La “política de adaptación” se trataba de una manera pacífica en la difusión de las doctrinas de Dios. Sin embargo, esta estrategia no significó un consenso entre todos los misioneros en el Oriente. En el caso de China, la Evangelización se encontraba con enormes dificultades en la etapa inicial del proceso, entre los motivos principales, se encontraba la dificultad del idioma chino, la singularidad de la cultura autóctona, la filosofía confuciana arraigada y el poder absolutamente centrista. Los misioneros jesuitas que (...) llegaron a la tierra de Ming en los siglos XVI y XVII, desempeñaron un papel pionero en las comunicaciones científicas entre China y el Occidente. En este sentido, se puede decir que la historia de la misión jesuita de China durante la dinastía Ming está estrechamente vinculada con el origen de los estudios chinos en Europa. (shrink)

Resumen: Las dinastías Ming y Qing marcaron un periodo de grandes cambios en el pensamiento político y cultural chino. Durante este periodo, la relación monarca-súbdito fue un tema central en el estudio del confucianismo y un componente central de la cultura tradicional china, que durante mucho tiempo ha sido objeto de interés entre estudiosos de diversos campos. Este artículo examina el desarrollo de las antiguas relaciones monarca-súbdito chinas desde la perspectiva de los factores históricos y el desarrollo del confucianismo. (...) Además, se analiza y discute la relación monarca-súbdito en el confucianismo Ming y Qing a partir de las teorías de influyentes pensadores como Gu Yanwu, Huang Zongxi y Wang Fuzhi. Este análisis ofrece valiosas perspectivas sobre la innovación integral del confucianismo en el nuevo contexto histórico. (shrink)

Resumen: Cuando se habla del renacimiento del budismo a finales de la dinastía Ming, los estudiosos echan en falta el estudio de ricos registros locales, regiones específicas y casos típicos. El templo de Jingshan, en Hangzhou, proporciona una muestra de este tipo. Una manifestación destacada del templo de Jingshan a finales de la dinastía Ming es la emergencia de todo un conjunto de anales. Diferentes grupos, como los monjes, los magistrados y la alta burguesía, participaron en (...) la redacción de la historia de Jingshan de forma diacrónica en el mismo espacio. Las diferentes versiones de los Anales de Jingshan revelan el entrelazamiento de los acontecimientos históricos, las tendencias de la época y los deseos de varios grupos en distintas regiones, lo que arroja luz sobre el desarrollo que los registros históricos budistas empezaron a tener con otros clásicos ajenos al budismo en lugar de centrarse únicamente en los sutras budistas. Este proceso pone de manifiesto que el renacimiento del budismo a finales de la dinastía Ming es también un estado activo diacrónico alcanzado por las actividades de personas con diferentes propósitos en un área específica. (shrink)

Resumo: Após o reinado do Imperador Jiajing, da Dinastia Ming, à medida que o problema dos piratas japoneses se tornava cada vez mais grave, começaram a ser publicados livros dedicados ao estudo do Japão. Entre eles, os mais importantes são Uma Breve Pesquisa do Japão (Ri Ben Kao Lue), Uma Compilação de Mapas Japoneses (Ri Ben Tu Zuan), O Espelho do Japão (Ri Ben Yi Jian), Uma pesquisa do Japão (Ri Ben Kao), Um registro de Costumes Japoneses (Ri Ben (...) Fen Tu) Ji) e A Biografia de Piratas Japoneses em Qiantai (Qian Tai Wo Zhuan). Entre eles, O Espelho do Japão é um especial. Além disso, há também livros especiais para apresentar a situação geral do Japão, como A Coleção de Mapas Militares Costeiros (Chou Hai Tu Bian), Resistência aos Piratas Japoneses na Dinastia Ming (Huang Ming Yu Wo Lu), a Compilação de Defesa Costeira (Hai Fang Zuan Yao) e a Continuação da Categoria de Defesa Costeira nas Regiões Zhedong e Zhexi ( Liang Zhe Hai Fang Lei Kao Xu Bian). Como Zheng Shungong, autor do livro O Espelho do Japão, visitou o Japão duas vezes, muitos conteúdos do livro são baseados em sua própria experiência e conhecimento. Portanto, sua pesquisa sobre o Japão foi além da literatura semelhante da Dinastia Ming, em amplitude, profundidade e precisão. Além disso, o registro e as análises dos piratas japoneses no livro são de grande valor de pesquisa. Antes da publicação dos Anais do Japão (Ri Ben Tu Zhi), de Huang Zunxian, O Espelho do Japão era uma das monografias de mais alto nível sobre o Japão, na China antiga. (shrink)

