Based on the ethical thinking of the pre-Qin Dynasty, this book discusses the formation and development of traditional Chinese ethics, the refinement of the Confucian ethical normative system and the establishment of its orthodoxy, as well as the deepening and maturation of feudal ethics. The book is simple in style and clear in context. It contains not only the essence of traditional Chinese morality but also the achievements of modern civilization. It analyzes the implications of traditional Chinese ethics on the governance and moral construction of modern society and can be used as a reference for governance and revitalization of the country and moral development.

Early Chinese ethics has attracted increasing scholarly and social attention in recent years as the virtue ethics movement in Western philosophy has sparked renewed interest in Confucianism and Daoism. At the same time, intellectuals and social commentators throughout greater China have looked to the Chinese ethical tradition for resources to evaluate the role of traditional cultural values in the contemporary world. Publications on early Chinese ethics have tended to focus inordinate and uncritical attention toward Confucianism, while relatively neglecting Daoism, Mohism, and shared features of Chinese moral psychology. This book aims to rectify this imbalance by including essays on Daoism and Confucianism, early Chinese moral psychology including widely neglected views of the Mohists and newly reconstructed accounts of the "embodied virtue" tradition, which ties ethics to physical cultivation. The volume also includes essays addressing the broader question of the value of comparative philosophy generally and of studying early Chinese ethics in particular. The book should have a wide readership among professional scholars and graduate students in Chinese philosophy, specifically Confucian ethics, Daoist ethics, and comparative ethics. Chris Fraseris associate professor of philosophy at the University of Hong Kong. Dan Robins is assistant professor of Chinese philosophy at Stockton College of New Jersey.Timothy O'Learyis associate professor of philosophy at the University of Hong Kong. Contributors include Roger Ames, Stephen Angle, Sin yee Chan, Jiwei Ci, Chris Fraser, Jane Geaney, William Haines, Chad Hansen, Manyul Im, P.J. Ivanhoe, Franklin Perkins, Lisa Raphals, Dan Robins, Henry Rosemont, Jr., David Wong, and Lee Yearley.

This book follows two lines of inquiry in understanding nursing ethics in the historical-cultural context of modern China. Firstly, it scrutinizes the prescribed set of moral virtues for nurses in fulfilling their role requirements during different periods of nursing development over the past century. Based on empirical studies, the book, secondly, explores the nurses’ evaluations of their ethical responsibilities in current practice. It carefully examines the particular viewpoints of nurses in their ethical appraisal of nursing practice and patient care situations. Drawing upon traditional ethical outlooks, international norms, and the experiences of nurses as they face difficult care situations, this book concludes with recommendations for improving the quality of nursing in contemporary China.

Over the past half-century, China has experienced incredible human dramas, ranging from Red Guard fanaticism and the loss of education for an entire generation during the Cultural Revolution to the Tiananmen tragedy, the economic miracle, and its accompanying money worship and rampant official corruption. Social Ethics in a Changing China: Moral Decay or Ethical Awakening? provides a rich empirical narrative and thought-provoking scholarly arguments that highlight the imperative for an ethical discourse in a country increasingly seen by many as a materialistic giant and spiritual dwarf. Professor He Huaihong has been not only an extraordinary witness to all of these dramas, but has also played a distinct role as a historian, an ethicist, and a social critic exploring the deeper intellectual and sociological origins of these events. Incorporating ethical theories with his expertise in the culture, history, religion, literature, and politics of the country, He reviews the remarkable transformation of ethics and morality in the People's Republic of China and engages in a global discourse about the major ethical issues of our time. He's book aims to reconstruct Chinese social ethics in an innovative philosophical framework, reflecting China's search for new virtues. "The analysis of social ethics in today's China presented by Professor He in this volume is formidable. It is natural to wonder if the new ethics he proposes is powerful enough to uproot and supplant the old. "--from the Foreword by John L. Thornton "While this volume focuses on the intellectual odyssey of one truly extraordinary Chinese ethicist, it is also about the broader experience of China's journey into the twenty-first century--about the country's painful attempt to recover from its severe moral decay."--from the Introduction by Cheng Li

