Abstract

This chapter presents the work of Peng Guoxiang and Chen Xia, two leading Chinese scholars of Confucianism and Daoism respectively, with a response by James Miller. Peng Guoxiang and Chen Xia presented drafts of their papers at the conference on Religious Diversity and Ecological Sustainability at Minzu University of China in March 2012. The chapter provides an edited version of Chen Xias paper on Daoist visions of environment and ecology. It then presents Peng Guoxiangs interpretation of the philosophy of Wang Yangming, based on a close reading of his Inquiry into the Great Learning. In short, the most distinct feature of this one-body ecological vision as a Confucian version of the concept of continuity of being can therefore be characterized as a soft-hearted ecology, while a Daoist understanding of continuity of being can be roughly called a hard-hearted ecology.