Stephen Angle here provides both an exposition of Neo-Confucian philosophy and a sustained dialogue with many leading Western thinkers--and especially with those philosophers leading the current renewal of interest in virtue ethics.

Stephen C. Angle is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Wesleyan University.

• Dedication; Preface; Chronology and Dramatis Personae;


• PART I: KEYWORDS:


• 1 - Sheng/Sage;


• 1.1 "Sage" in the Confucian Tradition;


• 1.1.1 Historical Survey;


• 1.1.2 Neo-Confucianism;


• 1.1.3 Shengren versus Junzi


• 1.2 Western Ideals;


• 1.2.1 Greece;


• 1.2.2 Contemporary Saints and Heroes;


• 1.3 Concerns About Sagehood;


• 1.3.1 Is Sagehood Realistic ?


• 1.3.2 Is Sagehood Desirable?


• 2 - Li/Coherence;


• 2.1 First Steps;


• 2.2 Subjective and Objective;


• 2.2.1 Nature and Subjectivity;


• 2.2.2 Settled Coherence and Objectivity;


• 2.3 Li and Qi


• 2.4 One and Many;


• 2.5 Normativity and Creativity;


• 3 - De/Virtue;


• 3.1 Virtue as a Bridge Concept;


• 3.2 Early


• 3.3 Neo-Confucian


• 3.4 Final Thoughts;


• 4 - He/Harmony;


• 4.1 Early Classical Sources;


• 4.1.1 Complementary Differences;


• 4.1.2 Natural Patterns and Creativity;


• 4.2 The Zhongyong ("Doctrine of the Mean");


• 4.3 Song Neo-Confucianism;


• 4.4 Wang Yangming: Summary and Initial Engagement;


• 4.4.1 Harmony, Coherence and One Body;


• 4.4.2 A Contemporary Example;


• 4.4.3 Politics;


• PART II: ETHICS AND PSYCHOLOGY;


• 5 - The Scope of Ethics: Dialogue with Slote and Murdoch;


• 5.1 Balance and Harmony in Slote's Agent-Based Ethics;


• 5.1.1 Caring, Humaneness (Ren ?), and Empathy;


• 5.1.2 Two Kinds of Balance;


• 5.1.3 The Motivation for Overall Balance;


• 5.1.4 Agent-Basing;


• 5.1.5 Reverence;


• 5.2 Murdoch on the Importance of a Transcendent Good;


• 5.2.1 Unity, Mystery, and Faith;


• 5.2.2 Selflessness;


• 5.3 Conclusion: The Scope of Ethics;


• 6 - Challenging Harmony: Consistency, Conflicts, and the Status Quo;


• 6.1 Nussbaum and Stohr Against "Harmony";


• 6.2 Imagination;


• 6.3 Maximization;


• 6.4 Residue;


• 6.4.1 Complicating the Picture;


• 6.4.2 Grief versus Regret;


• 6.5 Dimensions of Dilemmas;


• 6.6 Emotional Vanilla?;


• 6.6.1 Myers's Challenge;


• 6.6.2 Neo-Confucians on Anger;


• 6.6.3 Conclusions;


• 7 - Sagely Ease and Ethical Perception;


• 7.1 Wang Yangming on Analects


• 2:4; the Centrality of "Commitment";


• 7.1.1 Commitment in Classical Texts;


• 7.1.2 Commitment in Wang Yangming;


• 7.1.3 Deepening Our Commitment;


• 7.2 Connecting "Commitment" to "Unity of Knowledge and Action";


• 7.3 Cua on commitment to realizing a harmonious world;


• 7.3.1 Active Moral Perception;


• 7.3.2 Creativity Revisited;


• 7.4 A Fuller Picture;


• 7.4.1 Murdoch on M and D;


• 7.4.2 Intrusions of the Self;


• 7.4.3 "True Vision Occasions Right Conduct";


• PART III: EDUCATION AND POLITICS:


• 8 - Learning to Look for Harmony ;


• 8.1. Stages of Ethical Education;


• 8.1.1 Lesser Learning;


• 8.1.2 Establishing a Commitment;


• 8.1.3 Matur(ing) Commitment;


• 8.2. Practices of self-improvement;


• 8.2.1 Spiritual Exercises;


• 8.2.2 Ritual;


• 8.2.3 Reading;


• 8.2.4 Attention - First Steps;


• 8.2.5 Reverence;


• 8.2.6 Further Implications;


• 8.2.7 Reverence and Coherence;


• 8.2.8 Self-Restraint and Quiet Sitting;


• 8.2.9 Conclusion;


• 9 - Engaging Practices;


• 9.1 The Nature of Commitments;


• 9.2 Stages and the Accessibility of Sagely Ideals;


• 9.3 Attention Revisited;


• 9.4 Imagination and Fantasy;


• 9.5 Dialogue;


• 9.6 Faith and Belief;


• 10 - The Political Problem;


• 10.1 Introduction: The Trouble with Sagehood;


• 10.2 Sage and Politics in Song-Qing Neo-Confucianism;


• 10.2.1 Sage-King ideal;


• 10.2.2 Limits and Guidance;


• 10.2.3 Ritual; 10.2.4 Institutions;


• 10.2.5 Vaulting Ambition: Rulers Who Think They are Sages;


• 10.3 Confucian Soft Authoritarianism;


• 10.4 Separating the Moral from the Political?;


• 10.4.1 Yu Yingshi and Xu Fuguan;


• 10.4.2 Mou Zongsan;


• 11 - Sages and Politics: A Way Forward;


• 11.1 Perfection and Fallibility;


• 11.2 Reverence and Ritual;


• 11.3 Perfectionism and Institutions;


• 11.3.1 Moderate Perfectionism;


• 11.3.2 Confucian State Perfectionism;


• 11.3.3 Specificity and Particularism;


• 11.4 Participation;


• 11.4.1 Three Arguments;


• 11.4.2 Implications and Objections;


• 11.5 Laws and Rights as a System of Second Resort;


• 11.5.1 Rule by Law;


• 11.5.2 Law and Morality;


• 11.5.3 A Confucian Approach;


• Conclusion: The Future of Contemporary Confucianisms; Bibliography; Index Locorum; General Index