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During the past decade, Si Xiao, Xianglong Zhang, Xiangcheng Sun and others have proposed a Confucian Philosophy of Family (CPF) movement as a response to issues in contemporary China. These issues include high divorce rates, low birth rates, caring for seniors, and other related issues. This proposal is an attempt to modernize traditional Confucianism and to make it relevant in contemporary China. In this paper I argue that this attempt faces external and internal challenges. The external challenges to CPF include the trademarks of contemporary philosophy, such as the methodological naturalism, epistemic pluralism and ethical individualism. Furthermore, there are three competing readings of CPF, which poses its own internal challenge to CPF. CPF scholars have failed to clarify if they are engaged in a project of interpretation, which is to elaborate the idea of family in the Confucian tradition, or as a project of justification, which is to justify Confucian understanding of family as a universal and objective value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this essay, as a philosophical exercise in exploring some of the underlying assumptions that serve as an interpretive context for classical Chinese philosophy, I will first follow Dewey's philosophical turn from a 'knowledge paradigm' to an 'experience paradigm' in which he seeks to overcome the dualism between subject and object. Secondly, I will interpret Dewey's Darwinian challenge to the notions of Aristotelian 'species' (eidos) and 'teleology' (telos) and their 'universality.' In so doing, Dewey sought to restore time, change, relationality, and particularity to our philosophical agenda, ideas that are all recommended by the cosmology of the first among the Chinese philosophical canons, the Book of Changes (Yijing易经). And finally, I will try to offer an interpretation of traditional Chinese philosophy as a science in a Deweyan sense. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Butterfly Dream is probably one of the most well-known anecdotes in philosophical literature, and as such, it has both enjoyed and suffered from several interpretations and misinterpretations. There are much more interpretations of the Butterfly Dream than this study can gloss over, but for the sake of brevity: I divide the two approaches according to how they view the characters in the plot. Specifically speaking, the first group, which for convenience I will call the egoistic thesis, views the plot in such a way that Zhuangzi is Chuang Chou, and that the butterfly is an imagined representation of the mind, while the second group, which for convenience I will call the monistic thesis, holds that Zhuangzi is different from Chuang Chou as well as the butterfly, hence supposing that the butterfly dream is an entirely distinct reality. Albeit seemingly crude, this provides a simple yet insightful view of the premises that prevent one approach from compromising with the other, as well as the crossing over of one interpretation into another which belong to the same approach. Moreover, this approach will allow me to better fulfill the overarching aim of this study, which is to contextualize a specific rendition of the monistic thesis against the backdrop of the philosophy of the Inner Chapters and its notion of Dao as a whole such that the Zhuangzi will emerge more aptly as a perspectivist. In other words, the Butterfly Dream points to what Hans-Georg Moeller terms as "a structure of presence" which, if viewed against the context of Zhuangzi's philosophy, shows the paradox of the absolute unity but also the absolute singularity of all things. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pre-Qin interpretations of “rites” cited extensively from the Book of Odes in order to facilitate the interpretation of certain contexts. The practice of “analogizing categories,” for example, was a rhetorical method that implicated relationships with all things in nature and, through the mutual stimulation of qi 氣, gave rise to issues related to both the original emotions and ethics. This article explains the spirit of Pre-Qin rituals and reconsiders the relationship between rites and “the people’s character” through reference to the poetic interpretation of rites as well as citations from the Book of Odes. At the same time, it argues that imagery from the Book of Odes produces possibilities for new connections and new meanings. The article moreover explores the significance of poetry, music, and dance in rituals as they are converted to blood, qi, body, and heart. Finally, in an effort to show how rites can be lively and emotional, it considers how rituals can be read as responses to the nature, the body, and ethics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An essay about the study of the Buddhist practice of scriptural interpretation is presented. It focuses on the theories of interpretation and the theories about interpretation and their implicit corollaries in Chinese Buddhism. It mainly cites the Buddhist commentaries, translations and biographies of eminent Buddhist monks including Zanning, Daoxun and Fayun.

