Kumazawa Banzan: Governing the Realm and Bringing Peace to All below Heaven

Kumazawa Banzan: Governing the Realm and Bringing Peace to All below Heaven
Author: Kumazawa Banzan
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 228
Release: 2020-11-26
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1108624219

Kumazawa Banzan's (1619-1691) Responding to the Great Learning (Daigaku wakumon) stands as the first major writing on political economy in early modern Japanese history. John A. Tucker's translation is the first English rendition of this controversial text to be published in eighty years. The introduction offers an accessible and incisive commentary, including detailed analyses of Banzan's text within the context of his life, as well as broader historical and intellectual developments in East Asian Confucian thought. Emphasizing parallels between Banzan's life events, such as his relief efforts in the Okayama domain following devastating flooding, and his later writings advocating compassionate government, environmental initiatives, and projects for growing wealth, Tucker sheds light on Banzan's main objective of 'governing the realm and bringing peace and prosperity to all below heaven'. In Responding to the Great Learning, Banzan was doing more than writing a philosophical commentary, he was advising the Tokugawa shogunate to undertake a major reorganization of the polity - or face the consequences.

The Essentials of Governance

The Essentials of Governance
Author: Wu Jing
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 442
Release: 2021-01-21
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1108912680

In the eighth century, Wu Jing selected exchanges between Emperor Taizong and his ministers that he deemed key to good governance. This collection of dialogues has been used for the education of emperors, political elites and general readers ever since, and is a standard reference work in East Asian political thought. Consisting of ten volumes, subdivided into forty topics, The Essentials of Governance addresses core themes of Chinese thinking about the politics of power, from the body politic, presenting and receiving criticism, recruitment, the education of the imperial clan, political virtues and vices, to cultural policy, agriculture, law, taxation, border policy, and how to avoid disaster and dynastic fall. Presented with introductory commentary that offers insights into its historical context and global reception, this accessible and reliable translation brings together ten scholars of Chinese intellectual history to offer a nuanced edition that preserves the organisation, tone and flow of the original.

The Theory and Practice of Zen Buddhism

The Theory and Practice of Zen Buddhism
Author: Charles S. Prebish
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 342
Release: 2022-02-15
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9811682860

This book brings together an impressive group of scholars to critically engage with a wide-ranging and broad perspective on the historical and contemporary phenomenon of Zen. The structure of the work is organized to reflect the root and branches of Zen, with the root referring to important episodes in Chan/Zen history within the Asian context, and the branches referring to more recent development in the West. In collating what has transpired in the last several decades of Chan/Zen scholarship, the collection recognizes and honors the scholarly accomplishments and influences of Steven Heine, arguably the most important Zen scholar in the past three decades. As it looks back at the intellectual horizons that this towering figure in Zen/Chan studies has pioneered and developed, it seeks to build on the grounds that were broken and subsequently established by Heine, thereby engendering new works within this enormously important religio-cultural scholarly tradition. This curated Festschrift is a tribute, both retrospective and prospective, acknowledging the foundational work that Heine has forged, and generates research that is both complementary and highly original. This academic ritual of assembling a liber amicorum is based on the presumption that sterling scholarship should be honored by conscientious scholarship. In the festive spirit of a Festschrift, this anthology consists of the resounding voices of Heine and his colleagues. It is an indispensable collection for students and scholars interested in Japanese religion and Chinese culture, and for those researching Zen Buddhist history and philosophy.

Agricultural Ethics in East Asian Perspective

Agricultural Ethics in East Asian Perspective
Author: Paul B. Thompson
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 230
Release: 2018-07-24
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 3319926039

This book brings together agricultural ethics scholars from the US, Japan and Taiwan to discuss crucial issues in agricultural ethics and sustainability ethics in comparative context. Agricultural ethics and sustainability ethics are wide-ranging and closely linked to environmental ethics, bioethics, virtue ethics, animal welfare, soil conservation, not to mention rural traditions and lifestyles. Six of the chapters cover historical traditions and values in Europe, the US and East Asia. Four of the chapters cover the role of virtue ethics in the analysis of agrarian and environmental ethics, agricultural biotechnology, food ethics, and alternative agriculture, respectively. Finally, two of the chapters cover field efforts of agricultural ethics involving preserving agricultural heritage and building consensus for sustainable farming, respectively. Although the papers are divided into three groups, their contents are interconnected and mutually informative.

