Colin J Lewis

Current approaches to contemporary political philosophy are disproportionately western, and the need for more diverse and global perspectives is urgent. To address this imbalance Colin J. Lewis and Jennifer Kling take up a series of contemporary topics in political philosophy and consider how the application of classical Chinese thought can engender new insights and enable progress on some of the thorniest sociopolitical issues. They argue that classical Chinese political theories and views have much to say that is relevant to our contemporary life, and buttress their argument with case studies. Each chapter takes up a particular contemporary sociopolitical issue, describes standard Western approaches to it, and then applies classical Chinese thought to the task of either re-framing it, or suggesting a novel solution. The book engages with and makes progress on several current sociopolitical issues, including the construction and deconstruction of political narratives, the legal standing of robots, the relationships between people, communities, and the environment, the funding (or defunding) of police, the status of private militias, and the question of justified revolution in liberal democracies, among others. While classical Chinese philosophy has been previously dismissed in some circles as inaccessible or banal, Lewis and Kling argue that, to the contrary, it is a powerful lens through which to view and dissect today's challenges.

It is widely accepted that moral education is quintessential to facilitating and maintaining prosocial attitudes. What moral education should entail and how it can be effectively pursued remain hotly disputed questions. In Confucian Ritual and Moral Education, Colin J. Lewis examines these issues by appealing to two traditions that have until now escaped comparison: Vygotsky’s theory of learning and psychosocial development, and ancient Confucianism’s ritualized approach to moral education. Lewis argues first, that Vygotsky and the Confucians complement one another in a manner that enables a nuanced, empirically respectable understanding of how the Confucian ritual education model should be construed and how it could be deployed; and second, just as ritual education in the Confucian tradition can be explicated in terms of modern developmental theory, this ancient notion of ritual can also serve as a viable resource for moral education in a contemporary, diverse world.

Six months after being jailed for a murder he did not commit, Spayde finds himself released and is out for revenge who set him up? And why? With his partner missing and Missy presumed dead, can Spayde really trust the new Police Commissioner or the shadowy figure who hires him? Hard Talking, Hard drinking Spayde is the Anthropomorphic answer to Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe. And one more thing no one touches the fedora.

'Somehow I was gonna have to find his murderer, before this all comes back to haunt me. 'Why is Harry Ramstein so important? And just who can Spayde trust? A simple case on behalf of a powerful client, turns Spayde's world upside down. Suspected of murder, he finds himself in a race against time to uncover the truth as the bodies start piling up. Can he prove his innocence before it's too late? Hard Talking, Hard drinking Spayde is the Anthropomorphic answer to Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe And one more thing no one touches the fedora.

'It seemed trouble followed me everywhere I went.' What is the Rose of the Desert? And why do so many want it? Private Investigator Ham Spayde finds himself amidst murderers, gamblers and a secret police force, with unforeseen complications. This is Cattleblanca the oasis of Morrocow Hard Talking, Hard drinking Spayde is the Anthropomorphic answer to Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe. And one more thing no one touches the fedora.