Bryan W. Van Norden

(updated January 18, 2006)

Vassar College 310
124 Raymond Avenue
Poughkeepsie, NY 12604-0310

Office Phone: (845) 437-5538
For email, my username is "brvannorden" at host "vassar.edu".

Area of Specialization: Chinese Philosophy.

Areas of Competence: Ancient Western Philosophy, Ethics.

Employment

• 2001-present: Associate Professor, Philosophy Department and the Department of Chinese and Japanese, Vassar College.
• 1995-2001: Assistant Professor, Philosophy Department and the Asian Studies Program, Vassar College.
• 1994-1995: Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy and Religion, University of Northern Iowa.
• 1991-1993: Visiting Assistant Professor, Philosophy Department, University of Vermont.
• 1990-1991: Lecturer, Stanford University, "Cultures, Ideas and Values" (year- long, multicultural great books course).

Education

• Stanford University, Ph.D. (Philosophy), conferred September 26, 1991.
  Thesis Title: Mencian Philosophic Psychology .
  Committee: David S. Nivison (principal advisor), Rachel Cohon, Julius Moravcsik, Lee H. Yearley.
• University of Pennsylvania, B.A. (Philosophy), magna cum laude, May, 1985.

Languages: Classical Chinese, Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Classical Greek.

Books

• Editor, Confucius and the Analects: New Essays (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001).
• Co-editor (with P.J. Ivanhoe), Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy, 2^nd rev. ed. (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 2006).
• Editor, The Ways of Confucianism: Investigations in Chinese Philosophy, by David S. Nivison (Chicago: Open Court Press, 1996).

Articles and Book Chapters

• "Mengzi and Virtue Ethics," Journal of Ecumenical Studies, 40:1-2 (Winter-Spring, 2003), pp. 137-150.
• "What Is Living and What Is Dead in the Philosophy of Zhu Xi?" in Rongrong Wang, ed., Philosophy in Contemporary China: New Opportunities for East-West Dialogue (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2004), pp. pp. 99-120.
• "How to Add Chinese Philosophy to Your Introductory Courses," APA Newsletter on Asian/Asian American Philosophers and Philosophy, 3:1 (Fall 2003): 15-19.
• "A Response to the Mohist Arguments in 'Impartial Caring,' " for Kim-chong Chong, Sor-hoon Tan and C.L. Ten, eds, The Moral Circle and the Self (Chicago: Open Court Press, 2003), pp. 41-58.
• "Virtue Ethics and Confucianism," for Bo Mou, ed, Comparative Approaches to Chinese Philosophy (London: Ashgate Publishing, 2003), pp. 99-121.
• "What Is the Dao of Confucius?" Asian Philosophy, 12:3 (November 2002), 157-171.
• "The Emotion of Shame and the Virtue of Righteousness in Mencius," Dao 2:1 (Winter 2002), pp. 45-77. (Written for, and pre-published with the permission of, David Wong and Kwong-loi Shun, eds., Confucian Ethics: A Comparative Study of Self, Autonomy and Community [New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004], pp. 148-182.)
• "Relativism or Pluralism? A Brief Introduction to David B. Wong's Work," APA Newsletter on Asian/Asian American Philosophers and Philosophy, 1:2 (Spring 2002), pp. 32-34.
• "Mencius and Augustine on Evil: A Test Case for Comparative Philosophy," in Bo Mou, ed., Two Roads to Wisdom? Chinese and Analytic Philosophical Traditions (Chicago: Open Court Press, 2001), pp. 313-36.
• "Unweaving the 'One Thread' of Analects 4.15," in Van Norden, ed., Confucius and the Analects: New Essays (vide supra).
• "Method in the Madness of the Laozi ," in Mark Csikszentmihalyi and P.J. Ivanhoe, eds., Essays on Religious and Philosophical Aspects of the Laozi (SUNY Press, 1999).
• "Mencius on Courage," in Midwest Studies in Philosophy: Volume 21: The Philosophy of Religion (University of Notre Dame Press, 1997), pp. 237-256.
• "Competing Interpretations of the Inner Chapters," Philosophy East and West, 46:2 (April 1996), pp. 247-268.
• "What Should Western Philosophy Learn from Chinese Philosophy?" in P.J. Ivanhoe, ed., Chinese Language, Thought and Culture: Nivison and His Critics (Open Court Press, 1996), pp. 224-249.
• "Yearley on Mencius," Journal of Religious Ethics , 21:2 (Fall 1993), pp. 369- 376.
• "Hansen on Hsˆºn-tzu," Journal of Chinese Philosophy , 20:3 (September 1993), pp. 365-382.
• "Mengzi and Xunzi: Two Views of Human Agency," International Philosophical Quarterly , 32:2 (June 1992), pp. 161-184. (Revised version in Thornton C. Kline and Philip J. Ivanhoe, eds., Virtue, Nature and Agency in the Xunzi [Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 2000], 103-134.)
• "Kwong-loi Shun on Moral Reasons in Mencius," Journal of Chinese Philosophy , 18:4 (December 1991), pp. 353-370.

