Neo-Confucian Ecological Humanism

Nicholas S. Brasovan is Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Religion at the University of Central Arkansas.

• AcknowledgmentsAbbreviationsIntroductionThesisInterpretive MethodologyBiographical Introduction to Wang FuzhiSignificance, Symbolism, and Strata of the Yijing Disambiguating Ecological HumanismSynopsis1. Natural CosmologyCreationism as AntithesisTian qua NatureNeo-Confucian Terminology of Cosmic Creativity2. Complex Systems and Patterns of EnergyA Perspective from Ecosystems EcologyNature as Patterns of EnergyFrom "Simple" to "Complex" Materialism3. Reading the Yijing from an Ecological PerspectiveHolistic HermeneuticsCosmography of the Yijing Practical Knowledge through Comprehensive Observation4. Between Nature and PersonsHumanizing Nature in Ecological HumanismHumanizing Nature in Chinese PhilosophyBetween Persons and NatureWang Fuzhi’s Critique of Orthodox and Heterodox DoctrinesMencius’s Heart-and-Mind and the Human Experience5. Identifying Religiosity in Wang Fuzhi’s Neo-ConfucianismRitual Propriety as Humanizing NatureImmanence of Persons-in-the-WorldProcreativity in the Yijing Experiencing the Sublime in Nature6. ConclusionSummarizing ReflectionsApplication of a TheoryNotesGlossary of Key Chinese TermsBibliographyIndex

"This is a fine study of Wang Fuzhi's complex and fascinating neo-Confucian cosmology. I learned an immense amount about one of China's last great Confucian intellectuals." — John Berthrong, author of Expanding Process: Exploring Philosophical and Theological Transformations in China and the West