Search Results (174)

Zhuangzi, a seminal figure in ancient Chinese philosophy, offers profound insights into emotional well-being through his Qi-emotion theory. This paper examines Zhuangzi’s approach to emotional well-being by exploring the interplay between Qi (vital energy), atmosphere, and emotions. By drawing comparative perspectives from Neo-Phenomenology’s concept of atmosphere and the Chinese classical concept of Qi-feeling, the study challenges traditional views that emotions are solely internal phenomena. Instead, it proposes that emotions are field-like, arising from dynamic interactions between individuals and their environments. Through an in-depth analysis of Zhuangzi’s philosophy, particularly his methods of self-cultivation such as “fasting the mind” (xin zhai 心齋) and non-action (wu wei 無爲), this paper illustrates how aligning oneself with the Dao (the Way 道) and harmonizing Qi can lead to emotional balance and spiritual freedom. The study integrates Eastern and Western philosophical traditions, highlighting the significance of enlightened mind, embodiment, and atmospheric resonance in achieving emotional well-being. The findings suggest that Zhuangzi’s Qi-emotion theory provides valuable insights for contemporary philosophical practice and therapy by emphasizing the unity of mind, body, and environment. By fostering harmony with the natural world and transcending personal attachments, individuals can attain a state of inner peace and holistic well-being. Full article

This paper proposes a unified fault-tolerant batch authentication scheme for vehicular networks, designed to address key limitations in existing approaches, namely the segregation between in-vehicle and V2I authentication scenarios and the lack of fault tolerance in traditional batch authentication methods. Based on a hardware–software co-design philosophy, the scheme deeply integrates the security features of hardware such as Tamper-Proof Devices (TPDs) and Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) with the efficiency of cryptographic primitives like Aggregate Message Authentication Codes (MACs) and the Chinese Remainder Theorem (CRT). It establishes an end-to-end, integrated authentication framework spanning from in-vehicle electronic control units (ECUs) to external roadside units (RSUs), effectively meeting the diverse requirements for secure and efficient authentication among the three core entities involved in Internet of Vehicles (IoV) data collection: in-vehicle ECUs, vehicle gateways, and RSUs. Security analysis demonstrates that the proposed scheme fulfills the necessary security requirements. And extensive experimental results confirm its high efficiency and practical utility. Full article

Liu Zhi’s (1664–1734) seminal work The Interpretation of the Five Pillars systematically employs Confucian doctrine to explicate the Five Pillars of Islam. As part of the Ming-Qing cultural movement of “interpreting Islamic scriptures through Confucianism,” Liu assimilated Neo-Confucian philosophical concepts to develop a Sinicized Islamic religious philosophy. Building upon this foundation, he analyzed the Five Pillars through three conceptual lenses: realm theory (境界论), cultivation theory (修养论), and praxis methodology (工夫论). By synthesizing the Confucian cultivation path of “exhausting the mind and knowing human nature” (尽心知性 jin xin zhi xing) with Islamic daily rituals, Liu Zhi developed a distinctive theory of mind-cultivation (心性论 xinxing lun) through ritual practice. This philosophical framework guided Chinese Muslims to transcend external ritual observance towards internal spiritual refinement, as encapsulated in the triad of “self-cultivation, mental purification, and fulfillment of human nature” (修身、清心、尽性). His synthesis of Islamic ritual with Confucian culture maintained fidelity to Islamic teachings while incorporating China’s profound Confucian heritage. Liu Zhi’s efforts in Islamic inculturation provide both a paradigmatic model for the cultural adaptation of religious rituals across traditions and a valuable reference for contemporary construction of Sinicized religious thought. His achievement, an exemplary exercise in interreligious theology, demonstrates how doctrinal fidelity and cultural localization can be harmoniously reconciled through philosophical innovation. Full article

This article addresses the most important translation issue in the first philosophic and religious dialogue between Europe and China: is there a Chinese equivalent for the Christian concept of God? We approach the question from the perspective of comparative philosophy. We start by examining the historical and theoretical context in which the Jesuit Niccolò Longobardo developed his disagreement with Matteo Ricci regarding the question as to whether the Confucianism is an atheism. We then analyse the interpretation that equates li and qi, respectively, with the Aristotelian notions of accident and prime matter. After showing how Longobardo reduces neo-Confucianism to Presocratic atheism in an Aristotelian manner, we propose an alternative perspective that can reconcile Christianism and neo-Confucianism with regard to the concept of first cause. Full article