Resumo: Este artigo mostra que, com o contínuo desenvolvimento da sociedade tradicional e a mudança no ambiente aquático, a paisagem do Pavilhão das Orquídeas mudou diversas vezes. A cognição da paisagem do Pavilhão das Orquídeas, pelos literatos das dinastias passadas, também tem sido continuamente sublimada devido a uma série de fatores naturais e sociais. Como uma importante paisagem histórica, ao sul do rio Yangtze, o Pavilhão das Orquídeas contém mais significado histórico e cultural do que a própria paisagem. Das Dinastias (...) Wei e Jin à Dinastia Tang, o belo ambiente aquático e a paisagem cultural do Pavilhão das Orquídeas despertaram o desejo e a apreciação em todo o país pela sua beleza. No entanto, desde a Dinastia Song até ao final da Dinastia Ming, fatores como a guerra, o crescimento populacional e as alterações climáticas causaram danos ao ambiente aquático, e a paisagem do Pavilhão das Orquídeas não foi poupada. Os estudiosos tiveram que relembrar a paisagem do Pavilhão das Orquídeas em seus trabalhos devido à sua destruição. Na Dinastia Qing, o poder imperial interveio para reconstruir a paisagem do Pavilhão das Orquídeas. Os literatos e funcionários, no sul do rio Yangtze, aceitaram gradualmente o domínio do regime Qing, e a imagem da paisagem do Pavilhão das Orquídeas foi remodelada. Desde a República da China, os adeptos do final da Dinastia Qing têm usado o local e as suas atividades rituais para reforçar o seu sentido de identidade através de novas formas de mídia. O prefácio do Pavilhão das Orquídeas é uma coleção de acontecimentos, artigos e caligrafias, que supera o valor geral de visualização. Embora a caligrafia atinja o seu significado último, a influência de eventos e artigos é a condição para que ela entre no mundo clássico, e a aparência lendária e o apoio do poder imperial são as ajudas importantes para a sua difusão. (shrink)

El presente artículo examina los discursos histórico-geográficos sobre América transmitidos en China por misioneros jesuitas entre los siglos XVI y XVIII. Este busca demostrar el modo en que misioneros y sus colaboradores chinos crearon, cuidadosa y estratégicamente, sus informaciones sobre el continente con el fin de apoyar su agenda política y misional. El texto comienza con una descripción general de las estrategias de la misión en China y su relación con la producción geográfica sino-jesuita, para luego ejemplificar a través de (...) un análisis de los contenidos sobre la geografía, etnografía y el “descubrimiento” del continente, la conexión de estas informaciones con los planes de la misión. El artículo concluye que las representaciones sobre la geografía, gentes e historia de América reflejan tres intereses interrelacionados: atraer la atención de los literatos chinos; resaltar el alto desarrollo de la civilización europea; y comunicar mensajes religiosos. (shrink)

