Roger T. Ames's Books

The Art of Rulership

A Study of Ancient Chinese Political Thought

By: Roger T. Ames

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The Art of Rulership

A Study of Ancient Chinese Political Thought

By: Roger T. Ames

Roger Ames first traces the evolution of five key concepts in early Chinese political philosophy and then analyzes these concepts as they are developed in The Art of Rulership. The Art of Rulership is Book Nine of the Huai Nan Tzu, an anthology of diverse and far-ranging contents compiled under the patronage of Liu An (prince of Huai Nan) and presented to the court of Wu Ti during the first century of the Former Han (perhaps as early as 140 B.C.). Ames demonstrates that the political theory contained in The Art of Rulership shares an underlying sympathy with precepts of Taoist and Confucian origin, and contains a systematic political philosophy that is not only unique but compelling. The book presents a political theory that tempers lofty ideals with functional practicability. While the spirit of the work is strongly Taoist and Confucian, this spirit is provided with a Legalist political framework in which it can be implemented, nurtured, and cultivated.

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308

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State University of New York Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0791494705

ISBN 13

9780791494707

Focusing the Familiar

A Translation and Philosophical Interpretation of the Zhongyong

By: Roger T. Ames,David L. Hall

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Focusing the Familiar

A Translation and Philosophical Interpretation of the Zhongyong

By: Roger T. Ames,David L. Hall

The Zhongyong--translated here as Focusing the Familiar--has been regarded as a document of enormous wisdom for more than two millennia and is one of Confucianism's most sacred and seminal texts. It achieved truly canonical preeminence when it became one of the Four Books compiled and annotated by the Southern Song dynasty philosopher Zhu Xi (1130-1200). Within the compass of world literature, the influence of these books (Analects of Confucius, Great Learning, Zhongyong, and Mencius) on the Sinitic world of East Asia has been no less than the Bible and the Qu'ran on Western civilization. With this new translation David Hall and Roger Ames provide a distinctly philosophical interpretation of the Zhongyong, remaining attentive to the semantic and conceptual nuances of the text to account for its central place within classical Chinese literature. They present the text in such a way as to provide Western philosophers and other intellectuals access to a set of interpretations and arguments that offer new insights into issues and concerns common to both Chinese and Western thinkers. In addition to the annotated translation, a glossary of terms gives in concise form important senses of the terms that play a key role in the argument of the Zhongyong. An appendix addresses some of the more technical issues relevant to the understanding of both the history of the text and the history of its English translations. Here the translators introduce readers to the best contemporary textual studies of the Zhongyong and make use of the most recent archaeological discoveries in China to place the work within its own intellectual context.

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186

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University of Hawaii Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0824824784

ISBN 13

9780824824785

Sun-Tzu: The Art of Warfare

The First English Translation Incorporating the Recently Discovered Yin-ch'ueh-shan Texts

By: Roger T. Ames

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Sun-Tzu: The Art of Warfare

The First English Translation Incorporating the Recently Discovered Yin-ch'ueh-shan Texts

By: Roger T. Ames

The most widely read military classic in human history, newly translated and revised in accordance with newly discovered materials of unprecedented historical significance. Fluid, crisp and rigorously faithful to the original, this new text is destined to stand as the definitive version of this cornerstone work of Classical Chinese. Of compelling importance not only to students of Chinese history and literature, but to all readers interested in the art or the philosophy of war.

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356

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Ballantine Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

0307477800

ISBN 13

9780307477804

Human Becomings

Theorizing Persons for Confucian Role Ethics

By: Roger T. Ames

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Human Becomings

Theorizing Persons for Confucian Role Ethics

By: Roger T. Ames

2021 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title In Human Becomings, Roger T. Ames argues that the appropriateness of categorizing Confucian ethics as role ethics turns largely on the conception of person that is presupposed within the interpretive context of classical Chinese philosophy. By beginning with first self-consciously and critically theorizing the Confucian conception of persons as the starting point of Confucian ethics, Ames posits that the ultimate goal will be to take the Confucian tradition on its own terms and to let it speak with its own voice without overwriting it with cultural importances not its own. He argues that perhaps the most important contribution Confucian philosophy can make to contemporary ethical, social, and political discourse is the conception of focus-field, relationally constituted persons as a robust alternative to the ideology of individualism with single actors playing to win.