Reference Works

• "Chinese Philosophy," "Confucianism," "Confucius," and "Daoism" for Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia (in press).
• "Zhu Xi" for Encyclopedia of Asia (Berkshire Reference Works, in press).
• Numerous entries (including "Mencius" and "Lao Tzu") for The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy (Cambridge University Press, 1995).
• "Mencius" for the International Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Routledge Press, 1998).

Reviews

• Scott Cook, ed., Hiding the World in the World: Uneven Discourses on the Zhuangzi, in China Review International, forthcoming.
• Jean-Paul Reding, Essays in Early Chinese and Greek Rational Thinking, in Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (September 9, 2004), http://ndpr.icaap.org/content/archives/2004/9/vannorden-reding.html.
• Alan K.L. Chan, ed., Mencius: Contexts and Interpretations, in The Journal of Chinese Philosophy 30:2 (2003), pp. 263-268.
• Robert C. Neville, Boston Confucianism, Philosophy East and West, in press. (Download a pdf copy here.)
• Roger T. Ames and Henry Rosemont, Jr., The Analects of Confucius, and E. Bruce Brooks and A. Taeko Brooks, The Original Analects, Journal of Chinese Religions, in press.
• David L. Hall and Roger T. Ames, Thinking from the Han, Pacific Affairs, 73:2 (Summer 2000), pp. 288-289.
• Shu-hsien Liu, Understanding Confucianism, Journal of Asian Studies, 58:4 (November 1999), pp. 114-115.
• Lionel Jensen, Manufacturing Confucianism, Journal of Asian Studies, 58:1 (February 1999), pp. 165-166.
• Tu Wei-ming, ed., Confucian Traditions in East Asian Modernity, Pacific Affairs, 70:4 (Winter 1997-98), pp. 580-581.
• Philip J. Ivanhoe, Confucian Moral Self Cultivation, Journal of Asian Studies, 55:4 (November 1996), pp. 983-984.
• Chad Hansen, A Daoist Theory of Chinese Thought, Ethics, 105:2 (January 1995), pp. 433-435. (Download a pdf version here.)
• Edward J. Machle, Nature and Heaven in the Xunzi, Journal of Asian Studies, 53:3 (August 1994), pp. 921- 922.
• Lisa Raphals, Knowing Words, Journal of Chinese Religions (1993), pp. 186- 191.
• Ann-ping Chin and Mansfield Freeman, Tai Chen on Mencius, Journal of Chinese Religions (1993), pp. 148-150.
• Robert B. Westbrook, John Dewey and American Democracy, Philosophy East and West, 44:2 (April 1993), pp. 341-343.
• Robert E. Allinson, Chuang-Tzu for Spiritual Transformation, Journal of Asian Studies, 49:2 (May 1990), pp. 366-367.
• Graham Parkes, ed., Heidegger and Asian Thought, in Sino-Platonic Papers 70 (February 1996), pp. 24-34 (co-written with Taylor Carman).

