Philosophy East and West, vol. 59, no. 4 (2009)

ARTICLES

Buddhist ‘Foundationalism’ and the Phenomenology of Perception
Christian Coseru, 409

This essay, which draws on a set of interrelated issues in the phenomenology of perception, calls into question the assumption that Buddhist philosophers of the Dignāga-Dharmakīrti tradition pursue a kind of epistemic foundationalism. It is argued that the embodied-cognition paradigm, which informs recent efforts within the Western philosophical tradition to overcome the Cartesian legacy, can also be found—albeit in a modified form—in the Buddhist epistemological tradition. In seeking to ground epistemology in the phenomenology of cognition, the Buddhist epistemologist, it is claimed, is operating on principles similar to those found in Husserl’s phenomenological tradition.

Optimal States and Self-defeating Plans: The Problem of Intentionality in Early Chinese Self-cultivation
Romain Graziani, 440

Whereas Western moral philosophy has mainly accounted for recurrent failed or irrational actions through the concept of weakness of will, many early Chinese texts on self-cultivation, notably the Zhuangzi, stand for a philosophical position that explains our frustrations and failures as an “excess of the will.” Leaving aside external factors such as accidents or mistakes, this essay explores the sources of thwarted plans and frustrated expectations that are due to factors internal to the individual—more precisely, to the nature of intentional conscience. Such a view was generally inadmissible in Western moral philosophy, which revolves around the paradigm of a causal agent endowed with a ‘muscular ethics’ for which all that is desired, and indeed all that is achieved, may only be a direct effect of the will. In striking contrast to this orientation, the Zhuangzi presents a variety of situations in which things do not happen as planned because we were too aware of the plan that guided us. Here, I will use Jon Elster’s concept of by-product states in order to explore this contrast between two contending models of action that, far from being culturally rooted, express an inner criticism in both traditions, European and Chinese.

The Structure of Emptiness
Graham Priest, 467

The view that everything is empty (śūnya) is a central metaphysical plank of Mahāyāna Buddhism. It has often been the focus of objections. Perhaps the most important of these is that it in effect entails a nihilism: nothing exists. This objection, in turn, is denied by Mahāyāna theorists, such as Nāgārjuna. One of the things that makes the debate difficult is that the precise import of the view that everything is empty is unclear. The object of this essay is to put the debate in a new light. It does so by proposing a mathematical characterization of Emptiness—that is, the totality of empty things—showing that, whatever it is, it has a definite structure and is not, therefore, to be identified with nothingness.

How to Rule without Taking Unnatural Actions (无为而治): A Comparative Study of the Political Philosophy of the Laozi
Tongdong Bai, 481

In this essay, the understanding of naturalness and of ruling without taking unnatural actions in the Laozi will be clarified and elaborated on, and it will be argued that the Laozi offers a theoretically adequate and realistic proposal to address both the problems of its times and some of the problems of modernity.

“Ascending the Hall”: Style and Moral Improvement in the Analects
Amy Olberding, 503

The moral vision of the Analects notably includes among our moral responsibilities the need to style behavior such that the propriety of one’s dispositions is evident in one’s manner and demeanor. While the sage effortlessly fulfills this responsibility, the moral learner must actively strive to shape her demeanor and manner. This essay considers her resources for doing so where becoming effortlessly sagely is a distant, if not unreachable, possibility. While the Analects clearly proffers the li as the principal mechanism for developing an appropriate style, the models provided by Zigong and Zilu, two of the text’s most vividly depicted moral learners, demonstrate what an improvement in the domain of style requires and significantly indicate an account of moral style in which formal propriety must be vouchsafed by the personally revelatory.

COMMENT AND DISCUSSION

Beyond Liberal Democracy: A Debate on Democracy and Confucian Meritocracy, a review of Beyond Liberal Democracy: Political Thinking for an East Asian Context, by Daniel A. Bell, 523

Exiting Liberal Democracy: Bell and Confucian Thought
Fred Dallmayr, 524

Where Does Confucian Virtuous Leadership Stand?
Chenyang Li, 531

Beyond Elitism: A Community Ideal for a Modern East Asia
Sor-hoon Tan, 537

Toward Meritocratic Rule in China? A Response to Professors Dallmayr, Li, and Tan
Daniel A. Bell, 554

BOOK REVIEWS

Is Scientific Knowledge Rational? by Halil Rahman Açar
Reviewed by Clint Jones, 561

On Justice: An Essay in Jewish Philosophy, by Lenn E. Goodman
Reviewed by Bernard S. Jackson, 562

Indian Philosophy and Philosophy of Science, by Sundar Sarukkai
Reviewed by John N. Crossley, 565

Ogyū Sorai’s Philosophical Masterworks: The Bendō and Benmei, by John A. Tucker
Reviewed by Samuel Yamashita, 567

Metaphor and Literalism in Buddhism: The Doctrinal History of Nirvana, by Soonil Hwang
Reviewed by Warren Todd, 571

BOOKS RECEIVED

574

INDEX

576

UH Press
Privacy Overview

University of Hawaiʻi Press Privacy Policy

WHAT INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT?

