This book explores what happens when we take Neo-Confucianism and its ideal of sagehood seriously as contemporary philosophy. It develops an interpretation of the Neo-Confucian tradition that, while historically grounded in detailed readings of Zhu Xi, Wang Yangming, and others, is open to further development and critique; and also reflects on ways that Neo-Confucian perspectives challenge or enhance issues of concern to contemporary Western philosophers like Martha Nussbaum, Michael Slote, Iris Murdoch, Lawrence Blum, Christine Swanton, and others involved in the revival of virtue ethics. The ... More

This book explores what happens when we take Neo-Confucianism and its ideal of sagehood seriously as contemporary philosophy. It develops an interpretation of the Neo-Confucian tradition that, while historically grounded in detailed readings of Zhu Xi, Wang Yangming, and others, is open to further development and critique; and also reflects on ways that Neo-Confucian perspectives challenge or enhance issues of concern to contemporary Western philosophers like Martha Nussbaum, Michael Slote, Iris Murdoch, Lawrence Blum, Christine Swanton, and others involved in the revival of virtue ethics. The book develops novel interpretations of core Neo-Confucian ideas like “coherence (li),” “harmony (he),” and “reverence (jing).” These interpretations underpin the book's accounts of Neo-Confucian theories about moral psychology, active moral perception, overcoming moral conflicts and dilemmas, and moral education. In each case, the book looks at these topics both as issues within contemporary Confucianism, and as sources of stimulus and challenge for Western philosophers. In the final chapters the book addresses topics within political philosophy like rights, law, participation, and the relation between sagehood and democracy. Finding the resources we can get out of Neo-Confucianism in this area to be too thin, at this point the book engages additionally with twentieth-century “New Confucian” philosophers like Mou Zongsan. Throughout, the book's goal is to articulate a plausible and attractive picture of how and why people should strive for sagehood, and to show how the arguments for this picture that can be developed out of Neo-Confucianism resonate with and challenge current thinking in many areas of philosophy.