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503

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State University of New York Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1438480814

ISBN 13

9781438480817

Thinking Through Confucius

By: David L. Hall,Confucius,Roger T. Ames

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Thinking Through Confucius

By: David L. Hall,Confucius,Roger T. Ames

Thinking Through Confucius critically interprets the conceptual structure underlying Confucius' philosophical reflections. It also investigates "thinking," or "philosophy" from the perspective of Confucius. That authors suggest that an examination of Chinese philosophy may provide an alternative definition of philosophy that can be used to address some of the pressing issues of the Western cultural tradition.

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420

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SUNY Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0887063772

ISBN 13

9780887063770

The Democracy of the Dead

Dewey, Confucius, and the Hope for Democracy in China

By: Roger T. Ames,David L. Hall

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The Democracy of the Dead

Dewey, Confucius, and the Hope for Democracy in China

By: Roger T. Ames,David L. Hall

Will democracy figure prominently in China's future? If so, what kind of democracy? In this insightful and thought-provoking book, David Hall and Roger Ames explore such questions and, in the course of answering them, look to the ideas of John Dewey and Confucius. Those most sanguine about the future of Chinese-Western relations presume that a modernized China will be essentially westernized as well. They believe that in order to enter the family of nations China must be transformed into a liberal democracy, complete with free enterprise capitalism and rational technologies. Only in this manner, so this argument goes, can there be hope for increased rights and freedoms for the individual Chinese. Contrary to this view, the authors argue that it is a mistake to equate modernization with westernization and to believe that individualist, rights-based democracy and its economic and technological accouterments are inevitable consequences of civilized development. Modernity, the authors claim, far from being a universal expression of the human spirit, is a peculiarly Western invention which must be adapted significantly if it is to be useful in a Chinese environment. In The Democracy of the Dead, Hall and Ames argue for the viability of the traditional Chinese cultural sensibility and claim that the China which may well come to dominate the global culture of the twenty-first century will not be a society of increasingly rugged individuals, nor will it be the Netscaped, McDonaldized Theme Park of which Western entrepreneurs have begun to dream. Rather, China is likely to maintain far more of its traditional character than most now suspect possible, and will, therefore, enter the modernworld largely on its own terms. Hall and Ames argue that accommodating the legitimate desires of the Chinese people will require the promotion of a communitarian form of democracy seriously at odds with the liberal democratic model which dominates Western democracies. This will best be accomplished by appealing to the communitarian strain of thought within our own tradition. To this end the authors offer John Dewey's theory of democracy, that of the "communicating community", as the vision which is best suited to engage the realities of Chinese social practice and to promote the realization of a Confucian democracy in China.

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280

Publisher

Open Court

Published Date

ISBN 10

0812699386

ISBN 13

9780812699388

Thinking from the Han

Self, Truth, and Transcendence in Chinese and Western Culture

By: David L. Hall,Roger T. Ames

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Thinking from the Han

Self, Truth, and Transcendence in Chinese and Western Culture

By: David L. Hall,Roger T. Ames

Examines the issues of self (including gender), truth, and transcendence in classical Chinese and Western philosophy.

