Mou Zongsan (1909-1995) was such a seminal, polymathic figure that scholars of Asian philosophy and religion will be absorbing his influence for at least a generation. Drawing on expertise in Confucian, Buddhist, Daoist, and modern Western thought, Mou built a system of "New Confucian" philosophy aimed at answering one of the great questions: "What is the relationship between value and being?" However, though Mou acknowledged that he derived his key concepts from Tiantai Buddhist philosophy, it remains unclear exactly how and why he did so. In response, this book investigates Mou's...

Liang Shuming (1895-1988) is one of the most important Chinese philosophers in twentieth century China. Generally considered to be a Confucian, and even the last Confucian, the author argues that he was in fact a Buddhist. Liang's thoughts are analysed within the background of the intellectual debates on religion in republican China. He reshaped the Western concept of religion from the standpoint of Yogācāra Buddhism. Yet, he advocated for the present time Confucianism as the ethical religion that would lead ultimately to the Buddhist liberation. Examining Liang's religious belief...

Jin Yuelin (1895-1984) was a leading philosopher in Republican-era China, yet he remains virtually unknown in the West. His major publications include a textbook on logic (Luoji), an epistemology (Zhishilun) and an ontology (Lun dao). Like many other Chinese intellectuals of his time, he was greatly influenced by Western ideas and terms. Most importantly, he considered the problem of induction, which was central to his thought, from the perspectives of epistemology and ontology. In his response to this problem, Jin employed terms drawn from Chinese tradition, as well as...

Mou Zongsan 牟宗三 (1909-1995) was the theoretical genius behind New Confucianism, a philosophical and cultural movement marking the revival of Ruxue in Asia and Northern America since the late 1970s. This book is the first thorough study in English of Mou's multi-faceted and complex system. It examines the key influences of Xiong Shili 熊十力 (1885-1968), G. W. F. Hegel (1770-1831), and Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) on the Chinese thinker and presents his thought as a contemporary moral metaphysical recasting of the Lu-Wang Learning of the Mind using...

Mou Zongsan (1909-1995) was one of the major Chinese philosophers of the twentieth century, whose entire intellectual enterprise consisted of rethinking the relevance in the modern age of Chinese thought in general and Confucianism in particular. Although his seminal work is now a reference point everywhere in the Chinese world, research on the topic in English remains scarce. This book explores a pivotal dimension of Mou's philosophy--that is, his project of reconstructing a moral metaphysics based largely on a dialogue between reinterpreted Chinese thought and Kantism. It provides the...

In Late Works of Mou Zongsan, Jason Clower publishes English translations of this most famous and influential of modern Chinese philosophers for the first time. In essays chosen for their clarity and approachability, this leading contemporary Confucian speaks on the topics that best define his career: the future of Chinese culture and philosophy, the unique achievements of Confucianism, the place of Buddhism and Daoism in Chinese culture, and the possibility of a new partnership between Chinese and Western thought.

This is an intellectual biography of Feng Youlan Fung Yu-lan] (1895-1990), one of the preeminent Chinese philosophers of the 20th century. Feng's life very well captured the vicissitudes of twentieth-century Chinese politics and scholarship. He made his name in the 1930s and '40s with a path-breaking approach to Chinese philosophy. And he was one of the few prominent pre-1949 non-Communist Chinese scholars who attempted to influence Chinese society with prolific publications after 1949. This monograph explores Feng Youlan's work and the trajectory of changes in Feng's philosophical outlook...

In Thome H. Fang, Tang Junyi and Huayan Thought, King Pong Chiu discusses Thome H. Fang and Tang Junyi, two of the most important Confucian thinkers in twentieth-century China, who appropriated aspects of the medieval Chinese Buddhist school of Huayan to develop a response to the challenges of 'scientism', the belief that quantitative natural science is the only valuable part of human learning and the only source of truth. As Chiu argues, Fang's and Tang's selective appropriations of Huayan thought paid heed to the hermeneutical importance of studying ancient texts in order to be more...

In On Human Action and Practical Wisdom, Yang Guorong offers a description of his "concrete metaphysics." This system seeks to overcome traditional metaphysical problems by providing a concrete basis - which serves as both the starting point and the final determining factor - for metaphysics. Yang gives a discussion of wisdom and practical action that begins in our everyday activities and social relationships, is extended to form universal principles, and finally refers back to actual situations for determining appropriateness. Based on his unification of ontology, epistemology and...

The Horizon of Modernity provides an extensive account of New Confucian philosophy that cuts through the boundaries between history and thought. This study explores Mou Zongsan's and Tang Junyi's critical confrontation with Marxism and Communism in relation to their engagement with Western thinkers such as Kant and Hegel. The author analyzes central conceptual aporias in the works of Mou, Tang, as well as Xiong Shili in the context of the revival of Confucianism in contemporary China and the emergence of the discipline of philosophy in twentieth-century Chinese intellectual history....