Updated July 2023

This page details education, academic positions, other appointments, and various publications.

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Education

Academic Positions

  • Ph.D. 1986

    Philosophy

    Stanford University

  • B. Phil 1982

    Philosophy

    Oxford University

  • M. Phil 1978

    Philosophy

    University of Hong Kong

  • B.A. Hons 1978

    Philosophy

    University of London (External Degree)

  • B.A. Hons 1975

    Philosophy and Mathematics

    University of Hong Kong

  • Present2014

    Professor of Philosophy (Recalled)

    University of California at Berkeley

  • 20132010

    Sin Wai Kin Professor of Chinese Culture

    Chinese University of Hong Kong

  • 20132007

    Chair Professor of Philosophy

    Chinese University of Hong Kong

  • 20062004

    Professor of Philosophy and East Asian Studies

    University of Toronto

  • 20031996

    Professor of Philosophy

    University of California at Berkeley

  • 19961990

    Associate Professor of Philosophy

    University of California at Berkeley

  • 19901986

    Assistant Professor of Philosophy

    University of California at Berkeley

Other Appointments

  • 20132011

    Director, Institute of Chinese Studies

    Chinese University of Hong Kong

  • 20132010

    Head, New Asia College

    Chinese University of Hong Kong

  • 20062004

    Principal, University of Toronto at Scarborough

    University of Toronto

  • 20032000

    Dean of the Undergraduate Division, College of Letters and Science

    University of California at Berkeley

  • 20001998

    Dean of Undergraduate Services, College of Letters and Science

    University of California at Berkeley

  • 19981997

    Visiting Professor

    National University of Singapore

  • 19971993

    Assistant Dean of the College of Letters and Science

    University of California at Berkeley

  • 20031990

    Affiliation with Department of East Asian Languages and Culture

    University of California at Berkeley

Current Research

His main research project is a multi-volume work in Confucian moral psychology that started in 1988. Initially conceptualized as a three-volume project, it has now evolved into a five-volume work. The goal is to start with close textual studies of early and later Confucian thought, and then transition to a primarily philosophical study of Confucian moral psychology, with close attention to the methodological issues involved. The first volume, Mencius and Early Chinese Thought, was published by Stanford University Press in 1997. A complete manuscript of the second volume, Zhu Xi and Later Confucian Thought (tentative title), was finished in 2010. It then underwent significant expansion and revision, making use of the large body of primary materials now available in electronic databases. Work on the third volume, From Philology to Philosophy (tentative title), started in 2007, and this volume will focus on methodological issues in the transition from textual studies to philosophical explorations. The fourth and fifth volumes provide a comprehensive study of Confucian moral psychology, the former addressed primarily to philologists with a philosophical interest, and the latter primarily to a philosophical audience. Work on these two volumes commenced in 2014, and the main theme in these two volumes was presented in his Presidential Address, “On the Idea of ‘No Self’”, delivered at the Annual Meeting of the American Philosophical Association (Pacific Division) in 2018.

Publications Since 2003

“Readiness to Forgive is Not a Virtue,” forthcoming in Lara Buchak & Dean Zimmerman (eds.) The Norton Introduction to Philosophy of Religion.

Ming and Acceptance,” in Yang Xiao & Kim Chong Chong, eds. Dao Companion to the Philosophy of Mencius (Springer Nature, 2023): 379-398.

Qing 情 in Confucian Thought,” Journal of Chinese Philosophy 49:3 (2022): 267-280.

“Anger, Compassion, and the Distinction between First and Third Person,” Australasian Philosophical Review, 5:4 (2021): 327-343.

“Ethical Practitioners and Intellectual Commentators – Response to Commentators,” Australasian Philosophical Review, 5:4 (2021) 418-430.

“Dimensions of Humility in Early Confucian Thought,” Journal of Chinese Philosophy, 48:1 (April, 2021): 13-27.

“The Primacy of Practice and the Centrality of Outlook,” in Panayiota Vassilopoulou & Daniel Whistler eds. Thought: A Philosophical History, London & New York: Routledge (2021): 21-35

“Zhu Xi and the Idea of One Body,” in Ng, Kai-chiu & Huang, Yong eds. Dao Companion to the Zhu Xi’s Philosophy, New York: Springer (2020): 389-444

“On the Idea of ‘No Self’,” Presidential Address delivered at the 92nd Pacific Division Meeting of the American Philosophical Association in 2018, Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association 92 (Nov 2018): 78-107.

Le in the Analects,” in Goldin, Paul R., ed., A Concise Companion to Confucius (Wiley-Blackwell, 2017): 133-147.

“Methodological Reflections on the Study of Chinese Thought,” in Tan, Sor-hoon, ed. Bloomsbury Research Handbook on Methodology in Chinese Philosophy (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2016): 57-74.

“Studying Confucian Ethics from the Inside Out,” Dao 15:4 (Dec 2016): 511-532.