Work in Progress

• Virtue Ethics & Consequentialism in Early Chinese Thought (New York: Cambridge University Press, under contract).
• The Mengzi with the Orthodox Commentary of Zhu Xi (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, under contract).

Presentations

• "How Not to Interpret the Analects of Confucius," Center for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, September 15, 2005.
• "(r)ÁæéÂúãÁÝî(c)‚î‚êÁöÑ‚½(tm)(tm)Ôºö”½âÂÄソʥæ," National Political University, Taipei, Taiwan, May 16, 2005.
• " (r)ÁæéÂúãÁÝî(c)‚î‚êÁöÑ‚½(tm)(tm)Ôºö”½âÂÄソʥæ," National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, May 9, 2005.
• "David S. Nivison's Contributions to the Study of Chinese Philosophy," National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, April 18, 2005.
• "America’Äôs Encounter with Confucian Thought: Three Trends," Bryn Mawr College, October 20, 2004.
• "America’Äôs Encounter with Confucian Thought: Three Trends," Bard College, September 13, 2004.
• "America’Äôs Encounter with Confucian Thought: Three Trends," Conference on Chinese Philosophy: Past, Present and Future, St. Vincent College, Latrobe, PA, April 1, 2004.
• "Confucianism and Virtue Ethics," Early China Seminar, Columbia University, New York, NY, May 10, 2003.
• "Mengzi and Virtue Ethics," International Conference on Confucianism and Western Culture, Academia Sinica, Taibei, Taiwan, January 17, 2003.
• "Confucianism and Virtue," Center for Lifetime Studies, Marist College, Poughkeepsie, NY, September 11, 2002.
• "What Is the Dao of Confucius?" Keynote Address at the Greater Philadelphia Philosophy Consortium, LaSalle College, Philadelphia, PA, April 20, 2002.

• Panel on representations of extraterrestrials in science fiction, Vassar College Non-Human Students Association, Vassar College, March 2, 2002.
• "Confucianism and Virtue Ethics," American Philosophical Association (main program), Atlanta, GA, December, 2001.
• "Confucianism and Virtue Ethics," Early China Roundtable, Philadelphia, PA, December 8, 2001.
• Seminar on Augustine, Freedom Plains Presbyterian Church, Lagrange, NY, September 16, 23, 30 & October 7, 2001.
• Seminar on Confucianism, Freedom Plains Presbyterian Church, Lagrange, NY, October 22 & 29, 2000.
• "Confucian-Buddhist Dialogues," Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, Oct. 16, 2000.
• ("Augustine"), in Chinese, Peking University, Beijing, People’Äôs Republic of China, May 17, 2000.
• "The Mohist Arguments for Impartial Concern," conference on "Self, Family and Community: Aspects of Chinese and Western Ethics," National University of Singapore, May 13, 2000.
• A Response to Zhang Xianglong’Äôs "Reasons of Heaven and Human Existence," American Philosophical Association, Albuquerque, NM, April 7, 2000.
• "A Response to Lu Zhaolu on Xin," American Philosophical Association, Berkeley, CA, April 2, 1999.
• "Unweaving the 'One Thread' of Analects 4:15," Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, October 1, 1998.
• "Research on Chinese Philosophy by Contemporary Anglo-American Scholars" (in Chinese), Peking University, Beijing, People's Republic of China, May 21, 1998.
• "Unweaving the 'One Thread' of Analects 4:15," Conference on Intellectual Lineages in Ancient China, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, September 27, 1997.
• "Relativism and the Argument from Disagreement," American Philosophical Association, Berkeley, CA, March 28, 1997. (Read in abstentia.)
• "Why Do People Do Bad Things?" Fourth Unitarian Society of Westchester County, NY, March 2, 1997; Barnes and Noble Bookstore, Poughkeepsie, NY,
  April 25, 1997.
• "The Prospects for Confucian Liberalism," International Society for Chinese Philosophy, Eastern Division Meeting of the American Philosophical Association, Atlanta, GA, December, 1996.
• "Moral Relativism and Comparative Philosophy," Asian Studies Colloquium, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY, December 4, 1996.
• "A Grammatical Note on Mengzi 7A35.4," Seventh Annual Meeting of the Warring States Working Group, Amherst, MA, October 5, 1996.
• "Mencius on Courage," Neo-Confucianism Seminar of Columbia University, New York, NY, April 5, 1996.
• "The So What Thesis, Revisited," American Philosophical Association, San Francisco, CA, April 1, 1995.
• "Mencius on Courage," Department of Philosophy, Vassar College, February 10. 1995.
• "Mencius on Courage," Departments of Philosophy and Asian Languages and Cultures, University of Michigan, January 30, 1995.
• "Mencius on the Virtue of Righteousness," Traditional China Seminar of Columbia University, New York, NY, October 11, 1994.
• "Yearley on Mencius," American Philosophical Association, San Francisco, CA, March 28, 1993.
• "Mencius and Plato," Association for Asian Studies, Washington, DC, April 3, 1992.
• "Student's Progress," Paul Desjardins Memorial Seminar on Classical Texts, Jay, NY, August, 1992.
• "Improving One's Character and the Character ' ," Paul Desjardins Memorial Seminar on Classical Texts, Jay, NY, August, 1991.
• "Hansen on Xunzi," Asian Studies on the Pacific Coast Conference, West Washington University, Bellingham, WA, June 21, 1991.
• "Zhuangzi and Analytic Philosophy," American Oriental Society, Berkeley, CA, March 3, 1991.
• "Was Mencius an Intuitionist?" Asian Studies on the Pacific Coast Conference, Stanford, CA, July 1, 1990.
• "Hsˆºn-tzu on the Classification of Fallacies," American Oriental Society, Berkeley, CA, November 13-14, 1987.

