Yong Huang is Professor of Philosophy at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is the editor of Rorty, Pragmatism, and Confucianism: With Responses by Richard Rorty, and the coeditor (with Yang Xiao) of Moral Relativism and Chinese Philosophy: David Wong and His Critics, both published by SUNY Press.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Introduction2. Possiblity of Comparative Philosophy3. How to Do Comparative Philosophy4. The Neo-Confucian Cheng Brothers5. Looking Ahead6. Conclusion1. Joy (le 㦡): "Why Be Moral?"1. Introduction2. The Question of "Why Be Moral?"3. Representative Answers in Western Philosophy and Their Inadequacies4. The Chengs’ Neo-Confucian Answer: Joy in Being Moral5. Joy and Knowledge6. To Be Moral and to Be Human7. Conclusion2. Virtue (de 㥀): Is a Virtuous Person Self-Centered?1. Introduction2. Virtue Ethics and Confucian Ethics3. The Self-Centeredness Objection: The First Level4. Virtue and Human Nature5. The Self-Centeredness Objection: The Second Level6. The Self-Centeredness Objection: The Foundational Level7. Conclusion3. Knowledge (zhi 䓡) How Is Weakness of the Will (akrasia) Not Possible?1. Introduction2. The Problem of Weakness of the Will in Western Philosophy3. Knowledge and Action: Why Is Weakness of the Will Not Possible?4. Knowledge of/as virtue versus Knowledge from Hearing and Seeing: How Is Weakness of the Will Not Possible?5. Cheng Brothers versus Socrates and Aristotle6. Absence of Weakness of the Will and the Presence of Moral Responsibility7. Conclusion4. Love (ai 㤅) Ethics between Theory and Antitheory1. Introduction2. The Ethics of Commonality and Its Problem3. Love with Distinction4. Extension of Love5. Training of Emotions6. Conclusion5. Propriety (li 禮): Why the Political Is Also Personal1. Introduction2. The Political/Personal Division in the Liberal Tradition and Its Problems3. The Possibility of a Confucian Political Philosophy4. Propriety as External Rules5. Propriety as Inner Feelings6. Propriety as Human Nature7. Defending the Neo Confucian Conception of Propriety as a Political Philosophy8. Conclusion6. Creativity (li 理): The Metaphysics of Morals or Moral Metaphysics?1. Introduction2. Metaphysic of Morals, Moral Theology, and Moral Metaphysics3. Li: Ontological Articulation of Confucian Morality4. Sheng 生 (Life-Giving Activity): Dereification of the Ultimate Reality5. Shen 神 (Divinity or God): Toward a Confucian Theology6. Conclusion7. Classics (Jing 經): Hermeneutics as a Practical Learning1. Introduction2. Classics as Carriers of Dao (Jing Yi Zai Dao 經以載道)3. To Grasp Dao through Classics (You Jing Qiong Li 由經窮理)4. Multiple Ways to Dao (Qiong Li Duo Duan 窮理多端)5. Hermeneutics as a Practical Learning (Jingxue Shixue Ye 經學實學也)6. Hermeneutic Circles (Jiao Xiang Yang Ye 交相養也)7. ConclusionAppendix: Neo-Confucian Hermeneutics at Work: CHENG Yi’s Philosophical Interpretation of Analects 8.9 and 17.31. Introduction2. Conventional Interpretations of Analects 8.93. CHENG Yi’s Interpretation of Analects 8.94. Conventional Interpretation of Analects 17.35. CHENG Yi’s Interpretation of Analects 17.36. The Role of Sages: Education7. ConclusionNotesBibliographyIndex

"...a very valuable text that could be used in a variety of contexts, from research to teaching … This text makes a genuine contribution to comparative philosophy and to contemporary ethics." — Journal of Chinese Religions"This book presents the philosophical ideas of the Cheng brothers intelligently, convincingly, and powerfully. It is among the best books ever written on the Cheng brothers, including works in the Chinese language." — Kam-por Yu, coeditor of Taking Confucian Ethics Seriously: Contemporary Theories and Applications