Joseph Grange's beautifully written book provides a unique synthesis of two major figures of world philosophy, John Dewey and Confucius, and points the way to a global philosophy based on American and Confucian values. Grange concentrates on the major themes of experience, felt intelligence, and culture to make the connections between these two giants of Western and Eastern thought. He explains why the Chinese called Dewey "A Second Confucius," and deepens our understanding of Confucius's concepts of the way (dao) of (...) human excellence (ren). The important dimensions of American and Chinese cultural philosophy are welded into an argument that calls for the liberation of what is finest in both traditions. The work gives a new appreciation of fundamental issues facing Chinese and American relations and brings the opportunities and dangers of globalization into focus. (shrink)

Provides a set of normative measure sto assess the value of nature and proposes the new discipline of foundational ecology as a response to environmental crisis.

Technology can be based on aesthetic sensibility rather than becoming just one more aggressive assault on nature. Resources for such an alteration of cultural consciousness can be found within the Daoist understanding of nature as unceasing birth, death, and rebirth. The articulation of such a perspective can use the tools developed within the tradition of American Naturalism. Dewey and Peirce, in particular, offer ways of establishing a community of inquiry based on such a sensibility.

Despite the 300 years of philosophy separating them. Spinoza and Heidegger are committed to a unifying vision of the human and the natural. Such a perspective encourages a renewed understanding of the place of feelings in environmental studies. Neither untrustworthy reactions nor neutral readings of environmental stimuli, human feelings are the basic way in which we encounter the world. The primordial character of emotions in both Spinoza and Heidegger follows from their commitment to the unity of reality. An understanding of (...) both thinkers opens up being. feeling. and environnlent as the proper subject matter of ecology. Environmental studies will begin to advance again when it dedicates itself to the potential riches of such a unitive vision. (shrink)

In this thorough compendium, nineteen accomplished scholars explore, in some manner the values they find inherent in the world, their nature, and revelence through the thought of Frederick Ferré. These essays, informed by the insights of Ferré and coming from manifold perspectives—ethics, philosophy, theology, and environmental studies, advance an ambitious challenge to current intellectual and scholarly fashions.

In this thorough compendium, nineteen accomplished scholars explore, in some manner the values they find inherent in the world, their nature, and revelence through the thought of Frederick FerrZ. These essays, informed by the insights of FerrZ and coming from manifold perspectives—ethics, philosophy, theology, and environmental studies, advance an ambitious challenge to current intellectual and scholarly fashions.

Diverse voices explore the possibility of doing metaphysics in light of contemporary critiques.

Our planet is sick and perhaps on a tipping point of extinction. The causes are well known—global warming, the collapse of the world economy, human greed, and thermonuclear war—to name but a few agents at work in the contemporary world. America and China hold the world's destiny in their grip. How they will interact is unknown. What is known is that both civilizations have in their traditions the ways and means to reverse this approaching apocalypse. Each country is now passing (...) through cultural explosions. This article searches classical Chinese and American philosophy for concepts and social forms that can give shape to this era of upheaval. I have confidence in the genius of Confucius as well as that of certain great classical American philosophers. Read together they can help us come to deal with both the decay of established orders and the overwhelming novelty now sweeping through our consciousness. (shrink)

I argue that Spinoza’s concept of “intuitive knowledge” is rooted in his notion of experienced unity. Following an analysis of this notion of unity, and its general application to human emotional life, I provide an analysis of intuitive knowledge designed to integrate Spinoza’s notion of “Iiberation” with his theory of emotions. Two shorter sections are provide which deal with the Spinozistic concept of love, and the fact-value distinction within a Spinozistic framework.

An environmental philosophy of the contemporary city, this book develops a theory of good urban growth involving both the physical and cultural dimensions of city life.

The disappearance of the public good as a subject of philosophical discourse is described. The work of Confucius and the work of John Dewey contain robust concepts of the public good, but in the controversial work of Richard Rorty the idea of the public good undergoes a radical transformation. The Great Learning of Confucius, John Dewey's "The Public and Its Problems", and Richard Rorty's "Contingency, Irony and Solidarity" are examined. What emerges from this cross-cultural study is a reconsideration of the (...) relation between metaphysics and social philosophy. (shrink)

This paper presents a reflection upon Plato’s good that surpasses even being. It looks for parallels between Western and Asian sources and examines aspects of Pierce and Whitehead’s philosophy in some detail. Ultimately, it attempts to vindicate metaphysics from accusations of death.

• Sixteen collected essays examine Chinese Philosophy around 4 major topics • Furthers and deepens fundamental inquiries, including: What is philosophy? Is there more than one origin of philosophy? Have we embraced other traditions as well as integrated others into our own? How do we view Chinese philosophy in the multi-origins of the world philosophy and vice versa? • The second volume of the festschrift for celebrating the Journal of Chinese Philosophy’s 40th anniversary.

Those accustomed to viewing John Locke as the benign forefather of American Liberalism will be shocked by this book, for Locke was neither benign nor liberal nor even tolerant when it came to serious things in life like money, economic policy, and the Bank of England. In this careful and exhaustive study of Locke's philosophy of money, Caffentzis details the ways in which Locke sought to replace the concept of God, State, Law, and other ultimates with a much more empirically (...) reliable "substance"--money. Locke, it seems, was quite willing to allow any amount of exotica to pass for religion, but his tolerance gave out when it came to the coin of realm. (shrink)

This brilliant book is a landmark in contemporary ethical studies. I cannot do it justice in so short a review so I will simply list its main arguments and cite some of its virtues. This achievement comes as cultural postmodernism recedes from its high watermark. Left in its wake are numerous battered but still important parts of philosophy such as metaphysics and ethics. Desmond’s work goes a long way to restoring the connection between these two disciplines. The result is a (...) study textured with the still valid findings of ancient, modern, and contemporary philosophers. It is a relief to be spared the straw men of recent philosophical debate while being simultaneously nourished by respectful presentations of Plato, Aristotle, Thomas, Spinoza, Kant, and Hegel. Here is an author who takes seriously the history of philosophy and uses it to anchor and develop his own positions. (shrink)