“Confucian Learning and Liberal Education,” Journal of East-West Thought 6:2 (June 2016): 5-21

“Zhongguo Sixiang de Zhexue Yanjiu 中國思想的哲學研究,” translation of “A Philosophical Study of Chinese Thought,” Hangzhou Shifan Daxue Xuebao 杭州師範大學學報 37:6 (2015): 1-8.

On Anger – An Essay in Confucian Moral Psychology,” David Jones & He Jinli, eds., Rethinking Zhu Xi: Emerging Patterns within the Supreme Polarity (State University of New York Press, 2015).

Ethical Self-Commitment and Ethical Self-Indulgence,” in Brian Bruya, ed., Philosophical Challenge from China, (MIT Press, 2015).

Nivison and the Philosophical Study of Confucian Thought,” Early China 38 (2015).

Contextualizing Early Confucian Discourse: Comments on David B. Wong,” Dao 14:2 (June 2015).

Dai Zhen on Nature (Xing) and Pattern (Li),” Journal of Chinese Philosophy 41:1-2 (March-June 2014).

Resentment and Forgiveness in Confucian Thought,” Journal of East-West Thought 4:4 (December 2014).

On Reflective Equanimity: A Confucian Perspective,” in Li Chenyang & Ni Peimin, eds., Moral Cultivation and Confucian Character: Engaging Joel J. Kupperman (State University of New York Press, 2014)

Three Kinds of Confucian Thought: Zhu Xi, Wang Yangming, and Dai Zhen,” in Zhong Caijun 鐘彩鈞 ed., Confucianism in East Asian Perspectives: On Its Traditions (東亞視域中的儒學: 傳統的詮釋) (Taipei: Academia Sinica, 2013)

On Jing : Thinking Through Tang Junyi on Chinese Culture in Diaspora,” in Chinese Studies (漢學研究) 31:2 (June 2013), 35-61.

Early Confucian Moral Psychology,” in Vincent Shen, ed., Dao Companion to Classical Confucian Philosophy (Springer, 2013)

Confucian Ethics,” International Encyclopedia of Ethics (John Wiley & Sons, 2013).

The Philosophical Study of Chinese Thought,” in News and Views: The Journal of the International Academy for Philosophy, 3:1-2 (2011). Reprinted in Journal of East-West Thought, 1:2 (March, 2012).

Wang Yangming on Self-Cultivation in Daxue,” Journal of Chinese Philosophy vol. 38, issue supplement s1 (December 2011)

Cong rujia jiaodu shi lun nu” 從儒家角度試論怒, translation of “On Anger – An Essay in Confucian Moral Psychology,” Wang Wen-sheng, ed., Hanyu zhexue xin shihuo 《漢語哲學新視域》(Taipei: Xuesheng Shuju, 2011).

Ru-jia si-xiang yu bi-jiao-lun-li-xue di yan-jiu: fang-fa-lun di fan si儒家思想與比較倫理學的研究: 方法論的反思, translation of “Studying Confucian and Comparative Ethics: Methodological Reflections,” in Liu Xiaogan, ed., Chinese Philosophy and Culture (中國哲學與文化), Vol. 7 (June 2010).

Zhu Xi on the ‘Internal’ and the ‘External’: A Response to Chan Lee,” Journal of Chinese Philosophy vol. 37, no. 4 (December 2010).

Zhu Xi’s Moral Psychology,” in John Makeham, ed., Dao Companion to Neo-Confucian Philosophy (Springer, 2010).

Purity, Moral Trials, and Equanimity,” Tsing Hua Journal of Chinese Studies, New Series, vol. 40, no. 2 (June 2010).

Lunyu zhong de ren yu li” (論語中的仁與禮), translation of “Jen and Li in the Analects,” Fang Xudong 方旭東 ed., Moral Philosophy and the Confucian Tradition 道德哲學與儒家傳統 (China, Shanghai: Huadong Shifang Daxue Chubenshe 華東師範大學出版社 2010).

Studying Confucian and Comparative Ethics: Methodological Reflections,” Journal of Chinese Philosophy, 36:3 (September 2009).

Jaoqi Rujia Sixiang Zhong Ren De Gainian早期儒家思想中人的概念, translation of “Concept of the Person in Early Confucian Thought,” Jiang Xinyan, ed., Yingyu Shijie Zhong De Zhongguo Zhexue (Chinese Philosophy in the English Speaking World) (Beijing: Zhongguo Renmin Daxue Chubenshe, 2009).

Wholeness in Confucian Thought: Zhu Xi on Cheng, Zhong, Xin, and Jing” in On-cho Ng, ed., The Imperative of Understanding: Chinese Philosophy, Comparative Philosophy, and Onto-Hermeneutics (New York: Global Scholarly Publications, 2008)

Ru-xue si-xiang zhong di chun-cui-guan – Zhu Xi lun xu, jing yu si儒學思想中的純粹觀 – 朱熹論虛.. 與私, translation based on “Purity in Confucian Thought: Zhu Xi on Xu, Jing and Wi,” Li Ming-hui & Chen Wei-fen, ed., Li-jie quan-shi yu ru-jia-chuan-tong: ge-an-pian (Understanding, Interpretation and the Confucian Tradition: Case Studies) (Taiwan: Institute of Chinese Literature and Philosophy, Academia Sinica, 2008).

