Foust - Confucianism and American Philosophy

CONFUCIANISM
AND
AMERICAN
PHILOSOPHY

SUNY SERIES IN C HINESE P HILOSOPHY AND C ULTURE

Roger T. Ames, editor

CONFUCIANISM
AND
AMERICAN
PHILOSOPHY

Mathew A. Foust

Cover image: Thoreaus journal entry from his Commonplace Book (1830-1862) is from the Berg Collection of the New York Public Library archives/digital collections.

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany

2017 State University of New York

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

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Production, Diane Ganeles

Marketing, Anne M. Valentine

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Foust, Mathew A., author.

Title: Confucianism and American philosophy / by Mathew A. Foust.

Description: Albany, NY : State University of New York, 2017. | Series: SUNY series in Chinese philosophy and culture | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016031491 (print) | LCCN 2017004917 (ebook) | ISBN 9781438464756 (hardcover : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781438464763 (e-book)

Subjects: LCSH: Philosophy, ConfucianChina. | ConfucianismChina. | Philosophy, American.

Classification: LCC B127.C65 F68 2017 (print) | LCC B127.C65 (ebook) | DDC 181/.112dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016031491

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To my friends in China

Contents

Acknowledgments

A s an American who has lived and taught in China, I have drawn significant inspiration in writing this book from my friends on the opposite side of the globe. Many are the lasting memories that I cherish from my year at BNU-HKBU United International College in Zhuhai (20102011), my first full-time teaching position. The students to whom I am indebted are numerous; were I to list them, I am certain that I would commit several errors of omission. I have learned something from all of them, however, perhaps far more than I ever could have taught them. Two people who were affiliated with UIC warrant special mention: Sandra He and Genie Cui. Sandra and Genie were indefatigable and indispensable in roles as various as department administrator, teaching assistant, and cultural broker. Their patience in helping me to bridge gaps between my life in America and my life in China was essential to my sustenance in Zhuhai, and it has served as inspiration in the years since I was privileged enough to have them as my colleagues.

I have benefited from the support and counsel of several people throughout the development of this book. I am especially grateful to Roger Ames, whose encouragement at a critical time in my life as a graduate student assured me that I had ideas worth pursuing and contributing to the world of comparative philosophy. Since then, Roger has generously invested time and energy on my behalf whenever I have requested his favor to do so. Although I have never formally been Rogers student, I have learned very much from his example.

I am grateful to Chung-ying Cheng and Linyu Gu, colleagues via the Journal of Chinese Philosophy . Their unflagging support over the past several years has been a calming presence in the midst of the vicissitudes of academic life. I am also grateful to Sor-hoon Tan, Robert Neville, and the late Joseph Grange. Each has encouraged me during the development of this project, and their scholarship has been greatly influential.

Several friends and colleagues provided helpful feedback on preliminary versions of one or more of the chapters of this book or contributed constructive insights in conversation: Stephen C. Angle, Cameron Brewer, Susan Burdelski, Tim Connolly, David Elstein, Thorian Harris, Christopher Kirby, Andrew Komasinski, Andrew Lambert, Sydney Morrow, On-cho Ng, Ann A. Pang-White, Thomas Radice, Brian Skelly, Matt Stefon, Ian Sullivan, Winnie Sung, and Xiaomei Yang. This book is substantially better thanks to their questions and comments.

Membership in a number of professional organizations has also enabled me to receive helpful feedback on research related to this book: American Philosophical Association (APA), International Society for Chinese Philosophy (ISCP), International Society for Comparative Studies of Chinese and Western Philosophy (ISCWP), Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy (SAAP), and Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy (SACP).

I am also indebted to the sedulous staff of SUNY Press: Christopher Ahn, Cathleen Collins, Dana Foote, Diane Ganeles, Andrew Kenyon, Jessica Kirschner, James Peltz, Anne Valentine, and the late Nancy Ellegate. Each played a vital role in seeing this project to fruition.

Preliminary versions of chapters were presented in the following forums:

: Have No Friend Unlike Yourself: Emersons Confucian Notion of Friendship, SACP Invited Panel, Forty-Third Annual Meeting of SAAP, Portland, OR, March 35, 2016.

: Confucius, Thoreau, and Civil Disobedience, ISCWP Session, APA-Eastern Meeting, Baltimore, MD, December 2730, 2013.

: Confucianism in Thoreaus Civil Disobedience , An International Conference on Hermeneutics East and West, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, May 1617, 2014.

: Emerson and Thoreau: American Confucians?, University of Hartford Philosophy Club, March 26, 2015.

: Chinese Thought in American Context: Confucianism in American Transcendentalism, 2015 International Conference on Asian Studies, University of Scranton, Scranton, PA, March 2829, 2015.

: Confucius, Peirce, and the Fixation of Belief, The Charles S. Peirce International Centennial Congress, Lowell, MA, July 1619, 2014.

: Confucius and Peirce on Inquiry and Belief, ISCP Session, APA-Pacific Meeting, Vancouver, BC, Canada, April 14, 2015.

: Time to Change: Atonement in the Philosophies of Confucius and Josiah Royce, International Society for the Study of Time Conference, Time and Change in China and the West, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China, June 2022, 2014.

: Making Amends with Confucius and Royce, ISCWP Session, APA-Pacific Meeting, Vancouver, BC, Canada, April 14, 2015.

: Wrongdoing, Shame, and Atonement, University of Hartford Philosophy Club, October 15, 2015.

: Atonement in the Analects , 2015 Northeast Conference on Chinese Thought, Southern Connecticut State University, New Haven, CT, November 78, 2015.

Portions of the introduction and conclusion appeared in Confucianism and American Pragmatism, Philosophy Compass 10, no. 6 (2015): 369378. Portions of Contradictions: Schelling, Royce, and the Art of Atonement, Journal of Speculative Philosophy 26, no. 3 (2012): 516530.

The research related to this book was supported in part by the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at Central Connecticut State University, which awarded me Research Reassigned Time during the fall 2014 and spring 2015 semesters. Research related to this book was also supported in part by a Hyundai Motor Corporation Endowment Grant via the Center for International Education at Central Connecticut State University and a Confucius China Studies Program International Conference Grant via the Confucius Institute at Central Connecticut State University, both awarded in summer 2014.