The contradictoriness and ambivalence of truth values in Kafka's text The Great Wall of China cause astonishment and uncertainty to the reader. The article explores four factors, which contribute to this reaction: the multilayered temporal structure, the relation between reflection and narration, the deconstruction of coherence and the infinite shift of meaning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The descriptive aim of this essay is to sort out and distinguish among some different hermeneutical approaches to Chinese philosophical texts and to make clear that the approach that one employs carries with it important implications about the kind of intellectual project one is pursuing. The primary normative claim is that in order to be doing research in the field of traditional Chinese philosophy, one must make a case for one's interpretation as representing philosophical views that have been held by Chinese thinkers and that making such a case is a distinctive type of intellectual activity analogous to making a case in a court of law. In addition to this conceptual or methodological point, I argue that the interpretation of Chinese philosophical texts should make clear and take into account the special role that commentary has played throughout the tradition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Starting from the often-used metaphor of the 'horizon of experience' this article discusses three different types of intercultural hermeneutics, which respectively conceive hermeneutic interpretation as a widening of horizons, a fusion of horizons, and a dissemination of horizons. It is argued that these subsequent stages in the history of hermeneutics have their origin in-but are not fully restricted to-respectively premodern, modern and postmodern stages of globalization. Taking some striking moments of the encounter between Western and Chinese language and philosophy as example, the particular merits and flaws of these three types of hermeneutics are being discussed. The claim defended is that although these different types of hermeneutics are mutually exclusive from a theoretical point of view, as interpreting beings in the current era we depend on each of these distinct hermeneutic practices and cannot avoid living them simultaneously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the hermeneutics of the Qingjing Jing scripture along with explanations and commentary from Wang Jie in China. The theoritecal concepts to interpret the text in regard to personal inner alchemical practice has been introduced by Wang Jie, in which he refers to general principles of inner alchemy. The diagrammatic form serves as a device to add a further independent layer of textual interpretation that is different yet equally valid.

The article discusses the development and reception of hermeneutics of Daoism in modern Chinese philosophy with Chung-ying Cheng's influence. It states that hermeneutic principles of interpretation gave new views in the interpretation of classical Chinese philosophical texts as strategies of reading ancient texts. Meanwhile, hermeneutical understanding in the Gadamerian sense aims at a fusion of horizons between the text and the reader.

The article discusses the hermeneutics of Daoist scripture that was inspired by and borrowed from the Buddhist Madhyamika which was introduced in the fifth century in China. The Buddhist practice of sermonization was adopted by both the Confucians and the Daoists, in which the development of Daoist sermonization was coextensive with that of its Buddhist predecessor. Meanwhile, one of the popular Daoist scriptures, the Qingjing Jing had boasts eight different commentaries in the Daoist Canon.

The article discusses the strategies of reading and understanding early medieval Daoist texts. It states that the history of Daoism remains one of the least understood fields of Chinese history of religion and philosophy due to the difficulty in understanding the texts. However, an intended reader approach to interpretation of texts offers an interpretative tool to read the texts as multidimensional, relating to different aspects, interests, and needs of the human beings the text addressed.

The article presents an interpretation of a primitivist's writings in China. It mentions that primitivist has been neglected in western surveys of early Chinese thought because he is just another exponent of Laozi and is often treated as simply a more radical or more temperamental Laoist. It notes that a primitivist is a Daoist who thinks that the world can be better by doing something because he realized the something could be done in recapturing the lost power and order of the golden state.

There exists a complicated link between the humanitarian tide and China's contemporary transformation of social pattern, which regards man's social being as its fundamental mark since the new period. On the one hand, China's contemporary transformation of social pattern provides both material foundation and motivation for the rise and development of humanitarian tide. On the other hand, the tide offers theoretical interpretation and demonstration for the destined emergence and final realization of the transformation of social pattern. The tow interactive parts benefit each other and set off each other's strengths. Accompanied by the main trend of reform and opening-up to the outside world, they work together to push forward China's modernization drive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the divination and moral philosophy of the Zhouyi Zhuanyi Daquan dynasty in China. It noted that Daquan significantly illustrates multidimensional dialogic engagements and occupies an important place in the history of Yijing, a sophisticated system of moral metaphysical teachings exegesis. It likewise defined the goal, the scope, and the method of interpreting Yijing throughout the late imperial China.

