Category Archives: Book Review

Bell Reviews Bruya and Li, trans., Dialogues of Confucius

A review by Daniel Bell of Brian Bruya and Wenwen Li, trans., Dialogues of Confucius: The Complete Text (Princeton, 2026) has been published in the Times Literary Supplement. An excerpt:

…A magnificent new translation by Brian Bruya and Wenwen Li introduces this treasure of intellectual history to the anglophone world. We now know much more about Confucius the person, and about the context for some of the puzzling quotes in the Analects. Best of all, we learn new arguments that push the boundaries of the rich and complex Confucian tradition in new directions….

Kalmanson Reviews Song, Debating Transcendence

Bin Song, Debating Transcendence: Creatio ex nihilo and Sheng Sheng, Fordham University Press, 2026, 336pp., $40.00 (pbk) ISBN 9781531512095.

Reviewed by Leah Kalmanson, University of North Texas

Bin Song enters longstanding debates over the status of transcendence as a concept in Chinese thought with a book that offers clarity, nuance, and a compelling theoretical intervention. In facing the question of whether Chinese thought has a concept of transcendence, voices on opposing sides often claim the same underlying commitment. Those who answer “yes” are often aligning themselves against Eurocentrism, that is, against the idea that European thought has privileged access to certain philosophical or religious insights. Yet those who answer “no” are also often aligning themselves against Eurocentrism. That is, they are making the point that we should…

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Jin Reviews Li, Confucian Comparative Political Philosophy

Yong Li, Confucian Comparative Political Philosophy, Routledge, 128pp., $200.00 (hbk) ISBN 9781032671871.

Reviewed by Yutang Jin, Department of Politics and Public Administration, University of Hong Kong

In philosophical works, it is difficult to combine bold innovation with intellectual humility. The reason is straightforward—to show creativity, an author is tempted to grandstand about their originality. I consider Yong Li’s Confucian Comparative Political Philosophy one of the rare cases where the author successfully combines each of these two virtues without sacrificing the other. This book is a recent intervention in contemporary Confucian political theory, an increasingly important field that connects the Confucian intellectual tradition and cultural practices to normative questions in political theory. Written with exceptional analytical rigor and high accessibility, this book can serve as an ideal reference…

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Cline reviews Ivanhoe and Wang, Korean Women Philosophers, at NDPR

Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

Philip J. Ivanhoe and Hwa Yeong Wang, Korean Women Philosophers and the Ideal of a Female Sage: Essential Writings of Im Yungjidang and Gang Jeongildang, Oxford University Press, 2023, 304 pp., $30.99 (pbk) ISBN 9780197508695.

Reviewed by Erin M. Cline, Georgetown University

“Are there any lineages of women philosophers in Confucianism?” When students in my Chinese Philosophy classes ask this question, I enjoy answering yes. Now, I am delighted to be able to assign the work of the philosophers I tell them about. This book collects and translates, for the first time, the work of the first and only explicit lineage of Confucian women philosophers: Im Yunjidang (1721-1793) and Gang Jeongildang (1772-1832).[1] They are rooted in the Korean Confucian tradition, a much-neglected but extraordinarily rich and sophisticated branch of Confucianism that has had a deep and enduring impact in East Asia….

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Angle Reviews Li, Reshaping Confucianism

Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

Chenyang Li, Reshaping Confucianism: Philosophical Explorations, Oxford University Press, 2023, 344pp., $36.99 (pbk), ISBN 9780197657638.

Reviewed by Stephan C. Angle, Wesleyan University

Over a career spanning more than three decades, Chenyang Li has become one of the world’s leading interpreters of Confucian philosophy. From the beginning, he has been interested in both historical interpretation and more contemporary questions about comparison across traditions and philosophical development. Reshaping Confucianism is the culmination of Li’s work so far, bringing together and further refining a range of his groundbreaking arguments on issues including harmony, care, ritual, gender, freedom, and equality, as well as on newer topics like friendship, longevity, and civic education. The book is both an ideal overview of Li’s wide-ranging views and, taken as…

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Book Symposium on Xiang, Chinese Cosmopolitanism

A book symposium was recently published in the Journal of Social and Political Philosophy about Shuchen Xiang’s book Chinese Cosmopolitanism. It comprised comments by David C. Kang, Byung-ho Lee and Huaiyu Wang and a response from the author. The issue is here; direct links to the comments and response, as well as summaries of a couple of the comments, follow below.

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