El presente artículo examina los discursos histórico-geográficos sobre América transmitidos en China por misioneros jesuitas entre los siglos XVI y XVIII. Este busca demostrar el modo en que misioneros y sus colaboradores chinos crearon, cuidadosa y estratégicamente, sus informaciones sobre el continente con el fin de apoyar su agenda política y misional. El texto comienza con una descripción general de las estrategias de la misión en China y su relación con la producción geográfica sino-jesuita, para luego ejemplificar a través de (...) un análisis de los contenidos sobre la geografía, etnografía y el “descubrimiento” del continente, la conexión de estas informaciones con los planes de la misión. El artículo concluye que las representaciones sobre la geografía, gentes e historia de América reflejan tres intereses interrelacionados: atraer la atención de los literatos chinos; resaltar el alto desarrollo de la civilización europea; y comunicar mensajes religiosos. (shrink)

The high turnover of nurses has become a global problem. Several studies have proposed that nurses' perceptions of the ethical climate of their organization are related to higher job satisfaction and organizational commitment, and thus lead to lower turnover. However, there is limited empirical evidence supporting a relationship between different types of ethical climate within organizations and facets of job satisfaction. Furthermore, no published studies have investigated the impact of different types of ethical climate on the three components of organizational (...) commitment. This study attempts to explore the different types of ethical climate that exist in hospitals, and the degree of job satisfaction and organizational commitment of nurses in Taiwan. It uses path analysis to understand which types of ethical climate influence different facets of job satisfaction. The study also examines the impact of different types of ethical climate and facets of job satisfaction on the three components of organizational commitment. Questionnaires were distributed to 352 nurses. The relationships among variables were assessed by factor analysis, reliability, descriptive statistics, correlations, and regression. The important conclusion is that hospitals can increase job satisfaction and organizational commitment by influencing an organization's ethical climate. Hospital administrators can foster within organizations the climate types of caring, independent, and rules climate that increase satisfaction, while preventing organizations from developing the type of instrumental climate that decreases it. (shrink)

Do experiences with nature –– from wilderness backpacking to plants in a preschool to a wetland lesson on frogs, promote learning? Until recently, claims outstripped evidence on this question. But the field has matured, not only substantiating previously unwarranted claims but deepening our understanding of the cause-and-effect relationship between nature and learning. Hundreds of studies now bear on this question, and converging evidence strongly suggests that experiences of nature boost academic learning, personal development, and environmental stewardship. This brief integrative review (...) summarizes recent advances and the current state of our understanding. The research on personal development and environmental stewardship is compelling although not quantitative. Report after report –– from independent observers as well as participants themselves –– indicate shifts in perseverance, problem-solving, critical thinking, leadership, teamwork, and resilience. Similarly, over fifty studies point to nature playing a key role in the development of pro-environmental behavior, particularly by fostering an emotional connection to nature. In academic contexts, nature-based instruction outperforms traditional instruction. The evidence here is particularly strong, including experimental evidence; evidence across a wide range of samples and instructional approaches; outcomes such as standardized test scores and graduation rates; and evidence for specific explanatory mechanisms and active ingredients. Nature may promote learning by improving learners’ attention, levels of stress, self-discipline, interest, and enjoyment in learning, and physical activity and fitness. Nature also appears to provide a calmer, quieter, safer context for learning; a warmer, more cooperative context for learning; and a combination of “loose parts” and autonomy that fosters developmentally beneficial forms of play. It is time to take nature seriously as a resource for learning — particularly for students not effectively reached by traditional instruction. (shrink)

Although previous studies focus on the role of women in the boardroom and corporate response to natural disasters, none evaluate how women directors influence corporate philanthropic disaster response (CPDR). This study collects data on the philanthropic responses of privately owned Chinese firms to the Wenchuan earthquake of May 12, 2008, and the Yushu earthquake of April 14, 2010. We find that when at least three women serve on a board of directors (BOD), their companies’ responses to natural disasters are more (...) significant. Age diversity among women on BODs as well as good corporate profitability (e.g., high earnings per share) positively moderates the relationship between women on BODs and CPDR. (shrink)

