New Directions in Chinese Philosophy

In May 2009, a 4-day international conference was held on the campus of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) to celebrate the 60th anniversary of its Department of Philosophy and New Asia College, and to commemorate the centenary of Professor Tang Chun-I, founding chairman of the Department of Philosophy, Co-organized by the Department of Philosophy, New Asia College (both at CUHK), the Alumni Association of the Department of Philosophy of CUHK, and the Dharmasthiti Group, the conference chose “New Directions in Chinese Philosophy” as the theme. It attracted over 70 scholars from China, Taiwan, Singapore, U.S.A., Canada, and Hong Kong to present their papers and share their fruits of research. The Chinese and English papers, after positively reviewed, are now published in two separate volumes as No. 20 and No. 21 of New Asia Academic Bulletin.

The issue of the Bulletin is a collection of 10 English papers presented at the conference. The 3 English keynote speeches form Part 1 of the Bulletin, Henry Rosemont, Jr. in his speech shows his ciritical analysis on contemporary individualism, and demonstrates the possible contribution of Confucian role ethics to the 21st centry. Roger Ames further elaborates on Confucian role ethics, particularly on how personal identify in Confucian role ethics can be achieved. Donald Munro draws information from evolutionary psychology and cognitive neurosciences that are relevant to ethics, to support his notion of “foreknowledge” as an ethical value that may bring about a “marriage between economics and ethics.” Part 2 contains 7 papers, each with its own focus of concern and approach, such as: Pre-Qin Confucianism as seen from the point of view of cognitive science and virtue ethics; the relationship between “hearing” (wen) and “harmony” (he) in Confucian self-cultivation; how Tang Chun-I’s philosophy of culture serves as a succession of the transformative dimension of Confucianism; interpretation of Zhuangzi’s butterfly dream from symbolism and Jungian psychology; Wang Bi’s notions of principle (li), centrality (zhong), and substance/function (tiyong); Tang Chun-I’s comparative philosophy; and Tang’s interpretation of Liu Zongzhou’s thought.

This two-volume set shows our participants’ and bold attempts to explore new directions in Chinese philosophical studies which, to various extents, make a meaningful response to Tang Chun-I’s thought on “a new orietnation for the study of Chinese philosophy.”