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Sin yee Chan

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My research interests are in the areas of Chinese philosophy, ethics, and the emotions. I employ the tools of analytical philosophy to analyze, criticize and develop Chinese ethical ideas, especially those of ancient Confucian philosophers such as Mencius and Confucius himself. I have a strong interest in comparative philosophy -- in particular, in making comparisons and drawing contrasts between Chinese philosophy and Anglo-American analytical philosophy. My work in ethics focuses on relationship ethics, feminist care-ethics, and on the critique of major Western ethical traditions such as Kantianism and utilitarianism. I am especially interested in the relationship between the emotions and morality, for instance, in the motivational role of the emotions in moral action

I teach an introductory class in comparative philosophy, intermediate level courses on ancient Chinese philosophy and feminism, and an upper-level seminar on the emotions. The introductory course compares Chinese and Anglo-American philosophical traditions on issues in philosophy of religion, ethics and epistemology. The course on Chinese philosophy surveys the most important philosophical schools in ancient China -- Confucianism, Taoism, Mohism and Legalism. In the feminism course, we bring major theories of justice -- libertarianism, liberalism and egalitarianism, for example, to bear on issues in feminist ethics such as abortion, affirmative action, and pornography. The seminar on the emotions examines the nature of emotions and their relationship to morality and moral agency.

Publications:

"Confucian Role-ethics and China's Economic Modernization" in Constructing China, ed., Kenneth Lieberthal, Shuen-fu Lin and Ernest Young, (Ann Arbor: Center for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan, 1997).

"Disputes on the One Thread of Chung-shu," Journal of Chinese Philosophy, 1998.

"Standing Emotions," Southern Journal of Philosophy, 1999.

"Paternalistic Wife? Paternalistic Stranger?" Social Theory and Practice, 2000.

"Can Shu be the One Word that Serves as the Guiding Principle of Caring Actions?" Philosophy East and West, 2000.

"Gender Relationship Roles in the Analects and the Mencius," Asian Philosophy, 2000.

"Tang Junyi's Moral Idealism," forthcoming in an anthology on twentieth century Chinese philosophers, Blackwell.
 

E-mail address: schan@zoo.uvm.edu

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Last modified February 19 2003 03:23 PM