Vital Post-Secular Perspectives on Chinese Philosophical Issues

Lauren F. Pfister is professor emeritus of philosophy and religion at Hong Kong Baptist University.

This is a tremendous book based on a fruitful complexity that combines a wide range of figures, texts and issues. Pfister perceptively reveals some contemporary interpretive accounts of Chinese philosophical concerns related to a conceptual and hermeneutic framework of post-secularity. Covering texts and issues from pre-imperial, imperial, and post-traditional Confucian (“Ruist”) periods, it is a cornucopia of philosophical questions, religio-philosophical explorations, and historical insights. Undoubtedly, it also contributes to a modern transformative history of Chinese philosophical traditions in which numerous other topics and many other scholars could become involved.

• Contents Permissions and AcknowledgementsPrefaceMethodological IntroductionPart One: Post-Secular Reflections on Recharacterizing Chinese Philosophical TraditionsPrefatory Note“Post-Secular Insights into the Professional Philosopher Féng Youlán’s ??? (???1895-1990) Life and Works”“Post-Secular Concerns related to a Relevant Philosophy of History for Chinese Philosophy” Part Two: Post-Secular Insights into Ruist StudiesPrefatory Note “Post-Secular Insights into the 17th Century Jesuit Rendering of ‘Confucianism’ ” “Post-Secular Revelations regarding the Dàxué??and the Zhongyong??” “Post-Secular Musings on a Secularist Philosophical Translation and Interpretation of The Zhongyong??”Part Three: Aspects of Post-Traditional Chinese Society and their Philosophical ReconsiderationPrefatory Note “Post-Secular Critiques of 20th Century Utopian Projects in China” “Post-Secular Critique of the Contemporary Phenomenon of ‘Human Flesh Search [Engines]’ in the PRC”“Post-Secular Ponderings on Sageliness and Saintliness”Conclusion: Unconcluding Post-Secular Reflections on Contemporary Studies of Chinese Philosophical Traditions Bibliography