In memory of Anthony C. Yu who read and commented on an early version of this article.In the comparative philosophy of art, there is a widely accepted view that, while classical Western aesthetic theory emphasizes the unity of beauty and truth, classical Chinese aesthetic theory focuses on the unity of beauty and goodness. Indeed, one striking feature of Chinese aesthetics is its emphasis on moral education and didacticism. Although Western tradition also emphasizes the importance of moral education in art as (...) early as Plato, there had appeared, after Horace and Philip Sidney, a dualist paradigm, which, while giving emphasis to both didacticism and entertainment, tends to put priority on the latter. By.. (shrink)

Response strategy is a key for preventing widespread corruption vulnerabilities in the public construction sector. Although several studies have been devoted to this area, the effectiveness of response strategies has seldom been evaluated in China. This study aims to fill this gap by investigating the effectiveness of response strategies for corruption vulnerabilities through a survey in the Chinese public construction sector. Survey data obtained from selected experts involved in the Chinese public construction sector were analyzed by factor analysis and partial (...) least squares-structural equation modeling. Analysis results showed that four response strategies of leadership, rules and regulations, training, and sanctions, only achieved an acceptable level in preventing corruption vulnerabilities in the Chinese public construction sector. This study contributes to knowledge by improving the understanding of the effectiveness of response strategies for corruption vulnerabilities in the public construction sector of developing countries. (shrink)

Publicly-funded health systems, including those national health services and social or National Health Insurances, are institutionalized solidarity in health. In Europe, solidarity originated from the legacies of labor movements, the Judeo-Christian traditions, and nationalist sentiments in the re-construction Era after the WWII. In middle-to-high income East Asian countries, such as Japan, Taiwan, Korea, the health systems were built on different grounds and do not have such ethical origins of solidarity. As health systems in Europe and East Asia are both facing (...) sustainability crises due to aging population, stagnant economy, changing boundaries, and advancing medical technologies, how those systems with the European solidaristic ethical traditions can be revived and how those without the European traditions could survive become a matter of theoretical interests and an urgent policy problem to be addressed. Drawing on contemporary theories of solidarity, this essay analyzes the boundary problem and its impact on the sustainability of the health system in Taiwan. It then considers two plausible origins of solidarity in Taiwan. One is the re-emerged civic nationalism, and the other is an ethos of common life. It is argued that after years of implementation, the National Health Insurance in Taiwan might have shaped the social values and people’s habits and formed an ethos of common life. Such ethos could be an ethical origin of solidarity in non-western societies and help the health systems endure the prolonged sustainability crises. (shrink)

Zen/Chan, which used to be a Far Eastern philosophy-cum-religion, has evolved into a global cultural phenomenon. Despite the many views expressed by numerous thinkers in the world, the consensus on Chan and Chan enlightenment remains an agnostic Oriental mysticism. By exploring Chan and enlightenment from a combined perspective of history, philosophy, psychology, religion and linguistics, this article proposes a hitherto unexpressed view. Chan enlightenment is a prenatal physico-psychological existence, which grows out of a fetal subject’s perception of the womb. Although (...) this primordial mode of perception is unconscious, it is cosmic in nature because for the fetal subject the womb is the whole world with which it feels to be at one. This unconscious oneness may be termed the ‘cosmic unconscious’. Once born, no one can return to the prenatal mental state, but through personal cultivation and Chan practice one can experience a fleeting moment of the cosmic unconscious. In the final analysis, the essence o.. (shrink)

Drawing upon Hannah Arendt's and Carl Schmitt's theories on the relationship between nomos and boundary, this paper revisits how constitutionalism and political power are reconciled as constitutional ordering. It first analyzes constitutionalism in the light of political modernity. Indicating that political power grounded by constitutions is omnipotent, complementing and completing constitutionalism, the paper contends that an omnipotent constitutional ordering is anything but an unleashed Leviathan. It is argued that constitutional omnipotence is framed and thus constrained by a constitutional nomos, the (...) matrix of which is a dual delimitation of boundaries, generational, and jurisdictional. (shrink)

Tu Wei-ming is the foremost exponent of Confucian thought in the United States today. Over the last two decades he has been developing a creative scholarly interpretation of Confucian humanism as a living tradition. The result is a work of interpretive brilliance that revitalizes Confucian thought, making it a legitimate concern of contemporary philosophical reflections.

