..., in particular, uses the Guodian texts to show how a concern with the cultivation and control of qi (vital energy) was the key element that distinguished the Mencian approach to self-cultivation from its early Chinese rivals. Another theme that recurs throughout this volume is the use of foreign or anachronistic...

... being and a cosmological activity. Since the mind is that which makes man uniquely human, it is in Mencian terminology the "great self" (ta-t'i), or the true human nature. Similarly Confucian God-terms such as tao (the Way), jen (Humanity), ch'eng (Sincerity) and chung (the Mean) all point to that human...

... energy) was the key element that distinguished the Mencian approach to self-cultivation from its early Chinese rivals. Another theme that recurs throughout this volume is the use of foreign or anachronistic philosophical models to explicate the meaning of the Mengzi, often with an eye toward...

..., but there was no significant Social Democratic tradition. Ideas of socialism, Bernal maintains, were very appealing to the "Mencian Confucianist" accuracy will make this book a necessity for anyone wanting to study this period. Colby College LEE FEIGON assumptions of the Chinese ruling class. As he puts it: "For most...

... communication and cooperation across national boundaries. The research article with which this issue opens, Professor Lee Yearley's analysis of Xunzi's concept of mind in the context of the Mencian and philosophical Taoist conceptions operating in Xunzi's time, explores one of the central issues of classical...

... inclinations that are in no way fixed and are greatly affected by their environment. Behuniak's discussion of Bloom's work (including her critique of Ames's argument) is confined to three footnotes, only one of which describes her position. According to Behuniak in his article “Mencian Arguments on Human...

.... This concept is contrasted with Confucian and Mencian views about the heart/mind ( xin ) as the locus of cultivation. Because the world is born, not created, the focus of human religious action has to be what Michael terms the “inner components of the foundational body,” as opposed to the “constructed self” (p...

... thinkers, the minben (people-based) idea of government, derived from Confucian/Mencian thinking, contained many of the features that characterized democracy as well, including the idea that governance takes place for the good of the wider population (making it a sort of benevolent utilitarianism). He...

... relies on the application of the term to Confucianism by Wm. Theodore de Bary and Julia Ching. Schneider seems to view Du as a Confucian prophet because Du was willing to criticize the powerful for misrule while alluding to a vision of good governance rooted in a Mencian political economy. Unfortunately...

... in the contemporary world. They do not argue, however, that there existed protohuman rights ideas in traditional China. Instead they are content to identify similarities and thus focus on ideas of human dignity and equality, which they argue are found in Confucianism particularity its Mencian variety and which can...

... within the Confucian camp and drew especially on the Mencian view of human nature, they rejected the NeoConfucian position that linked the distribution of moral virtue with a social hierarchy understood as rooted in cosmic order. They also were critical of those who denied any basis in nature...

... ; the canonical versus the noncanonical Confucius; and the Mencian versus the Xunzi interpretive orientations. He eschews political and sociological reductionism throughout in favor of a respectful treatment of the religious spirit of the rites, even as he situates the cults hierarchically in the of cial...

... tradition. Grounding his philosophy in the optimistic Mencian belief that all persons are ontologically linked to the Way and with the right effort can gain direct access to it, Zhu devotes considerable space to analyzing the human condition, explaining how and why men can become morally good, identifying...

... Mencian belief that all persons are ontologically linked to the Way and with the right effort can gain direct access to it, Zhu devotes considerable space to analyzing the human condition, explaining how and why men can become morally good, identifying the elements in their constitution that impede moral...

... foreign examples and precedents and, at the same time, to trace local reconfigurations of existing ideas and institutions. Prominent among these local examples is the Mencian idea of human nature as inherently good. Criminals, it was thus believed, would improve themselves if given the proper...

... to the meaning of'compassion,' identical with Mohist usage" (p. 117). Mencian jen is close to "compassion" but far from Mohist jen. For Mencius, it is an innate affective disposition; for Mo Tzu, it is simply a behavior. Mohists don't accept the claim that by nature we feel alarm and concern for a child about...

... to detail and may have been socialists and even Marxists before 1919, but there was no significant Social Democratic tradition. Ideas of socialism, Bernal maintains, were very appealing to the "Mencian Confucianist" accuracy will make this book a necessity for anyone wanting to study this period. Colby...

..., N.J.: Seton Hall University Press, 1975. xii, 428 pp. from its entanglement with "oriental despotism" $10.00 (p. 24). Hsiao maintains that, although there was Another compendium biography of a major an independent Mencian strain within Con- Chinese revolutionary: Mr. Kuo has provided fucian thought...

... of the Mencian Theory of Human Nature ,” Tsing Hua Journal of Chinese Studies , n.s. 6 , nos. 1 – 2 ( 1967 ): 232, 237–38. 7 When I refer to Chuang Tzu, I refer neither to a person nor to the entire text of the Chuang Tzu , but to a reasonably coherent set of ideas that can be found in sections 1...

... are considerable contributions to scholarship. But others are, or would be if the Mencian sense of shame were truly universal, embarrassments to both the authors and the organizations that sponsor or support them. Since space does not permit a discussion of all the articles, this review will concentrate on those...