Cultivating a Good Life in Early Chinese and Ancient Greek Philosophy : Perspectives and Reverberations

Both Ancient Chinese and Greek philosophers provide accounts of the life lived well: a Confucian junzi , a Daoist sage and a Greek phronimos . Cultivation in Early China and Ancient Greece engages in comparative, cross-tradition scholarship and investigates the processes associated with cultivating or nurturing the self in order to live such lives. By focusing on the processes rather than the aims of cultivating a good life, an international team of scholars investigate how a person develops and practices a way of life. They look at what is involved in developing practical wisdom, exercising reason, cultivating equanimity and fostering reliability. Using the thought of those thinkers central to both traditions, including Plato, Confucius, Han Fei and Marcus Aurelius, they examine themes of harmony, balance and beauty, and highlight the different concerns of scepticism across both traditions. They also discuss the action of doing as an indispensable method of learning. As a result, Cultivation in Early China and Ancient Greece is a valuable collection opening up new lines of inquiry in ethics and demonstrating the importance of drawing on philosophical ideas from across cultural traditions. Contents Introduction • Karyn Lai, Rick Benitez, and Hyun Jin Kim Part One: Harmony, Balance, Beauty: Understanding Conceptions of Cultivation 1 Cultivation and Harmony: Plato and Confucius • Rick Benitez 2 Cultivating Noble Simplicity (Euētheia): Plato • Lee M. J. Coulson 3 The Beauty Ladder and the Mind-Heart Excursion: Plato and Zhuangzi • Wang Keping 4 Awareness and Spontaneity: Three Perspectives in the Zhuangzi • Lisa Raphals 5 Understanding ‘Dao’s Patterns’: Han Fei • Barbara Hendrischke Part Two: Doubt, Predicament, Conflict: Cognitive, Affective, and Epistemic Difficulties 6 Skepsis and Doubt: Ancient Greece and the East • Yasuhira Yahei Kanayama 7 Wisdom and Cognitive Conflict: Benign Perplexity in the Outlines of Scepticism • Per Lind 8 Understanding Fortune and Misfortune in a Good Life: ‘Solon’ and ‘Confucius’ • Hyun Jin Kim and Karen Kai-Nung Hsu 9 Emotion and Self-Cultivation: Marcus Aurelius and Mengzi • Jesse Ciccotti 10 Dislodging Mundane Wisdom: The Inner Chapters of the Zhuangzi and the New Testament Gospels • Lauren F. Pfister Part Three: Here, Now, Ever-after: How to Practise and Achieve a Good Life 11 Knowing How to Act: Aristotle • Sophie Grace Chappell 12 Learning to Be Reliable: Confucius’ Analects • Karyn Lynne Lai 13 Auditory Perception and Cultivation: The Wenzi 文子 • Andrej Fech 14 Cultivation and the Arts of Writing: Liu Xie • Will Buckingham 15 Death and Happiness: Han China • Mu-Chou Poo List of Contributors Index "This book engages in cross-tradition scholarship, investigating the processes associated with cultivating or nurturing the self in order to live good lives. Both Ancient Chinese and Greek philosophers provide accounts of the life lived well: a Confucian junzi, a Daoist sage and a Greek phronimos. By focusing on the processes rather than the aims of cultivating a good life, an international team of scholars investigate how a person develops and practices a way of life especially in these two traditions. They look at what is involved in developing practical wisdom, exercising reason, cultivating equanimity and fostering reliability. Drawing on the insights of thinkers including Plato, Confucius, Han Fei and Marcus Aurelius, they examine themes of harmony, balance and beauty, highlight the different concerns of scepticism across both traditions, and discuss action as an indispensable method of learning and, indeed, as constitutive of self. The result is a valuable collection opening up new lines of inquiry in ethics, demonstrating the importance of philosophical ideas from across cultural traditions."--Bloomsbury Publishing.