Reviewed by friend of the blog, Justin Tiwald, at NDPR: http://ndpr.nd.edu/review.cfm?id=17606
It’s good to see updated translation of Wang Yangming and Lu Xiangshan’s Neoconfucianism. What else would be nice to have in English?
Warp, Weft, and Way
Chinese and Comparative Philosophy 中國哲學與比較哲學
I tend to think the world needs more Xiong Shili and Wang Fuzhi. The English resources on both are pretty paltry and, more often than not, entirely secondary in nature. At least insofar as I’ve observed it.
Thanks, Manyul. I tend to think that now is an ideal time to be an aspiring translator of the neo-Confucians (broadly construed to include any Confucian after the Song dynasty and before Westernization). They’re sophisticated, there are a lot of them, they’re undeniably influential, and demand for them well outstrips supply.
Here are a couple of philosophers that will be at the top of almost everyone’s list, not least because of their historical import.
– Zhu Xi (what we have so far is only a sliver of his corpus)
– Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi
I think there are quite a few undervalued neo-Confucians in need of translations as well, especially the following two.
– Wang Fuzhi
– Yan Yuan
On my view Wang Fuzhi and Yan Yuan stand up very well to philosophical scrutiny, and Western-trained philosophers would really profit from them (directly or indirectly). I feel the same way about Dai Zhen and Zhang Xuecheng, but their major works have already been translated.
Speaking of Zhang Xuecheng, see the announcement from Stanford University Press on the Announcement page.