Confucianism Volume

Religions of the World and Ecology Series

Confucianism and Ecology Volume

Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Berthrong, eds.

 

Table of Contents

 

Preface

Series Foreword

Introduction

Lawrence E. Sullivan

Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim

Setting the Context
Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Berthrong

 
Chapter 1

The Nature of the Critique
“Beyond the Enlightenment Mentality”
Tu Weiming

‘Think Globally, Act Locally,’ and the Contested Ground Between”
Wm. Theodore de Bary

 
Chapter 2

The Context for Response
“Companionship with the World: Roots and Branches of A Confucian Ecology”
Rodney L. Taylor

Early Confucianism and Environmental Ethics”
Philip J. Ivanhoe

Extending the Neo-Confucian Tradition: Questions and Reconceptualization for the Twenty-First Century”
Michael C. Kalton

 
Chapter 3

Conceptual Resources from China, Korea, and Japan
“The Continuity of Being: Chinese Visions of Nature”
Tu Weiming

Response and Responsibility: Chou Tun-i and Confucian Resources for Environmental Ethics”
Joseph A. Adler

The Philosophy of Environmental Correlation in Chu His”
Toshio Kuwako

Ecological Implications of Yi Yulgok’s Cosmology”
Young-chan Ro

The Philosophy of Ch’i as an Ecological Cosmology”
Mary Evelyn Tucker

 
Chapter 4 Philosophical Reflections
 

The Trinity of Cosmology, Ecology, and Ethics in the Confucian Personhood”
Chung-ying Cheng

Motifs for a New Confucian Ecological Vision”
John Berthrong

Orientation, Self, and Ecological Posture”
Robert Cummings Neville

 
Chapter 5

From Principle to Practice
“Confucianism and Garden Design: A Comparison of Koishikawa Korakuen and Würlitzer Park”
Seiko Goto and Julia Ching

Some Thoughts on Confucianism and Ecofeminism”
Huey-li Li

From Heaven-and-Earth to Nature: Chinese Concepts of the Environment and Their Influence on Policy Implementation”
Robert P. Weller and Peter K. Bol

 

Notes on Contributors

Index

 

 
Praise:

The ethical thought of Confucianism is often understood as being grounded in a thoroughgoing anthropocentrism, emphasizing as it does the proper ways for humans in various institutional positions and social classes to relate to one another. This anthology provides a corrective to that view and demonstrates that it is at best a partial picture of Confucian thought. Sixteen papers are included, and together they give the reader a sense of the conceptual tools that Confucianism has at its disposal for thinking about ecology and current environmental problems. Many of the essays draw from historical sources; a few look at the relationship between environmental problems and contemporary Confucian thinking. The authors do not attempt to whitewash or paint an unrealistically rosy picture of Confucianism's relation to the environment. Rather, they represent intellectually honest and realistic attempts to come to terms with Confucianism's past relationships and to envision ways in which Confucian thought can offer help in resolving current environmental crises. Most of the papers presuppose no special or extensive background knowledge of either ecology or Confucianism.

—M. A. Michael, Choice