Fang Yizhi was a prominent Confucian Buddhist philosopher of the late Ming Dynasty, whose thought centered on the theory of “Perfect ∴.” This paper traces the evolution of the meaning of the “three dots of the character Yi” in texts of the Tiantai, Huayan, and Chan schools of Chinese Mahāyāna Buddhism. Building on this foundation, and by integrating the specific texts and ideas of Fang Yizhi, this paper analyzes how his theory of the Perfect ∴ synthesizes the philosophy of the Zhouyi, reformulates the conceptual content of the Buddhist symbol ∴, and thereby offers a new potential pathway for understanding the intellectual trend of the synthesis of the Three Teachings in the late Ming Dynasty. Full article

Robert Henricks’ Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching: A Translation of the Startling New Documents Found at Guodian marks a milestone in Daoist studies and translation history as the first complete English translation of the Guodian Laozi. However, systematic research on Henricks’ version remains limited, particularly regarding its philological foundation and translation strategies. Drawing on the concept of representation, this paper addresses the gap through a descriptive case study of Henricks’ work. By examining Henricks’ philological readings of dating, authorship, chapter divisions, textual variants, and philosophical thoughts, the study shows how he reconstructs and represents Daoist knowledge embedded in the Guodian Laozi. The findings suggest that Henricks, as both a translator and researcher, integrates rigorous philological studies with extensive paratexts, producing a version that both faithfully represents the text and offers new insights into its formation and philosophy. His translation has demonstrated the necessity of philological approaches for rendering Daoist and other ancient Chinese classics. Full article

This study investigates how the traditional Chinese “philosophy of self-cultivation and awakening” (xiu-wu) can be systematically harnessed to foster Higher-Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) among undergraduates. Through historical–philosophical reconstruction and conceptual analysis, the study distills three recurring instructional principles—gradual cultivation (jian-xiu), gradual awakening (jian-wu), and sudden awakening (dun-wu), and their dialectical synthesis, and re-casts them as design parameters for thinking-centered instruction. These principles are then translated into a macro-level instructional metaphor, the Bridge-Building Model, which sequences curricular elements as bridge piers (the teaching process of “gradual cultivation”), bridge deck (student-constructed “an isolated fragments of knowing”), and final closure (holistic knowledge). The model integrates constructivist, behaviorist and intuitive dimensions: repetitive, scaffolded tasks foster behavioral automaticity; guided reflection precipitates incremental insight; and calibrated “epistemic shocks” elicit sudden reorganization of conceptual schemata. The framework clarifies the locus, timing and contingency of each phase while acknowledging the metaphysical indeterminacy of ultimate “holistic” mastery. By translating classical Chinese pedagogical insights into operational design heuristics, the paper offers higher-education instructors a culturally grounded, theoretically coherent blueprint for systematically nurturing HOTS without sacrificing the spontaneity essential to creative cognition. Full article

This qualitative comparative case study examines how culturally grounded philosophies of education shape the teaching and learning of reading in two cross-cultural contexts—an Aboriginal Australian classroom and urban Chinese elementary schools. Drawing on interpretive and reflexive methodologies, it investigates how Aboriginal and Confucian epistemologies influence literacy practices and how these practices align with or resist dominant, decontextualized models of reading instruction. Data sources include classroom observations, reading assessments, teacher interviews, and researcher reflections. Conceptually framed by Gadamer’s hermeneutics, Bourdieu’s theory of cultural capital, Habermas’s typology of knowledge, and the Caribbean concept of overstanding, this research finds that Aboriginal literacy is embedded in relational, land-based knowledge systems, whereas Chinese literacy instruction reflects moral discipline and social hierarchy rooted in Confucian traditions. This study introduces overstanding as a pedagogical stance that foregrounds ethical engagement, cultural respect, and mutual understanding. By challenging universalist models of literacy, this research offers a framework for developing dialogical, culturally responsive, and equity-oriented reading practices. Full article