According to the revision theory of truth, the paradoxical sentences have certain revision periods in their valuations with respect to the stages of revision sequences. We find that the revision periods play a key role in characterizing the degrees of paradoxicality for Boolean paradoxes. We prove that a Boolean paradox is paradoxical in a digraph, iff this digraph contains a closed walk whose height is not any revision period of this paradox. And for any finitely many numbers greater than 1, (...) if any of them is not divisible by any other, we can construct a Boolean paradox whose primary revision periods are just these numbers. Consequently, the degrees of Boolean paradoxes form an unbounded dense lattice. The area of Boolean paradoxes is proved to be rich in mathematical structures and properties. (shrink)

Sequences of individual words make up media reports. And sequences of media reports constitute the power of the news media to influence corporate practices. In this paper, we focus on the micro-foundations of news reports to elaborate how an atmosphere of negative news reports following an initial exposure of corporate pollution activity can help stop such activity through their impact on corporate managers. We extend our understanding of the corporate governance effect of news media by considering two new aspects of (...) reports—one, the proportion of words in negative reports relative to the total number of words in all reports; and two, the geographical origin of news media. We suggest that the more negative the media coverage, and the more local this coverage, the greater the impact on corporations. Our study of news media reports from more than 600 newspaper sources on disciplining pollution activities of listed Chinese firms from 2004 to 2012 provides strong support for our hypotheses. These findings have valuable implications for the handling of pollution issues in transitional economies via the power of news words. (shrink)

This book is about bridging the current deeply-held divide between sentience and reason. It focuses on the pragmatic role of sentient experience and its unceasing and inseparable interplay with the exercise of reason. Part I of the book deals first with the need for synthesizing the hitherto separate "truth-finding" knowledge traditions: the third-personal scientific-technological, and the first-personal humanistic-wisdom tradition. A conceptual framework for a mind reality is then proposed. Drawing from the unifying natural laws in current physical and biological sciences, (...) the mind reality is portrayed in terms of one interlocking open dynamic system with both a manifested and a covert aspect. In this entire system, each individual mind constantly "co-creates" and "co-evolves" with other collective or group minds at various levels. It is also presumed that the basic unit of interaction in the mind reality is thought or intent. Supporting evidence from psychology, parapsychology and the ancient perennial philosophies is presented. The second part of the book addresses the pragmatic consequences of the proposed mind reality. At the individual level, it is argued that sentient experience can serve the function of guiding, affirming and fostering an individual's life's work. A selection of existing first-personal accounts is presented to illustrate this point. At the collective level, the current dominant collective thought of "new capitalism" has the unfortunate consequences for humanity's sense of freedom, education and morality. Such consequences pertain to the "exteriorization" and the "deconstruction" of the intrinsic self and intrinsic values. To avoid this to happen, a collective effort at changing consciousness becomes necessary: the core task lies with the closure of the reason and sentience divide. (shrink)

According to the revision theory of truth, the binary sequences generated by the paradoxical sentences in revision sequence are always unstable. In this paper, we work backwards, trying to reconstruct the paradoxical sentences from some of their binary sequences. We give a general procedure of constructing paradoxes with specific binary sequences through some typical examples. Particularly, we construct what Herzberger called “unstable statements with unpredictably complicated variations in truth value.” Besides, we also construct those paradoxes with infinitely many finite primary (...) periods but without any infinite primary period, those with an infinite critical point but without any finite primary period, and so on. This is the first formal appearance of these paradoxes. Our construction demonstrates that the binary sequences generated by a paradoxical sentence are something like genes from which we can even rebuild the original sentence itself. (shrink)