The concept of friendship is more easily valued than it is described: this volume brings together reflections on its meaning and practice in a variety of social and cultural settings in history and in the present time, focusing on Asia and the Western, Euro-American world. The extension of the group in which friendship is recognized, and degrees of intimacy (whether or not involving an erotic dimension) and genuine appreciation may vary widely. Friendship may simply include kinship bonds—solidarity being one of its more general characteristics. In various contexts of travelling, migration, and a dearth of offspring, friendship may take over roles of kinship, also in terms of care.

"The city," according to urban design scholar Gideon Golany, is"the largest and most complicated project ever produced byhumankind." In Ethics and Urban Design, he challenges designprofessionals to reexamine their basic assumptions about the urbanenvironment and offers design strategies based on enduring humanvalues. In search of answers to the paradoxical problems of the moderncity, Golany takes the reader through the sweep of humansettlements from the dawn of civilization to the present. Hisauthoritative examination of the genesis of the city is illuminatedby instructive examples of early urban centers. Mesopotamia, theIndus River Valley, the Egyptian cities of the Nile, and thecapital cities of ancient China--all are examined in the light ofwhat made them work as major centers of human activity. What Golany finds in the success stories of the past are cohesivesociocultural values that shaped the design of homes,neighborhoods, and cities. These ethical values helped to maintainan equilibrium within the society that permeated its natural,social, and human-made environments. In the present era,conversely, he finds a major disconnection between human values andthe ethics of technology, which has resulted in confusion,imbalance, and dehumanization. To help designers gain a perspective on possible solutions, Golanyexplains leading comprehensive design strategies, including thevalley theory, the urban border zone concept, and the regionalconcept of Patrick Geddes. In the case study of contemporaryHolland, he details what a small, densely populated country hasbeen able to achieve through design planning rooted inenvironmental ethics. "Future Frontiers for Urban Design," the culminating section ofthis groundbreaking book, opens with Golany's vision of the futurecity. He examines the issues of thermal performance and climate asthey relate to urban design and offers the concept of"geospace"--the earth-enveloped habitat. Buttressing hispresentation with detailed information on the mechanics ofgeospace, Golany describes case studies of the successful use ofearth-enveloped habitats in China and Tunisia. He makes a powerfulargument for the geospace city as a renewal of ancient traditionsthat can restore the vital equilibrium between nature and humansettlements that we seem to have lost. Ethics and Urban Design is a distinguished scholar's analysis andprescription for the city; it offers an abundance of stimulatingideas for the architects, designers, and planners who have assumedresponsibility for its future. Ethics & Urban Design draws on historical examples andcontemporary case studies from around the world to illustrate urbandesign strategies that can help restore equilibrium to the natural,social, and built environments of the city. In this stimulatingbook, urban design scholar Gideon Golany offers architects,designers, and planners both an in-depth analysis of thefundamental issues of urban design and practical options for thedesign of the future city. * Examines the genesis and development of the city from theearliest presettlements to the rise of urban society * Presents urban design strategies based on historical examples ofearly urban centers, including Mesopotamia, the Indus River Valley,Egypt, and China * Offers case studies of environmental success stories from Europe,Asia, and Africa * Details geospace design options--the use of underground space fordiversified land use, housing, and transportation * Fully illustrated, with over 80 photographs, drawings, anddiagrams

How do Chinese and Western ethical traditions interact today? In this collection of articles both Chinese and Western scholars carefully examine the issue, one of fundamental importance for the mutual understanding between China and the West. The volume is the result of the second symposium which focused on a dialogue between China and the West on questions of ethics, in particular concerning their commensurability and a possible common ground. The first part of the book discusses general problems of ethics in a cross-cultural context, followed by articles on ethical bases of Chinese and Western societies respectively. Further topics range from moral traditions in the context of social transformation in China today to developments in Western societies, politics, education and religion. The last part deals with controversial issues such as human rights vs. human duties and medical ethics.