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.
Category Archives: Book Review
Angle Reviews Ziliotti, Meritocratic Democracy
The Review of Politics recently published a review I wrote of Elena Ziliotti’s excellent book Meritocratic Democracy: A Cross-Cultural Political Theory (Oxford, 2024). Please see here for the review.
Song Reviews Xin, Lure of the Supreme Joy
In the latest issue of the Journal of Chinese Studies, Bin Song has published a review of Xin Conan-Wu’s intriguing 2024 book, Lure of the Supreme Joy: Pedagogy and Environment in the Neo-Confucian Academies of Zhu Xi. For more on the book itself, see the publisher’s site here; for Song’s review, see here.
Van Norden Reviews, Jiang, Origins of Moral-Political Philosophy in Early China
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.
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.