Service to the Profession

• Member, American Philosophical Association Committee on the Status of Asian and Asian-American Philosophers and Philosophies, 2003-2006.
• Member, American Philosophical Association Advisory Committee on Non-Western Philosophy, 2000-2003.
• Fellowship and grant referee: National Endowment for the Humanties.
• Journal referee: Philosophy East and West; Journal of Religious Ethics; International Philosophical Quarterly.
• Book referee: Hackett Publishing; Cornell University Press; State University of New York Press; Wadsworth Publishing; Georgetown University Press.
• External tenure referee: University of Northern Iowa, University of California at Los Angeles.

Fellowships

• Fulbright Grant, 2005.
• National Endowment for the Humanities Grant, 2005.
• Vassar College Reseach Grant, summer 1998.
• Chiang Ching-kuo Fellowship, summer 1993.
• Stanford Center for East Asian Studies Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship, summer 1989.
• Mellon Fellowship in the Humanities, 1985 cohort.

Other

• Moderator, Early China Roundtable mailing list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Early_China_Roundtable/
• Contributor, Fields of Knowledge.
• Response to review of The Ways of Confucianism, Journal of Asian Studies, 58:1 (February 1999), pp. 126-127.
• Panel discussion of moral objectivism and anti-objectivism, No Dogs or Philosophers Allowed (TV talk show), taped August 23, 1998.
• Who's Who in America, 2000-present.
• Letter to the Editor, Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association, 70:2 (November 1996), pp. 161-163. (In this letter, I appeal to mainstream philosophy journals to review and publish work on Chinese philosophy.)
• Home Page: http://faculty.vassar.edu/~brvannor.
• "Is There Community on the Web?" Midnight's , no. 3 (http://vassun.vassar.e du/mn3/vannorden/vannorden.html).
• "Van Norden Reviews Annas," Brown Electronic Article Review Service (http://ww w.brown.edu/Departments/Philosophy/bears/958vann.html), posted August 14, 1995.
• "Van Norden Reviews Macedo," Brown Electronic Article Review Service (http://ww w.brown.edu/Departments/Philosophy/bears/955vann.html), posted May 7, 1995.