Philosophy and Civilization: How the Idea of Moral Cultivation Shaped China by You, Zhuran; Hu, Yingzi;

Long description:

This book develops a systematic philosophical account of moral cultivation as a foundational principle structuring Chinese civilization. It brings domains often treated in isolation into a unified perspective—cosmology, ethics, subjectivity, education, art, and socio-political order. It argues that the lived practice of moral cultivation, rather than purely rational or religious frameworks, constitutes China’s civilizational orientation. Traversing Confucian, Daoist, Mohist, and Buddhist traditions, and deploying original concepts such as the Taijitu mode of thinking, the generative character of the cosmos and of virtue, the greater self, and a morally grounded form of democratic life, it discloses an internally coherent and evolving whole. The book presents this tradition not only as indispensable for understanding China, but also as a significant resource for cross-cultural philosophical engagement with global challenges.

Table of Contents:

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Internationally recognized leaders in the philosophy of education.- The unity of heaven and humanity on the origin of moral cultivation.- Metaphysical foundations of moral cultivation.- The art of moral self cultivation.- Between freedom and belonging selfhood agency rights and equality.- The global dialogue on moral cultivation china india and the west.- The great unification statecraft and social harmony in imperial china.- Where nature meets culture art literature and architecture.- The logic of taijitu chinese ethos and the dialectics of national character.- The cultural power and contemporary challenges of moral cultivation.- Toward global equilibrium the greater self and the future of humanity.