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360

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SUNY Press

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ISBN 10

0791436136

ISBN 13

9780791436134

Thinking Through Confucius

By: David L. Hall,Roger T. Ames

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Thinking Through Confucius

By: David L. Hall,Roger T. Ames

Thinking Through Confucius critically interprets the conceptual structure underlying Confucius' philosophical reflections. It also investigates "thinking," or "philosophy" from the perspective of Confucius. Perhaps the philosophical question of our time is "what is philosophy". The authors suggest that an examination of the Chinese philosophy may provide an alternative definition of philosophy that can be used to address some of the pressing issues of the Western cultural tradition. This book finds an appropriate language for the interpretation of traditional Chinese philosophical thought — a language which is relatively free from the bias and presuppositions of Western philosophy.

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420

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State University of New York Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1438405537

ISBN 13

9781438405537

A Sourcebook in Classical Confucian Philosophy

By: Roger T. Ames

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A Sourcebook in Classical Confucian Philosophy

By: Roger T. Ames

Roger T. Ames's A Sourcebook in Classical Confucian Philosophy is a companion volume to his Conceptual Lexicon for Classical Confucian Philosophy. It includes texts in the original classical Chinese along with their translations, allowing experts and novices alike to make whatever comparisons they choose. In applying a method of comparative cultural hermeneutics, Ames has tried to let the tradition speak on its own terms. The goal is to encourage readers to move between the translated text and commentary, the philosophical introduction that attempts to sensitize them to the interpretative context, and the companion Lexicon of key philosophical terms, with the expectation that in the fullness of time they will be able to appropriate the original Chinese terminologies themselves. Armed with their own increasingly robust insight into these philosophical terms, readers will be able to carry this nuanced understanding over into their critical reading of other available translations. Ultimately, for students who would understand Chinese philosophy, tian 天 must be understood as tian 天, and dao 道 must be dao 道.

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653

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State University of New York Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1438493541

ISBN 13

9781438493541

Living Chinese Philosophy

Zoetology as First Philosophy

By: Roger T. Ames

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Living Chinese Philosophy

Zoetology as First Philosophy

By: Roger T. Ames

In Living Chinese Philosophy, Roger T. Ames uses comparative cultural hermeneutics as a method for contrasting classical Greek ontology ("the science of being in itself") with classical Chinese "zoetology" ("the art of living"), which is made explicit in the Yijing 易經 or Book of Changes. Parmenides, Plato, and Aristotle give us a substance ontology grounded in "being qua being" or "being per se" (to on he on) that guarantees a permanent and unchanging subject as the substratum for the human experience. This substratum or essence includes its purpose for being (telos) and defines the "what-it-means-to-be-a-thing-of-this-kind" (eidos) of any particular thing, thus setting a closed, exclusive boundary and the strict identity necessary for a particular thing to be "this" and not "that." In the Book of Changes, we find a vocabulary that makes explicit cosmological assumptions that are a stark alternative to this substance ontology. It also provides the interpretive context for the canonical texts by locating them within a holistic, organic, and ecological worldview. To provide a meaningful contrast with this fundamental assumption of on or "being," we might borrow the Greek notion of zoe or "life" and create the neologism "zoe-tology" as "the art of living" (shengshenglun 生生論). This cosmology begins from "living" (sheng 生) itself as the motive force behind change and gives us a world of boundless "becomings": not "things" that are but "events" that are happening, a contrast between an ontological conception of human "beings" and a process conception of what the author calls human "becomings.

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390

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State University of New York Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

143849954X

ISBN 13

9781438499543

The Analects of Confucius

A Philosophical Translation

By: Roger T. Ames,Henry Rosemont Jr.

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The Analects of Confucius

A Philosophical Translation

By: Roger T. Ames,Henry Rosemont Jr.

