Overview

At the center of a constellation of key ideas in East Asian philosophical traditions, there lies a conception of oneness among human beings. Human beings are intricately and inextricably intertwined and share a common destiny with other people, creatures, and things. The ramifications of this idea are wide-reaching, and resonate with important debates and concerns in contemporary Western philosophy, but many at the forefront of their fields in the West are unaware of the fundamental shift in perspective that might be available to them. One of Ivanhoe's aims in this work is to challenge the dominant paradigm of hyper-individualism, which still enjoys a commanding position in a great deal of contemporary theory and practice in the humanities and social sciences, and to describe and advocate for an alternative conception and sense of self, world, and the relationship between them.In particular, Ivanhoe, who has an extensive background in and has published influential work on virtue ethics and Asian philosophy, investigates the implications of oneness for conceptions of the self, virtue, and human happiness. Through the lens of oneness, he explores topics such as conceptions of the self, selfishness and self-centeredness, virtues, spontaneity, and happiness, drawing support from wide-ranging, interdisciplinary sources. Rather than starting from the standpoint of Western philosophy and then reaching out to Asian philosophy from a distance, Ivanhoe advances a thesis drawn from East Asian sources and explicitly challenges the theoretical asymmetry that is characteristic of most comparative study, which often simply applies Western theories to non-Western material.

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9780190840518

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This book is a truly outstanding model of the sort of cross-cultural philosophy that draws from the deep and fundamental insights of one tradition to engage productively with contemporary issues, both by bringing new arguments to bear and, importantly, by setting research agendas for future work in both mainstream and comparative ethics, as I expect that the book will do. Among the works that bridge philosophical traditions, few have the sort of agenda-setting potential that this one does. The book is also written in a highly accessible and engaging manner, so that readers of all kinds will profit from it, even those with no prior exposure to Neo-Confucianism. For all of these reasons it stands well above and apart from other work that bridges Chinese and contemporary Western philosophy. -Justin Tiwald, Department of Philosophy, San Francisco State University This book is truly a model of interdisciplinary work, and it will have broad appeal to scholars and students in the humanities and the social sciences, and to wider audiences beyond the academy, as well. At a time when we are reconsidering questions of diversity and difference, this book presents the views of different cultures and traditions around the world on topics that are of concern to all. The author shows that by thinking from and through the perspectives of traditional Asian thinkers, we can formulate views of oneness that can make significant contributions to contemporary debates about who we are and how we are related to the people, creatures, and natural world around us. -Erin Cline, Associate Professor of Comparative Ethics, Georgetown University

This book is a truly outstanding model of the sort of cross-cultural philosophy that draws from the deep and fundamental insights of one tradition to engage productively with contemporary issues, both by bringing new arguments to bear and, importantly, by setting research agendas for future work in both mainstream and comparative ethics, as I expect that the book will do. Among the works that bridge philosophical traditions, few have the sort of agenda-setting potential that this one does. The book is also written in a highly accessible and engaging manner, so that readers of all kinds will profit from it, even those with no prior exposure to Neo-Confucianism. For all of these reasons it stands well above and apart from other work that bridges Chinese and contemporary Western philosophy. -Justin Tiwald, Department of Philosophy, San Francisco State University This book is truly a model of interdisciplinary work, and it will have broad appeal to scholars and students in the humanities and the social sciences, and to wider audiences beyond the academy, as well. At a time when we are reconsidering questions of diversity and difference, this book presents the views of different cultures and traditions around the world on topics that are of concern to all. The author shows that by thinking from and through the perspectives of traditional Asian thinkers, we can formulate views of oneness that can make significant contributions to contemporary debates about who we are and how we are related to the people, creatures, and natural world around us. -Erin Cline, Associate Professor of Comparative Ethics, Georgetown University In this book, P. J. Ivanhoe presents and explores the 'oneness hypothesis.' Not a single hypothesis but a family of views, the oneness hypothesis asserts that nature, people, and creatures are deeply interconnected and that our personal happiness is especially dependent upon these ties. Ivanhoe masterfully draws on eastern and western philosophy as well as psychology, with special attention to the implications of neo-Confucian thinking about oneness. The book is a must-read for anyone seriously interested in conceptions of virtue and happiness, but will have special value to those seeking to learn more about non-western traditions and their implications for contemporary western philosophical thought. * Nancy E. Snow, Director of the Institute for the Study of Human Flourishing and Professor of Philosophy, University of Oklahoma * Oneness tells the real story of human understanding and flourishing, that it is rooted in the underlying unity of all things. An essential reading in a time of rampant fears about social, political and ecological disruption. * Ara Norenzayan, Professor of Psychology, University of British Columbia, author of Big Gods: How Religion Transformed Cooperation and Conflict *

Author Information

Philip J. Ivanhoe is Chair Professor of East Asian and Comparative Philosophy and Religion at City University of Hong Kong, where he also serves as director of the Center for East Asian and Comparative Philosophy (CEACOP), the Laboratory on Korean Philosophy in Comparative Perspectives, and the project Eastern and Western Conceptions of Oneness, Virtue, and Human Happiness. He specializes in the history of East Asian philosophy and religion and its potential for contemporary ethics. He is the author of several books including Three Streams (Oxford, 2016).

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