Winner of 2024 Dao Annual Best Essay Award

Dao has established “The Annual Best Essay Award” since 2007. In addition to a certificate of achievement, the award comes along with a prize of US$1,000. The award winners will be noted in the website of the journal as well as the website of Springer, the publisher of the journal. The award ceremony is held each year at the American Philosophical Association Annual Meeting (Eastern Division) in early January, where a special panel on the theme of the award-winning essay is held. The critical comments and the author’s responses to them presented at the panel, after review and revision, will be published in the last issue of Dao each year.

The selection process consists of two stages. First, a nominating committee of three editorial board members, who have not published in Dao in the given year, is established. This committee is charged with the task of nominating three best essays from all those published in the previous year. These three essays are then sent to the whole editorial board for deliberation. The final winner is decided by a vote by all editorial board members who are not authors of the nominated essays.

The editorial board has just finished its deliberation on the best essay published in 2024, and the result is:

2024 Dao Annual Best Essay Award
Kevin M DeLapp, “Confucian Ritual and Aristotelian Habit,” Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy 23 (2024): 173-189 (Free Access to the Paper)

Kevin M DeLapp’s “Confucian Rituals and Aristotelian Habits” goes far beyond the simple comparison between these two ideas. Fully aware of their significant differences, DeLapp reveals what he calls their structural analog: they play a similar role in underwriting their more general ethical frameworks. He debunks the stereotypes of Aristotle as individualistic and rationalistic and of Confucius as parochial and non-rationalistic, and also shows the ways in which virtue ethics and role ethics can be complementary. The paper is textually sensitive and philosophically innovative. It is the type of comparative philosophy Dao aims to promote.

CFP: 2026 APA NAKPA at George Mason University USA

The North American Korean Philosophy Association (NAKPA) is organizing two group sessions at the 2026 Eastern Division Meeting of APA (American Philosophical Association) in Baltimore, Maryland USA. The 2025 APA Eastern Division Meeting will be held in person at Marriott Waterfront in Baltimore, Maryland from January 7 (Wed) –10 (Sat), 2026. For application, please see more information below. Continue reading →

Special Issue of the Taiwan Journal of East Asian Studies: Lapland Manifesto of Confucianism

The Taiwan Journal of East Asian Studies (臺灣東亞文明研究學刊) has published a special issue in June dedicated to the “Lapland Manifesto of Confucianism”. The Manifesto, launched at the inaugural conference of the Nordic Network on Chinese Thought (NNCT) in 2021, is a document that explores the enduring relevance and merits of the Confucian tradition for modern societies both in China and elsewhere, discussing questions related to, inter alia, democracy, individualism, and participatory citizenship. (The Manifesto in English and Chinese can be found at the University of Lapland website) The Manifesto was authored by Torbjörn Lodén (Professor Emeritus, University of Stockholm), Matti Nojonen (Professor, University of Lapland) and Jyrki Kallio (Title of Docent, University of Lapland).

Additionally, the special issue includes an introduction to the Manifesto as well as two dedicated feature articles and two feature comments. Please visit here to access the full issue.

A Speculation on the History of tì 弟/悌

At this link is a downloadable long paper defending a speculation on the history of tì 弟/悌.

Edward O. Shaughnessy has convinced me in personal communication that the part of this paper about the Odes is at least inadequately argued—or, as he would say, wrong. I have now posted an improved version of some of the rest of the paper (click here), focusing on xiàotì in the Analects and the Mencius.  –BH, 5/25/2026

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Episode 20 of “This Is the Way”: Confucianism vs. Buddhism (our first “live show”)

One influential justification for becoming Buddhist is to end suffering, starting (it seems) with the Buddhist practitioner’s own suffering. Does this indicate that Buddhist practitioners are selfish? After Buddhism became popular in China, many Confucians argued that Buddhism puts personal salvation before ethics, and is thus selfish in that respect. Some Confucians also objected to the particular sort of compassion that Buddhists were supposed to adopt (“unconditioned compassion”), insisting that it was fundamentally incompatible with the special attachments needed for important human relationships between family members and close friends.

In our first show before a live audience, Justin presents two criticisms of Buddhism, Jenny Hung 洪真如 defends Buddhism against the criticisms, and Richard moderates. The show was held at a meeting of the American Philosophical Association, and many wiser experts in the audience weighed in as well. Join us for the lively (and quite friendly) “debate.” Continue reading →

2025 Annual NAKPA (Korean Philosophy) Conference at George Mason University

The annual NAKPA conference will be held at George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, June 26 & 27, 2025, for two full days under the auspices of Professor Young-chan Ro together with the Department of Religious Studies and Korean Studies center at GM. The host professor Ro will also gives a keynote address. Attached please find the conference program. Continue reading →