TU Wei-ming's discourse has been badly understood by some Western philosophers who study Confucianism. I suggest that this misunderstanding stems from the fact that these philosophers fail to realize that Confucian discourse is in an entirely different register from Western philosophical discourse. I then propose my own preliminary definition of Confucian discourse in five points and present a structural analysis of a text by TU Wei-ming. Finally, I consider which features of Tu's discourse can properly be called Confucian. The answer to this question reflects not only on Tu but also on Confucian discourse and the study of Confucianism in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents case studies on the early Chinese Art's interpretation of a face. A face is said to have been popularly interpreted as an outward appearance, as it serves as a key to identification based appearance. It is believed to have been ontogenetically developed as a unique identifier of members of the same species that enabled the development of a more refined sense of individuality. It is inferred that demonstration of a face as an artifact is difficult. Such study is aimed to further analyze the concept of the face as an artifact, involving those without any claim to individuality and personal identity. The existence of such faces is believed to challenge people to change some generally accepted notions in the development of portraiture in China.

The article provides information on the distinctive concerns of philosophical hermeneutics in China. It has been noted that Hans-Georg Gadamer's works on philosophical hermeneutics have gained major influences in the philosophical scene in China. On the other hand, it may seem that the study of hermeneutics in Chinese contexts is partly hard due to its intracivilizational and intercultural differences.

The article presents an interpretation by Martin Schönfeld of the European China philosophical receptions from philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz to fellow Immanuel Kant. It was acknowledged that China's discovery had challenged the cultural and political identity of European intellectuals. The trends in which Europe's reception of China was classified in topological structures was documented.

This paper examines the formation of modernity in three colonialist epics of Hong Kong and the recent historical and fictional works that aim to rewrite the history of the'local'. Adopting a challenge-response structure, the paper argues that the colonialist epics construct a monolithic discourse of modernity-as-progress via the amnesia of conflicts, tensions, and processes of domination and negotiation in the rural and everyday space of colonial Hong Kong. It is stressed that to piece together the above anomalies is not an attempt to restore a pre-given'native' to but rather an endeavour to examine how the 'local' as divergent historical agents shaped and has been shaped by the political, social, and economic environment of Hong Kong and the larger world outside. This can be called a model of dialectics composed of an internal dialectic and a dialectic of articulation. In this regard, with the benefit of the rapprochement of history and anthropology and a non-linear view of history, this paper is a historical bricolage of the anomalous history of Hong Kong, aiming to destabilize the Hong Kong historical grand narrative. Through rethinking the impact of the colonial experience, this paper hopes to liberate alterity and diversity in historical interpretations and imaginations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a response to the author's coherence argument for a realist interpretation of Xunzi against a hypothetical coherence argument for a realist interpretation in his book "The Philosophy of Xunzi: A Reconstruction" reviewed by Eric Hutton. He is unsure whether he found the review convincing. For him, expecting to convince someone inclined to a kind of realist Xunzi interpretation is too much. He argues that the real issue is whether the people deal with a one right answer model or a many good answers model, a discovery model or an invention model. He notes that Hutton exaggerates the degree to which he considers philosophical plausibility to be an interpretive criterion.

The article presents the response of the author to his review of Kurtis Hagen's book "The Philosophy of Xunzi: A Reconstruction." He notes that there are two alternative in the world such as using what is wrong to investigate the right and using what is right to investigate the wrong. He argues that his criticism of his reading by saying that the other passages are significant to understanding the overall coherence of the philosophy. He notes that a translation in a textbook is not a scholarly argument. He also became less sure that his rendering was correct since his translation was published.

The article presents a commentary and explanation of the cover image of the issue. Details regarding the geographical and biographical information behind the photograph of two Hong Kong citizens are given. Implications of the themes portrayed in the image in relation to post-colonial migration in Hong Kong and its sociological contexts are explored in depth. Particular focus is given to the sociological interpretations of the fashion, physical posture and equipment of the two figures seen in the photograph.