Latest Posts
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Confucius to Mark Sanford: Sit Down, You’re not Worthy of Public Office
Infamous philanderer Mark Sanford is poised to win the open South Carolina seat in the US House of Representatives. He seems precisely the kind of person Confucius would reject for any such position of public authority. Sanford's notorious transcontinental affair,… Continue reading
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Thinking of Aidan: The Presence of Absence
Seven years ago today my son, Aidan, died. He was fourteen and his short and limited life continues to have profound effects on me, my family and people who have encountered him. A piece I wrote on the second anniversary… Continue reading
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The Continuing Inhumanity of Paul Wolfowitz (and the whole neocon crowd)
The tenth anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq is upon us. It is a time to remember just how awful that war has been, especially for the people of Iraq; a time to recognize just how large a mistake… Continue reading
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Book News: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Dao
Since last I mentioned it here on the blog, my new book – Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Dao: Ancient Chinese Thought in Modern American Life – is starting to take physical shape. Or maybe it is just virtual… Continue reading
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Confucian Rectitude in “The Crucible”
I saw a riveting production of Arthur Miller's classic, The Crucible, here at Williams College last Friday. It was directed by the brilliant Omar Sangare, my friend and colleague. I hadn't seen the show for many years, way back when… Continue reading
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American Daoism
Sometimes I despair that some of my favorite books – the Daodejing and Zhuangzi – seem wholly irrelevant to the materialism and competitiveness of contemporary American life. And then along comes an article like this: Living With Less. A Lot… Continue reading
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Notice
I am under a fairly heavey assault of comment spam, so I am limiting comments for a while. For those interested in commenting, please keep an eye at the end of any particular comment stream on a post to see… Continue reading
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Confucian Learning, or not
David Brooks has a piece in the NYT today, discussing a new book by Jin Li, Cultural Foundations of Learning: East and West. Let me say right up front that I have not read the book (though I look forward… Continue reading
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The Comfort of Cyclical Complementarity
Let me step away from historical issues and return to my primary interest: ancient Chinese thought in modern American life. I went to a funeral on Saturday, a sad occasion. The deceased was the sister of a friend. She was… Continue reading
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Reply to my Diaspora Fenqing Nationalist Critics
For the Record: one of the commenters on this post has, on another blog, accused me of "banning" him. That is not true. I suspect he ran into a bit of trouble with the Captcha system in Typepad Comments, and… Continue reading
The Useless Tree 