To quietly persevere in storing up what is learned, to continue studying without respite, to instruct others without growing weary--is this not me?" --Confucius Confucius is recognized as China's first and greatest teacher, and his ideas have been the fertile soil in which the Chinese cultural tradition has flourished. Now, here is a translation of the recorded thoughts and deeds that best remember Confucius--informed for the first time by the manuscript version found at Dingzhou in 1973, a partial text dating to 55 BCE and only made available to the scholarly world in 1997. The earliest Analects yet discovered, this work provides us with a new perspective on the central canonical text that has defined Chinese culture--and clearly illuminates the spirit and values of Confucius. Confucius (551-479 BCE) was born in the ancient state of Lu into an era of unrelenting, escalating violence as seven of the strongest states in the proto-Chinese world warred for supremacy. The landscape was not only fierce politically but also intellectually. Although Confucius enjoyed great popularity as a teacher, and many of his students found their way into political office, he personally had little influence in Lu. And so he began to travel from state to state as an itinerant philosopher to persuade political leaders that his teachings were a formula for social and political success. Eventually, his philosophies came to dictate the standard of behavior for all of society--including the emperor himself. Based on the latest research and complete with both Chinese and English texts, this revealing translation serves both as an excellent introduction to Confucian thought and as an authoritative addition to sophisticated debate.

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348

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Ballantine Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

0307775712

ISBN 13

9780307775719

Human Becomings

Theorizing Persons for Confucian Role Ethics

By: Roger T. Ames

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Human Becomings

Theorizing Persons for Confucian Role Ethics

By: Roger T. Ames

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503

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State University of New York Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1438480814

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9781438480817

A Conceptual Lexicon for Classical Confucian Philosophy

By: Roger T. Ames

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A Conceptual Lexicon for Classical Confucian Philosophy

By: Roger T. Ames

Over the years, Roger T. Ames and his collaborators have consistently argued for a processual understanding of Chinese natural cosmology made explicit in the Book of Changes. It is this way of thinking, captured in its own interpretive context with the expression "continuities in change" (biantong) that has shaped the grammar of the Chinese language and informs the key philosophical vocabulary of Confucian philosophy. Over the past several centuries of cultural encounter, the formula established by the early missionaries for the translation of classical Chinese texts into Western languages has resulted in a Christian conversion of Confucian texts that is still very much with us today. And more recently, the invention of a new Chinese language to synchronize East Asian cultures with Western modernity has become another obstacle in our reading of the Confucian canons. This volume, a companion volume to A Sourcebook in Classical Confucian Philosophy, employs a comparative hermeneutical method in an attempt to explain the Confucian terms of art and to take the Confucian tradition on its own terms.

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582

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State University of New York Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1438490828

ISBN 13

9781438490823

The Art of Rulership

A Study of Ancient Chinese Political Thought

By: Roger T. Ames

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The Art of Rulership

A Study of Ancient Chinese Political Thought

By: Roger T. Ames

Ames demonstrates that the political theory contained in The Art of Rulership shares an underlying sympathy with precepts of Taoist and Confucian origin, and contains a systematic political philosophy that is not only unique but compelling. The book presents a political theory that tempers lofty ideals with functional practicability.

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308

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SUNY Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0791420620

ISBN 13

9780791420621

Sun-Tzu: The Art of Warfare

The First English Translation Incorporating the Recently Discovered Yin-ch'ueh-shan Texts

By: Roger T. Ames

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Sun-Tzu: The Art of Warfare

The First English Translation Incorporating the Recently Discovered Yin-ch'ueh-shan Texts

By: Roger T. Ames

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356

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Ballantine Books

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ISBN 10

0307477800

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9780307477804

The Chinese Classic of Family Reverence

A Philosophical Translation of the Xiaojing

By: Henry Rosemont,Roger T. Ames

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The Chinese Classic of Family Reverence

