Confucianism: Its Roots and Global Significance

“In Confucianism: Its Roots and Global Significance, English language readers get a rare opportunity to read the work in a single volume of one of Taiwan’s most distinguished scholars. Although Lee Ming-huei has published in English before, the corpus of his non-Chinese writings is in German. Readers of this volume will discover the hard-mindedness and precision of thinking associated with German philosophy as they enter into Lee’s discussions of Confucianism. Progressing through the book, they will be constantly reminded that all philosophy should be truly comparative. . . .

“The work is divided into three parts: Classical Confucianism and Its Modern Re-Interpretations, Neo-Confucianism in China and Korea, and Ethics and Politics. These sections reveal the full range of Lee Ming-huei’s thinking, including his view of Confucian philosophy’s reach to encompass the whole of East Asia, Korea in particular. In the Ethics and Politics section, readers get a taste of Lee’s return to his own tradition through the lens of Kantian philosophy with his analysis of Confucius and Virtue Ethics. His thinking through Mou Zongsan’s interpretation of Confucianism, Zhu Xi, and the Huxiang scholars’ debate on ren and the unfolding of discussions over the ‘four buddings’ and ‘seven feelings’ in Korea by Yi Toegye and Gi Gobong set up the subsequent chapters of the book: a reconstruction of Wang Yangming’s philosophy and theories of democracy and a critique of Jiang Qing’s ‘Political Confucianism.’ To be sure, the interrelated ideas and arguments presented here contribute significantly to the Confucian project in English-speaking countries across the world.” —from the Editor’s Foreword