jing.hu612[at]gmail.com
JING IRIS HU
I received my Ph.D. (2017) in philosophy from Duke University, studying moral philosophy and Chinese philosophy with Owen Flanagan and David Wong. My research facilitates a cross-cultural and interdisciplinary dialogue between Confucianism and Western ethics through a close study of moral emotions and virtues such as sympathy/empathy, honesty, and shame. I am particularly interested in emotions (qing)' role in moral deliberation, moral perception, and moral motivation in Chinese philosophy and in moral psychology in general. At the Institute for the Study of Human Flourishing, I am conducting interdisciplinary work with my colleagues from various disciplines.
My work has appeared (and is forthcoming) in journals such as Dao, Comparative and Continental Philosophy, and Journal of Chinese philosophy, see publication. Before joining in the University of Oklahoma, I have held teaching positions at Seattle University and Washington and Lee University, see Teaching.
*If you are into Neil Gaiman and can read Chinese, my translation of Gaiman’s Norse Mythology is coming out in China this march!
PUBLICATIONS
EMPATHY FOR NON-KIN, THE FARAWAY, THE UNFAMILIAR, AND THE ABSTRACT
Forthcoming in Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy, 09/2018. Accepted 07/2017.
Through the study of an ancient case [Mencius 1A7] in the classic Chinese philosophical tradition, this paper challenges Jesse Prinz’s pessimistic view that empathy and other fellow feelings are erratic, biased and cannot be improved. I demonstrates how empathy can be extended to less common objects, such as non-kin, the faraway, the unfamiliar, and the abstract. I also discuss empathy’s unique role in moral education and moral cognition.
BETWEEN NATURE AND PERSON: WHAT THE NEO-CONFUCIAN WANG FUZHI CAN TEACH US ABOUT ECOLOGICAL HUMANISM
Forthcoming Comparative and Continental Philosophy, 2018, Winter Issue. Accepted Nov. 2017
Many great minds, throughout the history of mankind, have wondered upon the relationship between nature and person. Through critically engage with Brasovan’s account that brings together the Neo-Confucian Wang Fuzhi’s account with ecological humanism, I discuss some of the most notable contributions of Wang Fuzhi’s philosophy to our understanding of the relationship between nature and human, such as Wang’s anti-anthropocentric metaphysics, his qi monism, and the spiritual side of his philosophy.
HAN FEI ZI’S PHILOSOPHICAL PSYCHOLOGY
Han Fei Zi’s Philosophical Psychology: Human Nature, Scarcity, and the Neo-Darwinian Consensus (Co-authored with Owen Flanagan)
Han Fei Zi’s philosophy might be one beneficiary of a style of assessing theories of human nature that focuses less on their inspirational qualities and more, as he intended, on their quality as serious empirical proposals with implications for ethics and politics.
Flanagan, O. & Hu, J. (2011). Journal of Chinese philosophy, 38(2), 293-316. Reprinted in J. D. Carlson & A. F. Russell, State of Nature in Comparative Political Thought: Western and Non-Western Perspectives (Chapter 2). Lexington Books.
THE ENLIGHTENMENT OF SYMPATHY
[Book Translation] The Enlightenment of Sympathy: Justice and the Moral Sentiments in the Eighteenth Century and Today
Book author: Michael Frazer, trans: Jing Hu, Nanjing: Yi Lin Press of China, 2016.
Challenges the Kantian and rationalist paradigm which dominates moral and political philosophy today, emphasizing the importance of sympathy and emotion
Connects empirical and normative questions, bringing together the work of philosophers and scientists
Demonstrates the relevance of canonical texts to contemporary issues
PRESENTATIONS
“Honesty as a Relational Virtue,” Association of Chinese Philosophers in North America (ACPA), American Philosophical Association: 2018 Pacific Division Meeting, San Diego, CA (March 28-April 1, 2018, scheduled)
“Wang Fuzhi’s Neo-Confucianism on Human-Nature Relationship--An Alternative to Anthropocentrism,” ISCP: American Philosophical Association: 2018 Central Division Meeting, Chicago, IL (February 21, 2018, scheduled)
“The Moral Value of Sympathy,” Invited Talk, Renmin University, Beijing, China (11 October 2017) (in Chinese)
“Confucian Role Ethics and Empathetic Perception,” Main Conference of the Role Ethics Network (an AHRC-funded project), Senate House, University of London, UK (28-30 September 2017)
“Empathy Beyond the Near and Dear,” Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy
49th Annual Conference, Peking University, China (10 June 2017)“Sympathy and Moral Cognition,” Association of Chinese Philosophers in North America (ACPA), American Philosophical Association: 2017 Pacific Division Meeting, Seattle, WA (13 April 2017)
“Empathy Beyond the Near and Dear,” Center for Comparative Philosophy, Duke University, NC (30 March 2017)
“Empathy Beyond the Near and Dear,” Works-in-Progress Brown Bag Event, Seattle University, WA (7 February 2017)
“Sympathy for Non-Kin, the Faraway, the Unfamiliar, and the Abstract—an Interdisciplinary Study on Moral Cultivation,” Association of Chinese Philosophers in North America (ACPA), American Philosophical Association: 2017 Eastern Division Meeting, Baltimore, MD (6 January 2017)
“Human Nature, the Cultivation of Sympathy and the Russian Doll,” Philosophy Colloquium, Washington and Lee University, VA (18 December 2016)
“Psychopathy and Moral Emotions,” Philosophy Club, Washington and Lee University, VA (9 December 2016)
“Reinterpreting Mencius 2A6 and 1A7: Sympathy for the Child in the Well,” Work in Progress Seminar, Duke University, NC (2015)
“Sympathy, Too Little or Too Much,” Graduate Seminar, Duke University, Durham, NC (2013)
“The Cultivation of Sympathy,” Dissertation Seminar, Duke University, Durham, NC (2011)
“The Science of the Conscious Mind,” Vienna University, Vienna, Austria (2011)
“Evolutionary Theory and Ethics,” Oxford University, Oxford, UK (2011)
“The Nature of Scientific Evidence,” Vienna University, Vienna, Austria (2010)
TEACHING
Current teaching interests, evaluations available upon request at jing.hu612(at)gmail.com.
* Indicates a class taught in the past.
Chinese Philosophy (Ancient)
Chinese Philosophy (Modern)
Asian Philosophies*
Ancient Philosophy
Comparative Philosophy*
Moral Psychology
Moral Emotions*
Ethical Reasoning*
Medical Ethics *
Philosophy of the Human Person*
Symbolic Logic*
Introduction to Philosophy*
WORK IN PROGRESS
MY PROJECTS:
I am working on a number of projects right now.
(all drafts and papers under review are available upon request)
Moral Motivation in Mencius (draft)
Moral Progress and Mencius (with Seth Robertson, accepted by Conference of Lost Voices at the Foundations of Ethics [Seattle, Univ. of Washington] and 2018 Northeast Conference on Chinese Thought and Midwest Conference on Chinese Thought [Storrs, Univ. of Connecticut])
Moral Perception in Confucian Philosophy. A paper on this topic is under review in an ethics journal.
Strong Empathy, Weak Empathy —Two Arguments in Defense of Empathy’s Motivational Power (draft)
Honesty Project, which investigate a type of emotionally engaged honesty.