Growing Moral

Description

Growing Moral engages its readers to reflect on and to practice the teachings of Confucianism in the contemporary world. It draws on the whole history of Confucianism, focusing on three thinkers from the classical era (Kongzi or Confucius, Mengzi, and Xunzi) and two from the Neo-Confucian era (Zhu Xi and Wang Yangming). In addition to laying out the fundamental teachings of Confucianism, it highlights the enduring and strikingly relevant lessons that Confucianism offers contemporary readers. At its core, this book builds a case for modern Confucianism as a practical way to grow toward more harmonious lives together through reflection, ritual, and compassion; it can help us find balance and joy within our complex and too-often frenetic modern lives.

• Focuses on the practices, recommendations, and values that are central to the Confucian vision of living a good life, and on the reasoning that motivates this way of living
• Enlivened with contemporary examples that demonstrate a progressive, synthetic vision of Confucianism as extremely relevant to living in our world today
• Draws on the most influential five thinkers from the Confucian tradition, and presents Confucianism as offering a relatively unified vision of how to live a good life in the modern world
• Remains accessible to the intelligent and curious reader who has no background in Confucianism or East Asian philosophy
• Comprises short chapters which do not need to be read straight-through

About the Author(s)

Stephen C. Angle, Director of the Fries Center for Global Studies, Mansfield Freeman Professor of East Asian Studies, and Professor of Philosophy, Wesleyan University

Stephen C. Angle received his B.A. from Yale University in East Asian Studies and his Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Michigan. Since 1994 he has taught at Wesleyan University, where he is now Director of the Fries Center for Global Studies, Mansfield Freeman Professor of East Asian Studies, and Professor of Philosophy. The author of several previous books on Confucianism, Angle has co-directed two NEH Summer Institutes and is a recipient of two Fulbright grants, a Berggruen Fellowship, a Millicent C. McIntosh Fellowship, and a Chiang Ching-Kuo Postdoctoral Research Fellowship. In 2006 Angle was awarded Wesleyan's Binswanger Prize for Excellence in Teaching.

Table of Contents

One: What is Confucianism?
1. Introduction
2. The History of Confucianism
Two: How to Be a Confucian
3. Be Filial
4. Follow Rituals
5. Cultivate Your Sprouts
6. Read in the Right Way
7. Listen to the Right Music
8. Reflect Regularly
9. Pay Attention
10. Be Engaged
Three: Making Progress
11. Commitment
12. Fake It Till You Make It
13. Expanding the Self
14. Dealing with Conflict
15. Enlightenment and Sagehood
16. Death
Four: Challenges and the Future
17. Progressive Confucianism
18. Gender
19. Hierarchy
20. Confucians Around the Globe
Further Reading
Bibliography
Notes
Index

Reviews

"Steve Angle offers a wide-ranging and masterful exploration of what it could mean to live a Confucian life. Attuned to the fine rewards such a life will promise, Angle maps a new, progressive Confucianism that retains and revitalizes the best of what the old can do." - Amy Olberding, The University of Oklahoma

"The conversational tone of this gem of a guide for living should engage a wide audience, from the merely curious who know little of Confucianism to academics who teach and publish in Confucian philosophy. Grounded in impeccable scholarship, the author skillfully weaves vignettes of everyday life with the wisdom from ancient Confucian texts to persuade readers that Confucian philosophy can help them live a better life, become a better person, and contribute to the society they live in. It presents a progressive Confucianism that urges its adherents to critically examine its legacy and adapt its enduring values to new historical realities and possibilities in a manner that would advance human civilization." - Sor-hoon Tan, Philosophy, Singapore Management University

"Highly readable and full of insights, this book not only shows brilliantly how Confucianism can be relevant and beneficial today as a way of life, but also illustrates how one can appropriate a tradition and be progressive at the same time. This is how Confucius would teach his ideas today, if he comes back to life." - Peimin Ni, Grand Valley State University