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book: Tianxia in Comparative Perspectives
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Tianxia in Comparative Perspectives

Alternative Models for a Possible Planetary Order
  • Edited by: , , , and
  • With contributions by: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and
Language: English
Published/Copyright: 2023

About this book

Tianxia—conventionally translated as “all-under-Heaven”—in everyday Chinese parlance simply means “the world.” But tianxia is also a geopolitical term found in canonical writings that has a deeper historical and philosophical significance. Although there are many understandings of tianxia in this literature, interpretations within the Chinese process cosmology generally begin with an ecological understanding of intra-national relations that acknowledge the mutuality and interdependence of all economic and political activity.

This volume contextualizes the tianxia vision of geopolitical order within a variety of strategies drawn from a broad spectrum of cultures and peoples. The conversation among the contributors is guided by several central questions: Is tianxia the only model of cosmopolitanism? Are there ideas and ideals comparable to tianxia that exist in other cultures? What alternative perspectives of global justice have inspired Western, Indian, Islamic, Buddhist, and African cultural traditions? The fundamental premise here is that in order for a planetary tianxia system to be relevant and significant for the present time and for our vision of the future, it must acknowledge the plurality of moral ideals defining the world’s cultures while at the same time seek practical ways to formulate a minimalist morality that can provide the solidarity needed to bring the world’s people together.

Author / Editor information

Contributor: Roger T. Ames Roger T. Ames is Humanities Chair Professor at Peking University, senior academic advisor of the Berggruen Research Center at Peking University, and professor emeritus of philosophy at the University of Hawai‘i. --- Contributor: Sor-hoon Tan Sor-hoon Tan is professor of philosophy at Singapore Management University. --- Contributor: Steven Y. H. Yang Steven Y. H. Yang is Tianxia Project Consultant at the Berggruen China Center. --- Contributor: Roger T. Ames Roger T. Ames is Humanities Chair Professor at Peking University, senior academic advisor of the Berggruen Research Center at Peking University, and professor emeritus of philosophy at the University of Hawai‘i. --- Contributor: Peter D. Hershock Peter D. Hershock is director of the Asian Studies Development Program at the East-West Center, Honolulu. --- Contributor: Roger T. Ames Roger T. Ames is Humanities Chair Professor at Peking University, senior academic advisor of the Berggruen Research Center at Peking University, and professor emeritus of philosophy at the University of Hawai‘i. --- Contributor: Peter D. Hershock Peter D. Hershock is director of the Asian Studies Development Program at the East-West Center, Honolulu. --- Contributor: Takahiro Nakajima Takahiro Nakajima is associate professor of Chinese philosophy at the Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, University of Tokyo. --- Contributor: Sor-hoon Tan Sor-hoon Tan is professor of philosophy at Singapore Management University.

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    Frontmatter

    i
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    Contents

    v
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    Acknowledgments

    vii
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    Introduction

    1
    Roger T. Ames, Sor-hoon Tan and Steven Y. H. Yang
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  • Part I Challenging Hegemony and Global Capitalism
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    1 Relationality without Hierarchy: Hong Daeyong’s Reappraisal of Tianxia

    21
    Jun-Hyeok Kwak
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    2 Tianxia as Anticosmopolitan and Protoracial: A Case Study of Late Imperial Vietnam

    39
    Liam C. Kelley
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    3 “We Choose to Go to the Moon” for Truth, Justice, and Peace on Earth: A Dialogue for Socioeconomic Justice between Ubu-ntu and Buren

    68
    Mogobe B. Ramose
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    4 Ideology, Quixotism, or Enabling Utopia? The Notion of Tianxia as a Model for a New Form of Global Governance and Coexistence, Seen in the Light of the Japanese Experience

    97
    Christian Uhl
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    5 Toward a New World Order: Reading Tianxia with Marx and Hegel

    118
    Viren Murthy
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  • Part II From Nation-States to a Relational Ecology
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    6 Why Does Tianxia Need a Nation- State? Nation and Tianxia in Modern China

    155
    Ban Wang
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    7 Comparing the Ancient Chinese Tianxia Order and the Postwar UN- Centric International Order

    174
    Qingxin K. Wang
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    8 Tianxia and Islam

    198
    Mustapha Kamal Pasha
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    9 Tianxia: A Process of Relations

    221
    Qin Yaqing
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    10 Universalizing Tianxia in an East Asian Context

    236
    Takahiro Nakajima
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    11 Virtuosic Relationality and Ethical Diversity: A Buddhist Revisioning of International Relations beyond Anarchy and Hierarchy

    250
    Peter D. Hershock
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  • Part III A Minimalist Morality for Solidarity and Mutual Critique
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    12 Spheres of Global Justice and Tianxia Theory

    269
    Binfan Wang
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    13 Tianxia and Global Distributive Justice

    289
    Sor-hoon Tan
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    14 Heavenly Governing All- under- Heaven: Reconceptualizing the Confucian Daren 大人 Idea for the Tianxia 天下 Leadership

    308
    Xinfeng Kong
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    15 Without War or Conquest: The Idea of a Global Political Order in Asoka’s Dhamma

    322
    Rajeev Bhargava
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    16 From John Dewey to the Confucian “Idea” of Internationalism

    345
    Roger T. Ames
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    Contributors

    371
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    Index

    377
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Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
November 15, 2023
eBook ISBN:
9780824896027
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
View content
https://doi.org/10.1515/9780824896027
eBook ISBN: 9780824896027
Keywords for this book
asia philosophy; buddhism philosophy; geopolitics; religion philosophy; Tianxia
Audience(s) for this book
For an expert adult audience, including professional development and academic research
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