The Political Thought of the Irish Revolution

The Political Thought of the Irish Revolution
Author: Richard Bourke
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 464
Release: 2022-05-05
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1108873774

The Irish Revolution was a pivotal moment of transition for Ireland, the United Kingdom, and British Empire. A constitutional crisis that crystallised in 1912 electrified opinion in Ireland whilst dividing politics at Westminster. Instead of settling these differences, the advent of the First World War led to the emergence of new antagonisms. Republican insurrection was followed by a struggle for independence along with the partition of the island. This volume assembles some of the key contributions to the intellectual debates that took place in the midst of these changes and displays the vital ideas developed by the men and women who made the Irish Revolution, as well as those who opposed it. Through these fundamental texts, we see Irish experiences in comparative European and international contexts, and how the revolution challenged the durability of Britain as a global power.

Medieval Muslim Mirrors for Princes

Medieval Muslim Mirrors for Princes
Author:
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 397
Release: 2022-12-31
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1108606164

The 'mirror for princes' genre of literature offers advice to a ruler, or ruler-to-be, concerning the exercise of royal power and the wellbeing of the body politic. This anthology presents selections from the 'mirror literature' produced in the Islamic Early Middle Period (roughly the tenth to twelfth centuries CE), newly translated from the original Arabic and Persian, as well as a previously translated Turkish example. In these texts, authors advise on a host of political issues which remain compelling to our contemporary world: political legitimacy and the ruler's responsibilities, the limits of the ruler's power and the limits of the subjects' duty of obedience, the maintenance of social stability, causes of unrest, licit and illicit uses of force, the functions of governmental offices and the status and rights of diverse social groups. Medieval Muslim Mirrors for Princes is a unique introduction to this important body of literature, showing how these texts reflect and respond to the circumstances and conditions of their era, and of ours.

Albert Venn Dicey: Writings on Democracy and the Referendum

Albert Venn Dicey: Writings on Democracy and the Referendum
Author: Albert Venn Dicey
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2023-02-16
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1108962637

What are the limits to parliamentary sovereignty? When should the people be able to vote directly on issues? The constitutional theorist Albert Venn Dicey (1835–1922) was a cogent advocate of the referendum. While his enthusiasm for the institution was widely acknowledged in his own day, thereafter this dimension of his career has been largely neglected. This fall into obscurity is partly explained by the fact that Dicey never collected his writings on referendums into a single volume. Consequently, during the prolonged crisis over Brexit, the implications of Dicey's thought were unclear, despite his standing as a foundational figure in British constitutional law. This timely modern edition brings together Dicey's sophisticated and intricate writings on the referendum, and it covers his attempts to construct a credible theory of democracy on a new intellectual and institutional basis. An original scholarly introduction analyzes Dicey's thought in light of its contemporary context.

Volney: The Ruins of Empires and Catechism of Natural Law

Volney: The Ruins of Empires and Catechism of Natural Law
Author: Constantin Volney
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 269
Release: 2024-02-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 1108493106

Fresh, modern translation of a major French Revolutionary text, which argues for popular sovereignty in the form of a dream-tale.

Political Thought in Portugal and its Empire, c.1500–1800

Political Thought in Portugal and its Empire, c.1500–1800
Author: Pedro Cardim
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 361
Release: 2021-10-21
Genre: History
ISBN: 1108418279

Demonstrates the wealth of political thought from early modern Portugal and its empire through a selection of writings by Portuguese and Luso-Brazilian authors.