Despite much interest in the flow experienced by English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers, there is less research on flow re-engagement and pre-service teachers at the crucial phase of career development. This study aims to examine flow dynamics among pre-service and in-service EFL teachers in China during teaching. Six Chinese EFL teachers (three pre-service and three in-service) engaged in two rounds of interviews over the course of one year, which were analyzed using a thematic narrative approach. The findings indicate that immediate feedback, clear goals, and a challenge-skill balance were key antecedents of flow. In-service teachers highlighted principal’s teaching-focused philosophy, technology support, teaching experience and curiosity. All participants reported a sense of control, deep absorption, and time distortion. Two experienced teachers further claimed a loss of self-consciousness. The flow of participants was impeded by student-related factors, strong self-consciousness, and technological breakdowns. In-service teachers noted more complicated causes. To re-enter a state of flow, pre-service teachers favored avoidance strategies, whereas in-service teachers employed more flexible approaches. Flow enhanced instructors’ teaching confidence, shifted pre-service teachers’ career motivation and fostered in-service educators’ professional well-being, post-class reflection, and self-improvement. Administrators and teacher educators should provide a teaching-oriented working environment for in-service teachers and offer flow-focused training to pre-service teachers, thus promoting their flow experiences and fostering sustainable professional development. Full article

The Book of Changes (Yijing), as a foundational classic of Chinese thought, has been received within the framework of Russian Orthodox theology through a distinctive process of dialectical reconstruction, characterized by both alienation and agreement. This study examines how Russian scholars have translated and interpreted the Yijing, seeking to integrate its impersonal cosmological philosophy into a religious system centered on a personal God. It argues that the religious and philosophical orientations of Russian Yijing studies operate in a dialectical mode: on the one hand, translators employ strategies of alienation to recast the Yijing’s impersonal cosmology as moral or phenomenological notions; on the other hand, through strategies of agreement, they embed its core concepts within the Orthodox theological context, thereby endowing them with renewed universality and practical relevance. By combining textual analysis with philosophical interpretation, the research reveals how the Yijing has been reshaped in Russian cultural and religious contexts. It demonstrates that the transmission of non-Western classics in specific religious environments is not a one-way cultural export, but a dialogical process with local traditions that generates new intellectual forms, thereby offering a valuable case study for cross-cultural religious dialog. Full article

Many scholars believe that the Yi Jing 易經 (the Book of Changes) and traditional Chinese medicine share common mathematical principles, which are both predicated on the ontological of qi 氣 and the cosmological of correlative between nature and human. Traditional Chinese medicine emphasizes the systemic organization of organs, meridians, qi, and blood as central components by incorporating the mathematical principles, including the theory of “Chaos-Crack”, the infinite classification methods of yinyang 陰陽, the generative and restrictive interactions of wuxing 五行, and the metaphysical significance of special numbers such as one, two, three, etc. Traditional Chinese medicine also formulates many theories and methodologies by integrating these mathematical principles with the schemata of luoshu 洛書 and jiugong 九宮, as well as the special combination numbers such as tianliu diwu 天六地五. This research tries to explain the mathematical principles and applications from the body dimension in traditional Chinese medicine. Full article

The deployment of large language models (LLMs) in academic paper evaluation is increasingly widespread, yet their trustworthiness remains debated; to expose fundamental flaws often masked under conventional testing, this study employed extreme-scenario testing to systematically probe the lower performance boundaries of LLMs in assessing the scientific validity and logical coherence of papers from the humanities and social sciences (HSS). Through a highly credible quasi-experiment, 40 high-quality Chinese papers from philosophy, sociology, education, and psychology were selected, for which domain experts created versions with implanted “scientific flaws” and “logical flaws”. Three representative LLMs (GPT-4, DeepSeek, and Doubao) were evaluated against a baseline of 24 doctoral candidates, following a protocol progressing from ‘broad’ to ‘targeted’ prompts. Key findings reveal poor evaluation consistency, with significantly low intra-rater and inter-rater reliability for the LLMs, and limited flaw detection capability, as all models failed to distinguish between original and flawed papers under broad prompts, unlike human evaluators; although targeted prompts improved detection, LLM performance remained substantially inferior, particularly in tasks requiring deep empirical insight and logical reasoning. The study proposes that LLMs operate on a fundamentally different “task decomposition-semantic understanding” mechanism, relying on limited text extraction and shallow semantic comparison rather than the human process of “worldscape reconstruction → meaning construction and critique”, resulting in a critical inability to assess argumentative plausibility and logical coherence. It concludes that current LLMs possess fundamental limitations in evaluations requiring depth and critical thinking, are not reliable independent evaluators, and that over-trusting them carries substantial risks, necessitating rational human-AI collaborative frameworks, enhanced model adaptation through downstream alignment techniques like prompt engineering and fine-tuning, and improvements in general capabilities such as logical reasoning. Full article

