Confucianism and Ecology

Mary Evelyn Tucker is Senior Lecturer, Yale Divinity School. John Berthrong is Associate Dean for Academic and Administrative Affairs, Boston University School of Theology. Peter K. Bol is Charles H. Carswell Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University. William Theodore de Bary was John Mitchell Mason Professor of the University, Emeritus, and Provost Emeritus at Columbia University. Tu Wei-ming is Director of the Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies, Peking University, and Harvard-Yenching Professor of Chinese History and Philosophy and of Confucian Studies, Emeritus, Harvard University. He directed the Harvard-Yenching Institute from 1996 to 2008. Lawrence E. Sullivan is Emeritus Professor of Theology, University of Notre Dame, and former Director of the Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard University.

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.