Zhu Xi and the Lunyu” in David Jones, ed., Contemporary Encounters with Confucius (Open Court, 2008).

Confucian Ethics in Retrospect and Prospect, co-edited with Vincent Shen (The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy, 2008)

Purity in Confucian Thought: Zhu Xi on Xu, Jing, and Wu”, Kim Chong Chong and Yuli Liu, eds., Conceptions of Virtue: East and West (Singapore: Marshall Cavendish, 2006).

Mencius,” Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2d. ed. (Macmillan, 2006).

Chinese Philosophy: Confucianism,” Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2d. ed. (Macmillan, 2006).

Mengzi lun renxing” 孟子論人性, translation of “Mencius on Jenhsing,” James Behuniak Jr & Roger T. Ames eds., Mengzi xinxing zhi xue (Mencius’ Learning of Mental-Nature) (China: Social Sciences Academic Press, PRC, 2005).

Zhu Xi on Gong and Si,” Dao, Vol. V (2005).

Mencius,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2005-2014).

Review of Effortless Action: Wu-wei as Conceptual Metaphor and Spiritual Ideal in Early China,” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies (2005).

Confucian Ethics: A Comparative Study of Self, Autonomy, and Community, co-edited with David B. Wong (Cambridge University Press, 2004).

Concept of the Person in Early Confucian Thought,” David B. Wong & Kwong-loi Shun, ed., Confucian Ethics: A Comparative Study of Self, Autonomy and Community (Cambridge University Press, 2004).

Jen and Yi,” Encyclopedia of Religion (Macmillan, 2004).

On the Idea of Axiology in Pre-Modern Chinese Philosophy,” Robin Wang, ed., Chinese Philosophy in an Era of Globalization. (State University of New York Press, 2004).

“Theories of Human Nature,” Encyclopedia of Chinese Philosophy (Garland Publishing, Inc., 2003).

“Moral Philosophy,” Encyclopedia of Chinese Philosophy (Garland Publishing, Inc., 2003).

“Moral Psychology,” Encyclopedia of Chinese Philosophy (Garland Publishing, Inc., 2003).

Ch’eng (Wholeness, Sincerity),” Encyclopedia of Chinese Philosophy (Garland Publishing, Inc., 2003).

Ch’eng-i (Making One’s Thoughts Sincere),” Encyclopedia of Chinese Philosophy (Garland Publishing, Inc., 2003).

Chung (Conscientiousness) and Hsin (Trustworthiness),” Encyclopedia of Chinese Philosophy (Garland Publishing, Inc., 2003).

Hsiao (Filial Piety),” Encyclopedia of Chinese Philosophy (Garland Publishing, Inc., 2003).

Hsing (Human Nature),” Encyclopedia of Chinese Philosophy (Garland Publishing, Inc., 2003).

Hsiu-shen (Self-Cultivation),” Encyclopedia of Chinese Philosophy (Garland Publishing, Inc, 2003).

Ko-wu (Investigation of things) and Chih-chih (Extension of Knowledge),” Encyclopedia of Chinese Philosophy (Garland Publishing, Inc., 2003).

“Mencius,” Robert L. Arrington, ed., A Companion to the Philosophers (Blackwell Publishers, 1999). Reprinted in The World’s Great Philosophers (Blackwell Publishers, 2003).

Selected Publications Before 2003

Mencius and Early Chinese Thought (Stanford University Press, 1997).

Mencius, Xunzi and Dai Zhen: A Study of the Menzi ziyi shuzheng,” Alan Chan, ed., Mencius: Contexts and Interpretations (University of Hawaii Press, 2002).

“Self and Self-Cultivation in Early Confucian Thought,” Bo Mou, ed., Two Roads to Wisdom? Chinese and Analytic Philosophical Traditions (Open Court, 2001).

“Ideas of the Good in Chinese Philosophy,” Eliot Deutsch & Ron Bontekoe, ed., A Companion to World Philosphy (Blackwell Publishers, 1997).

“Mencius on Jen-hsing,” Philosophy East and West, Vol. 20 (1997).

“Ideal Motivations and Reflective Understanding,” American Philosophy Quarterly, Vol. 33 (1996).

“Mengzi Gaozishang diliuzhang shujie” 孟子告子上第六章疏解 (“An Analysis of Meng Tzu 6A:6″), Li Ming-hui, ed., Mengzi sixiang di zhexue tantao (Philosophical Investigations into Mencius’s Thinking) (Taiwan: Institute of Chinese Literature and Philosophy, Academia Sinica, 1995).

Jen and Li in the Analects,” Philosophy East and West, Vol.43 (1993). Reprinted in Bryan W. Van Norden, ed., Confucius and the Analects: New Essays. (Oxford University Press, 2003).

“Mencius’ Criticism of Mohism: An Analysis of Meng Tzu 3A:5,” Philosophy East and West, Vol. 41 (1991).

“Intending as a Means,” Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, Vol. 66 (1985).