English-Chinese book; numerous Chinese-language essays (translated from English originals); and a collection of essays called Michael Slote Encountering Chinese Philosophy in which a variety of scholars discuss his work and Slote responds. The present review will focus on Philosophical Essays East and West while keeping this larger body of work in view.
Over the course of the fairly lengthy review I discuss Slote’s “world philosophy” approach and his extensive use of the concepts of yin and yang, xin, and various other categories derived from Chinese philosophy. In brief, I find Slote’s work to be both methodologically and substantively fascinating. Comments are of course welcome!
Loy Reviews Kim, Confucian Constitutionalism
Sungmoon Kim, Confucian Constitutionalism: Dignity, Rights, and Democracy, Oxford University Press, 2023, 296pp., $83.00 (hbk), ISBN 9780197630617.
Reviewed by Hui-chieh Loy, National University of Singapore
Sungmoon Kim’s book continues his long-standing project of bringing together insights from Confucianism and a political theorizing meant to be fit for the modern world. Like his earlier works, the new book combines interesting discussions of pre-modern texts and thoughtful applications of ancient ideas to modern concerns. The ambition of the book, as stated early on, is to articulate a “democratic theory of Confucian constitutionalism” (1). This ambition situates Kim’s book within the ongoing debate between the two main competing strands of modern Confucian political theorizing: Confucian political meritocracy and Confucian democracy. Kim advocates for the latter, putting his proposals…
Book Review: Zhang, Datong lijiao: Kang Youwei zhengzhi sixiang yanjiu
Federico Brusadelli (University of Naples “L’Orientale”) reviews Zhang Xiang, Datong lijiao: Kang Youwei zhengzhi sixiang yanjiu (Beijing: Shehui kexue wenxian chubanshe, 2023) here. Read on for an excerpt from the review:
Mutschler Reviews Barsch, Plato Goes to China
In the Bryn Mawr Classical Review, Fritz-Heiner Mutschler (Technische Universität Dresden) reviews:
Shadi Bartsch, Plato goes to China: the Greek classics and Chinese nationalism. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2023.
Full review here.
Nylan Reviews Hunter, The Poetics of Early Chinese Thought
From H-Net Reviews, Michael Nylan reviews Michael Hunter, The Poetics of Early Chinese Thought: How the Shijing Shaped the Chinese Philosophical Tradition. New York: Columbia University Press, 2021.
Reviews of Kwak and Tao in JSPP
Issue 2.2 of the Journal of Social and Political Philosophy has been published and includes at least two pieces of interest to blog readers:
- Haig Patapan’s review of Jun-Hyeok Kwak, ed. Machiavelli in East Asia, Routledge, 2022.
- Ellie Hua’s review of Tao Jiang, Origins of Moral-Political Philosophy in Early China, Oxford University Press, 2021.
Click here for 30-days free access to the journal.
Sullivan Reviews PWOL Books
The latest issue of Ethics (133:4) contains a Review Essay titled “Philosophy as a Way of Life” by Meghan Sullivan that collectively reviews the books published to date in Oxford’s Guides to the Good Life series:
- Nicolas Bommarito, Seeing Clearly: A Buddhist Guide to Life (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020)
- Jennifer Anna Gosetti-Ferencei, On Being and Becoming: An Existential Approach to Life (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020)
- Stephen C. Angle, Growing Moral: A Confucian Guide to Life (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022)
- Karen Stohr, Choosing Freedom: A Kantian Guide to Life (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022)