In the “Qiwulun” 齊物論 chapter of the Zhuangzi, the author recommends a better way of arguing for a conclusion in the debates that are recorded in the books Discourse on Pointing at Things and White Horse Discourse 1:To use an attribute to show that attributes are not attributes is not as good as using a non-attribute to show that attributes are not attributes. To use a horse to show that a horse is not a horse is not as good as (...) using a non-horse to show that a horse is not a horse. Heaven and earth are one attribute; the ten thousand things are one horse.2Later in the same chapter, Zhuangzi gives a lengthy, disparaging speech on discerning the real winner in.. (shrink)

In this paper, I focus on the representations of Black women in contrast to Black men found within Frantz Fanon’s philosophical work Black Skin, White Masks. I propose that while Fanon’s racial dialectical work is very significant, he often lacks acknowledgment of the multidimensionality of the Black woman’s lived experience specifically. Drawing on the theory of intersectionality, coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw, I argue that Fanon does not recognize the different layers of oppression operating in Black women’s lives to the degree (...) that he fails to include them within his framework of both liberation and resistance from racial oppression. (shrink)

This paper gives a definition of self-reference on the basis of the dependence relation given by Leitgeb (J Philos Logic 34(2):155–192, 2005), and the dependence digraph by Beringer and Schindler (Reference graphs and semantic paradox, 2015. https://www.academia.edu/19234872/reference_graphs_and_semantic_paradox). Unlike the usual discussion about self-reference of paradoxes centering around Yablo’s paradox and its variants, I focus on the paradoxes of finitary characteristic, which are given again by use of Leitgeb’s dependence relation. They are called ‘locally finite paradoxes’, satisfying that any sentence in (...) these paradoxes can depend on finitely many sentences. I prove that all locally finite paradoxes are self-referential in the sense that there is a directed cycle in their dependence digraphs. This paper also studies the ‘circularity dependence’ of paradoxes, which was introduced by Hsiung (Logic J IGPL 22(1):24–38, 2014). I prove that the locally finite paradoxes have circularity dependence in the sense that they are paradoxical only in the digraph containing a proper cycle. The proofs of the two results are based directly on König’s infinity lemma. In contrast, this paper also shows that Yablo’s paradox and its ∀∃\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\forall \exists $$\end{document}-unwinding variant are non-self-referential, and neither McGee’s paradox nor the ω\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\omega $$\end{document}-cycle liar has circularity dependence. (shrink)

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in (...) the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant. (shrink)

This is a book of guidance rooted in the wisdom of ancient China. Bestselling author Deng Ming-Dao provides key poetic lines that distill the essence of Taoism, organizing them in the form of a journey. The material here is drawn from a variety of sources, including, the Yijing, 300 Tang Poems, and the full text of the Daodejing. As Deng Ming-Dao notes, "We walk the Way each day. We don't know what's ahead, and so it's helpful to have (...) the wisdom of others to guide us. They have left us a message to encourage us. They have spoken of the joys, griefs, and purity that we should embrace. Like good pathfinders, they give us direction and prepare us for what we might encounter. They let us walk for ourselves. We have a wonderful companion for the journey." This profound collection of ancient wisdom is the resource for those looking for daily sustenance and guidance on the path of life. -- inside front cover. (shrink)

Joining the dialogue on the role of management scholars, we propose to cultivate all-round scholars to fulfill the needs of our stakeholders; only by becoming responsible scholars can we achieve responsible scholarship.