University of Hawaiʻi Press collects the information that you provide when you register on our site, place an order, subscribe to our newsletter, or fill out a form. When ordering or registering on our site, as appropriate, you may be asked to enter your: name, e-mail address, mailing 0address, phone number or credit card information. You may, however, visit our site anonymously.
Website log files collect information on all requests for pages and files on this website's web servers. Log files do not capture personal information but do capture the user's IP address, which is automatically recognized by our web servers. This information is used to ensure our website is operating properly, to uncover or investigate any errors, and is deleted within 72 hours.
University of Hawaiʻi Press will make no attempt to track or identify individual users, except where there is a reasonable suspicion that unauthorized access to systems is being attempted. In the case of all users, we reserve the right to attempt to identify and track any individual who is reasonably suspected of trying to gain unauthorized access to computer systems or resources operating as part of our web services.
As a condition of use of this site, all users must give permission for University of Hawaiʻi Press to use its access logs to attempt to track users who are reasonably suspected of gaining, or attempting to gain, unauthorized access.

WHAT DO WE USE YOUR INFORMATION FOR?

Any of the information we collect from you may be used in one of the following ways:

To process transactions

Your information, whether public or private, will not be sold, exchanged, transferred, or given to any other company for any reason whatsoever, without your consent, other than for the express purpose of delivering the purchased product or service requested. Order information will be retained for six months to allow us to research if there is a problem with an order. If you wish to receive a copy of this data or request its deletion prior to six months contact Cindy Yen at [email protected].

To administer a contest, promotion, survey or other site feature

Your information, whether public or private, will not be sold, exchanged, transferred, or given to any other company for any reason whatsoever, without your consent, other than for the express purpose of delivering the service requested. Your information will only be kept until the survey, contest, or other feature ends. If you wish to receive a copy of this data or request its deletion prior completion, contact [email protected].

To send periodic emails

The email address you provide for order processing, may be used to send you information and updates pertaining to your order, in addition to receiving occasional company news, updates, related product or service information, etc.
Note: We keep your email information on file if you opt into our email newsletter. If at any time you would like to unsubscribe from receiving future emails, we include detailed unsubscribe instructions at the bottom of each email.

To send catalogs and other marketing material

The physical address you provide by filling out our contact form and requesting a catalog or joining our physical mailing list may be used to send you information and updates on the Press. We keep your address information on file if you opt into receiving our catalogs. You may opt out of this at any time by contacting [email protected].

HOW DO WE PROTECT YOUR INFORMATION?

We implement a variety of security measures to maintain the safety of your personal information when you place an order or enter, submit, or access your personal information.
We offer the use of a secure server. All supplied sensitive/credit information is transmitted via Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology and then encrypted into our payment gateway providers database only to be accessible by those authorized with special access rights to such systems, and are required to keep the information confidential. After a transaction, your private information (credit cards, social security numbers, financials, etc.) will not be stored on our servers.
Some services on this website require us to collect personal information from you. To comply with Data Protection Regulations, we have a duty to tell you how we store the information we collect and how it is used. Any information you do submit will be stored securely and will never be passed on or sold to any third party.
You should be aware, however, that access to web pages will generally create log entries in the systems of your ISP or network service provider. These entities may be in a position to identify the client computer equipment used to access a page. Such monitoring would be done by the provider of network services and is beyond the responsibility or control of University of Hawaiʻi Press.

DO WE USE COOKIES?

Yes. Cookies are small files that a site or its service provider transfers to your computer’s hard drive through your web browser (if you click to allow cookies to be set) that enables the sites or service providers systems to recognize your browser and capture and remember certain information.
We use cookies to help us remember and process the items in your shopping cart. You can see a full list of the cookies we set on our cookie policy page. These cookies are only set once you’ve opted in through our cookie consent widget.

DO WE DISCLOSE ANY INFORMATION TO OUTSIDE PARTIES?

We do not sell, trade, or otherwise transfer your personally identifiable information to third parties other than to those trusted third parties who assist us in operating our website, conducting our business, or servicing you, so long as those parties agree to keep this information confidential. We may also release your personally identifiable information to those persons to whom disclosure is required to comply with the law, enforce our site policies, or protect ours or others’ rights, property, or safety. However, non-personally identifiable visitor information may be provided to other parties for marketing, advertising, or other uses.

CALIFORNIA ONLINE PRIVACY PROTECTION ACT COMPLIANCE

Because we value your privacy we have taken the necessary precautions to be in compliance with the California Online Privacy Protection Act. We therefore will not distribute your personal information to outside parties without your consent.

CHILDRENS ONLINE PRIVACY PROTECTION ACT COMPLIANCE

We are in compliance with the requirements of COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act), we do not collect any information from anyone under 13 years of age. Our website, products and services are all directed to people who are at least 13 years old or older.

ONLINE PRIVACY POLICY ONLY

This online privacy policy applies only to information collected through our website and not to information collected offline.

YOUR CONSENT

By using our site, you consent to our web site privacy policy.

CHANGES TO OUR PRIVACY POLICY

If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will post those changes on this page, and update the Privacy Policy modification date.
This policy is effective as of May 25th, 2018.

CONTACTING US

If there are any questions regarding this privacy policy you may contact us using the information below.
University of Hawaiʻi Press
2840 Kolowalu Street
Honolulu, HI 96822
USA
[email protected]
Ph (808) 956-8255, Toll-free: 1-(888)-UH-PRESS
Fax (800) 650-7811