The educational philosophy of the Nuns’ Buddhist Academy at Pushou Monastery, Mount Wutai, is based on the principles of “Hua Yan as the foundation, precepts as the practice, and Pure Land as the destination.” This philosophy draws upon Buddhist scriptures, integrating descriptions of the Pure Land practice found in the Avatamsaka Sūtra and the Amitābha Sūtra. This approach translates the textual teachings of Buddhist classics into real-life practice, expressing the concept of “the non-obstruction of principle and phenomenon” in the tangible activities of practitioners. It also allows for the experiential understanding of the spiritual realms revealed in the scriptures during theoretical learning and practice. The philosophy of the Nuns’ Academy embodies the practical emphasis of Chinese Buddhism, guiding all aspects of learning and practice. This paper argues that the pure land practice is living. In order to understand pure land practice, there should be a comprehensive viewpoint. It is needed to explore this way of practice through the analysis of textual analysis, figuring its root in Buddhis sūtra, as well as a sociological method to investigate its manifestation at the present society. Moreover, the spiritual dimension should not be neglected for a full-scale study. In this sense, the pure land school is living at present. Full article

Contemporary discussions of AI are often framed according to generally held assumptions which have largely escaped serious critical analysis. For instance, those who promote AI tout its predictive prowess: powerful algorithms fed massive amounts of data are able to discover knowable patterns that can accurately forecast the behaviors in anything from individual movie preferences to financial markets. Armed with this type of knowledge we can then use AI, the hope goes, to be more objective in our ethical practices. And most seriously, we must extend this to the way we develop AI, not only do we want AI to function ethically, but we caution ourselves that if Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), superintelligence, or anything like the “singularity” is ever developed, it should be positively aligned with human values. Reflecting on these positions from the perspective of classical Daoism gives us reason to pause. While Daoist texts also assume there are patterns in the world which one can successfully go along with, they are not enthusiastic about the rational or knowable nature of these patterns—rather, they encourage us to appreciate them as fundamentally complex and mysterious. In this article, some Daoist attitudes are also concretely applied to ethical considerations, which cannot easily be controlled or known, much less put into code. Inspired by Daoist texts, we might cultivate an attitude less filled with hubris than humility, where we are allowed more space from which we can reflect on how we think about AI. Many of the most pressing issues associated with AI could, in fact, be significantly alleviated simply by shifting the way we think about, use, and develop these technologies. Full article

The question of how to properly understand and proactively respond to life and death is a fundamental human concern and a core topic in both philosophical and religious studies. Seventeenth-century Chinese philosopher Fang Yizhi (1611–1671) held a unique perspective on this issue, yet his insights have received little scholarly attention. Employing a methodology of textual comparison and logical analysis, this study systematically examines Fang Yizhi’s discourse on life and death. Grounded in the framework of the “Unity of Heaven and Humanity,” (tianren heyi 天人合一) he utilized dialectical modes of thought such as “primary and complementary” (zhengyu 正余) and “inverse causality” (fanyin 反因) to view life and death as categories that are not only mutually antithetical but also capable of mutual transformation. He further substantiated this view with a Confucian-style ontological grounding. Furthermore, this paper outlines the methods he proposed for the liberation of those lost in the sea of life-and-death anxiety. The findings underscore the enduring relevance of Fang Yizhi’s philosophy of life and death in addressing modern existential anxieties and encouraging a more positive and proactive approach to life. Full article