A recently published philosophy anthology features a chapter by Dr. Li-Hsiang Lisa Rosenlee, a professor of Philosophy at the University of Hawaiʻi–West Oʻahu.
Rosenlee’s book chapter, “Confucianism Re-imagined: A Feminist Project,” is featured in the anthology, “One Corner of the Square: Essays on the Philosophy of Roger T. Ames,” published in March by University of Hawaiʻi Press.
“In this chapter, I offer a feminist interpretation of Confucianism in honor of Roger T. Ames, who is a professor emeritus of philosophy at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and is now a Humanities Chair Professor at Peking University, China,” Rosenlee said.
Rosenlee said her chapter provides an outline for Confucian feminist theory that incorporates characteristic Confucian terms such as ren (humanness), xiao (filiality), you (friendship), li (ritual), and datong (great community) into feminist care ethics.
“Unlike other existing feminist theories, this is a hybrid, inclusive, transnational feminist theory that aims at providing women with alternative, nonwestern conceptual tools to enable them to live a truly ethically satisfying life and to chart their own liberating future,” Rosenlee said. “There is no comparable scholarship available; this essay provides a preliminary outline for Confucian feminism to help fill the void in Confucian gender studies.’
According to the University of Hawaiʻi Press website, the “One Corner of the Square” contributors — scholars working in philosophy, religious studies, and Asian studies — pursue lines of inquiry opened up by the work of Ames, who for decades has had a central role in the evolution of comparative and nonwestern philosophy.
“Their chapters both clarify his ideas and push them in new directions,” the site continued. “They survey the field of Chinese philosophy as it is taking shape in the wake of Ames’s contributions and as it carries forward a global conversation on the future of humanity.”