Hermeneutical Thinking in Chinese Philosophy

Teaching in philosophical, religious and humanities areas at Hong Kong Baptist University, Lauren Pfister has resided in Hong Kong with his family since 1987. Serving as Associate Editor for the Journal of Chinese Philosophy since 1997, he has continued to pursue research and publish articles in areas dealing with 19th and 20th century Ruist (“Confucian”) philosophy, the history of sinology, as well as comparative philosophical and comparative religious studies. A two volume work on the missionary-scholarship of James Legge (1815-1897) was published by Peter Lang in June 2004, the result of fifteen years of cross-disciplinary research. It is entitled Striving for ‘The Whole Duty of Man’: James Legge and the Scottish Protestant Encounter with China. Besides an abiding interest in hermeneutics, he is currently involved in research projects focusing on the German missionary-scholar, Ricahrd Wilhelm (1873-1930) and others describing and evaluating the emergence and formation of the academic disciplines of Chinese philosophy and religious studies in China.

• Part I.General Introduction, Chung-ying Cheng. Part II.Editor’s Introduction, Lauren F. Pfister.Part III: Basic Chinese Philosophical Orientations about Understanding.1. Toward Constructing a Dialectics of Harmonization: Harmony and Conflict in Chinese Philosophy, Chung-ying Cheng.2. Hermeneutic Explorations in the Zhuangzi, Kuang-ming Wu.Part IV: Confucius, the Analects, and Early Confucianism.3. Gadamer and Confucius: Some Possible Affinities, Richard E. Palmer.4. A New Hermeneutical Approach to Early Chinese Texts: The Case of the Analects, John Makeham.5. Three Kinds of Confucian Scholarship, Kelly James Clark.Part V: Zhu Xi: Textual and Philosophical Understanding.6. On Zhu Xi’s Theory of Interpretation, Pan Derong and Peng Qifu.7. To Catch a Thief: Zhu Xi (1130-1200) and the Hermeneutic Art, John Berthrong