A Philosophical Translation of the Xiaojing

By: Henry Rosemont,Roger T. Ames

Few if any philosophical schools have championed family values as persistently as the early Confucians, and a great deal can be learned by attending to what they had to say on the subject. In the Confucian tradition, human morality and the personal realization it inspires are grounded in the cultivation of family feeling. One may even go so far as to say that, for China, family reverence was a necessary condition for developing any of the other human qualities of excellence. On the basis of the present translation of the Xiaojing (Classic of Family Reverence) and supplemental passages found in other early philosophical writings, Professors Rosemont and Ames articulate a specifically Confucian conception of "role ethics" that, in its emphasis on a relational conception of the person, is markedly different from most early and contemporary dominant Western moral theories. This Confucian role ethics takes as its inspiration the perceived necessity of family feeling as the entry point in the development of moral competence and as a guide to the religious life as well. In the lengthy introduction, two senior scholars offer their perspective on the historical, philosophical, and religious dimensions of the Xiaojing. Together with this introduction, a lexicon of key terms presents a context for the Xiaojing and provides guidelines for interpreting the text historically in China as well as suggesting its contemporary significance for all societies. The inclusion of the Chinese text adds yet another dimension to this important study. The Chinese Classic of Family Reverence is sure to appeal to specialists of comparative and Chinese philosophy and to all readers interested in the enduring importance of the family.

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153

Publisher

University of Hawaii Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0824864638

ISBN 13

9780824864637

Confucian Role Ethics

A Vocabulary

By: Roger T Ames

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Confucian Role Ethics

A Vocabulary

By: Roger T Ames

In this landmark work, noted comparative philosopher Roger T. Ames interprets how the classics of the Confucian canon portray the authentic, ethical human being. He argues that many distinguished commentators on Confucian ethics have explained the fundamental ideas and terms of this distinctively Chinese philosophy by superimposing Western concepts and categories, effectively collapsing this rich tradition into a subcategory of "virtue ethics." Beginning by addressing the problem of responsible cultural comparisons, Ames then formulates the interpretive context necessary to locate the texts within their own cultural ambiance. Exploring the relational notion of "person" that grounds Confucian philosophy, he pursues a nuanced understanding of the cluster of terms through which Confucian role ethics is expressed. Drawing on Western and Chinese sources, Ames provides a convincing argument that the only way to understand the Confucian vision of the consummate life is to take the tradition on its own terms.

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352

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The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

9629969106

ISBN 13

9789629969103

Living Chinese Philosophy

Zoetology as First Philosophy

By: Roger T. Ames

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Living Chinese Philosophy

Zoetology as First Philosophy

By: Roger T. Ames

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390

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State University of New York Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

143849954X

ISBN 13

9781438499543

Dao De Jing

A Philosophical Translation

By: Roger Ames,David Hall

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Dao De Jing

A Philosophical Translation

By: Roger Ames,David Hall

In 1993, archaeologists unearthed a set of ancient bamboo scrolls that contained the earliest known version of the Dao de jing. Composed more than two thousand years ago, this life-changing document offers a regimen of self-cultivation to attain personal excellence and revitalize moral behavior. Now in this luminous new translation, renowned China scholars Roger T. Ames and David L. Hall bring the timeless wisdom of the Dao de jing into our contemporary world. In this elegant volume, Ames and Hall feature the original Chinese texts of the Dao de jing and translate them into crisp, chiseled English that reads like poetry. Each of the eighty-one brief chapters is followed by clear, thought-provoking commentary exploring the layers of meaning in the text. This new version of one of the world’s most influential documents will stand as both a compelling introduction to Daoist thought and as the classic modern English translation.

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258

Publisher

Ballantine Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

0307755304

ISBN 13

9780307755308

Anticipating China

Thinking through the Narratives of Chinese and Western Culture

By: David L. Hall,Roger T. Ames

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Anticipating China

Thinking through the Narratives of Chinese and Western Culture

By: David L. Hall,Roger T. Ames

By providing parallel accounts of the contrasting developments of classical Chinese and Western traditions, Anticipating China offers a means of avoiding the implicit cultural biases which so often distort Western understanding of Chinese intellectual culture. The book shows that failure to assess the significant cultural differences between China and the West has seriously affected our understanding of both classical and contemporary China, and makes the translation of attitudes, concepts, and issues extremely problematic.

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