A relativized version of Tarski's T-scheme is introduced as a new principle of the truth predicate. Under the relativized T-scheme, the paradoxical objects, such as the Liar sentence and Jourdain's card sequence, are found to have certain relative contradictoriness. That is, they are contradictory only in some frames in the sense that any valuation admissible for them in these frames will lead to a contradiction. It is proved that for any positive integer n, the n-jump liar sentence is contradictory in (...) and only in those frames containing at least an n-jump odd cycle. In particular, the Liar sentence is contradictory in and only in those frames containing at least an odd cycle. The Liar sentence is also proved to be less contradictory than Jourdain's card sequence: the latter must be contradictory in those frames where the former is so, but not vice versa. Generally, the relative contradictoriness is the common characteristic of the paradoxical objects, but different paradoxical objects may have different relative contradictoriness. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:The Universal "One"Toward a Common Conceptual Basis for Chinese and Western StudiesMing Dong GuIn the world today, rapid globalization has drastically shrunk the geographical distance between the East and the West and greatly facilitated exchanges between different cultures and traditions. In the comparative studies of Eastern and Western literatures and cultures, however, an opposite trend characterized by the anxiety of cultural relativism prevails. It has been aptly reduced to (...) this claim: "[T]he East and the West are so distinctly different that ways of thinking and expression cannot be made intelligible from one to the other, and therefore the knowledge of one must be kept apart from that of the other" [Longxi Zhang xvii]. The viability of comparative studies, as is recognized, rests on the fundamental notion that two cultural objects juxtaposed for comparison should share some common ground, or that a valid frame of reference be applicable to both of them. In the comparative studies of Chinese and Western traditions, because these traditions are recognized as founded on different and often unique ontological premises and epistemological assumptions, it is difficult to locate a common conceptual entry point for a two-way dialogue, let alone a common conceptual basis undergirded by Chinese and Western philosophical thought, to establish a viable paradigm of comparison. The current absence of such a conceptual basis in the international context of globalization, which calls for dialogues between different cultures and traditions, cannot but force us to ask: is there a Chinese philosophical concept that signifies, as another Western philosophical concept does, the ontological and epistemological conditions of human existence, one that can be used as a conceptual premise upon which to build a bridge across the divide between the Chinese and Western traditions?Undaunted by the seemingly unbridgeable gap between Chinese and Western traditions, some scholars have made valiant efforts to locate a common conceptual ground. Following the lead of Qian Zhongshu, a Chinese erudite of the twentieth century, some scholars have also noted that the Dao (Tao) in Chinese philosophical thought and Logos in Western philosophical thought are remarkably comparable [Qian 408]. The compatibility of the Dao and Logos, however, has been problematized by other scholars, who argue that the differences between the Dao and Logos are more profound than their apparent similarities. James J. Y. Liu, for example, questions the universality of logocentrism as claimed by Longxi Zhang in both the Dao and Logos: "Zhang's comparison of dao to logos fails to take into account an important difference: in the West, logos is identified with God, but Lao Zi took great pains to say that dao is not the true name of the ultimate" [Liu 25]. Moreover, while in Lao Zi's conception, the Dao is a [End Page 86] feminine concept, the Western Logos, through its emphasis on presence, is obviously masculine in nature. More significantly, the pairing of the Chinese concept of Dao with the Western concept of Logos as a conceptual common ground has a fundamentally incommensurable point: namely, while the former is predicated on a fundamentally monistic view of the universe as a spontaneously self-generating entity, the latter, like Plato's Idea, is founded on a dualistic view of the universe as constituted by one world of essence and another of appearances, created by a powerful personal god.To establish a model for cross cultural studies, it is of little value to simply juxtapose a Chinese concept and a Western concept and find their similarities. In comparative studies, we need to find a conceptual model based on the pairing of similar concepts from different traditions that may yield promises of paradigms and methodologies. For this reason, my exploration is not concerned with the question of whether it is viable to pair the Dao and Logos together. I am more concerned with another question: Is it possible to build a conceptual and methodological model based on the near commensurability between the Dao and Logos? Some scholars suggest that the striking similarity invites and encourages further exploration. But in which direction or directions should we pursue the subject further? In my view, previous scholars' preliminary explorations have been promising, but too narrowly focused on the local... (shrink)