Bryan W. Van Norden lambastes academic philosophy for its Eurocentrism and insularity and challenges educational institutions to live up to their cosmopolitan ideals. Taking Back Philosophy is at once a manifesto for multicultural education, an accessible introduction to Confucian and Buddhist philosophy, and a defense of the value of philosophy.

This book is an introduction in the very best sense of the word. It provides the beginner with an accurate, sophisticated, yet accessible account, and offers new insights and challenging perspectives to those who have more specialized knowledge. Focusing on the period in Chinese philosophy that is surely most easily approachable and perhaps is most important, it ranges over of rich set of competing options. It also, with admirable self-consciousness, presents a number of daring attempts to relate those options to philosophical figures and movements from the West. I recommend it very highly.--Lee H. Yearley, Walter Y. Evans-Wentz Professor, Religious Studies, Stanford University

This new edition offers expanded selections from the works of Kongzi (Confucius), Mengzi (Mencius), Zhuangzi (Chuang Tzu), and Xunzi (Hsun Tzu); two new works, the dialogues 'Robber Zhi' and 'White Horse'; a concise general introduction; brief introductions to, and selective bibliographies for, each work; and four appendices that shed light on important figures, periods, texts, and terms in Chinese thought.

In this book Bryan W. Van Norden examines early Confucianism as a form of virtue ethics and Mohism, an anti-Confucian movement, as a version of consequentialism. The philosophical methodology is analytic, in that the emphasis is on clear exegesis of the texts and a critical examination of the philosophical arguments proposed by each side. Van Norden shows that Confucianism, while similar to Aristotelianism in being a form of virtue ethics, offers different conceptions of 'the good life', the virtues, human nature, and ethical cultivation. Mohism is akin to Western utilitarianism in being a form of consequentialism, but distinctive in its conception of the relevant consequences and in its specific thought-experiments and state-of-nature arguments. Van Norden makes use of the best research on Chinese history, archaeology, and philology. His text is accessible to philosophers with no previous knowledge of Chinese culture and to Sinologists with no background in philosophy.

This innovative book presents candid, informal debates among scholars who examine the benefits and problems of studying science in the same way that scientists study the natural world.

James Madison once wrote, "A people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives." To those who seek to reclaim their command over American government today, "The American Ideology" serves as a powerful weapon to advance that cause. "The American Ideology" provides an objective investigation into the political philosophy that facilitated self-government in the United States. The book examines the origin of the principles set forth in the Declaration of Independence. It demonstrates how the Constitution was designed to preserve those ideals. And it identifies the fundamental values that must accompany freedom in any republic in order to sustain it. Based on the writings and speeches of the Founding Fathers, the observations of Alexis de Tocqueville, and the critical works of John Locke, Charles de Montesquieu, and William Blackstone, "The American Ideology" serves as an authoritative study on the foundation of American liberty. "The American Ideology" also sheds light on the means by which the federal government has since subverted American liberty. It identifies the points in American history when the government has departed from its founding principles. It explains how the federal government's commerce and taxing powers under the Constitution have been stretched so far that any kind of individual activity can now be taxed and regulated. And thanks to the Supreme Court's recent ruling on the legality of "Obamacare," the federal government now has free reign to coerce individual behavior--it can tax and regulate inactivity. When this regulatory state is compared against the Founding Fathers' original design, it is clear that the federal government's authority today is overbearing, unnatural, and unconstitutional. As Brian Vanyo writes in "The American Ideology," there is a way for change to prevail--for the people to recover their sovereignty and restore their natural rights. Using the political philosophy that inspired the American Revolution, there is a way for the people to win their independence once again. But they must first arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.

Two Philosophers Ask and Answer the Big Questions About the Search for Faith and Happiness For seekers of all stripes, philosophy is timeless self-care. Notre Dame philosophy professors Meghan Sullivan and Paul Blaschko have reinvigorated this tradition in their wildly popular and influential undergraduate course “God and the Good Life,” in which they wrestle with the big questions about how to live and what makes life meaningful. Now they invite us into the classroom to work through issues like what justifies our beliefs, whether we should practice a religion and what sacrifices we should make for others—as well as to investigate what figures such as Aristotle, Plato, Marcus Aurelius, Iris Murdoch, and W. E. B. Du Bois have to say about how to live well. Sullivan and Blaschko do the timeless work of philosophy using real-world case studies that explore love, finance, truth, and more. In so doing, they push us to escape our own caves, ask stronger questions, explain our deepest goals, and wrestle with suffering, the nature of death, and the existence of God. Philosophers know that our “good life plan” is one that we as individuals need to be constantly and actively writing to achieve some meaningful control and sense of purpose even if the world keeps throwing surprises our way. For at least the past 2,500 years, philosophers have taught that goal-seeking is an essential part of what it is to be human—and crucially that we could find our own good life by asking better questions of ourselves and of one another. This virtue ethics approach resonates profoundly in our own moment. The Good Life Method is a winning guide to tackling the big questions of being human with the wisdom of the ages.