Curriculum Vitae
Alexus McLeod
Professor
Department of Religious Studies
Indiana University
Sycamore Hall 230, 1033 E. 3rd St, Bloomington, IN 47405-7005
email: almcleo@iu.edu
https://indiana.academia.edu/AlexusMcLeod
Academic Positions:
Professor, Indiana University, Department of Religious Studies, 2022-current
(Affiliate, Department of Philosophy)
Professor, University of Connecticut, Department of Philosophy, Asian and Asian-American Studies Institute, 2021- 2022
(Associate Professor, 2017-2021; Assistant Professor, 2016- 2017)
Assistant Professor, Colorado State University, Department of Philosophy, 2014-2016
Assistant Professor, University of Dayton, Department of Philosophy, 2009-2014
Education:
University of Connecticut, PhD, Philosophy, 2009
University of Oklahoma, MA, Philosophy, 2005
University of Maryland, BA, Philosophy with honors, Phi Beta Kappa, 2002
Research Areas:
Early Chinese Philosophy
Mesoamerican Philosophy (esp. Maya)
Africana Philosophy and Religion
Comparative Philosophy
Global Philosophy of Religion
Editorial and Organizational Positions:
Editor-in-Chief, The Philosophical Forum, 2021-present
President, International Society for Comparative Studies of Chinese and Western Philosophy, 2020-2023
Series Editor, Critical Inquiries in Comparative Philosophy, Rowman and Littlefield International, 2015-2022
Publications:
[Books]:
Ancient Philosophy: A Multicultural Reader, Bloomsbury (forthcoming)
Oxford Handbook of Indigenous Philosophy (with Michael Ing and Andrea Sullivan-Clarke), Oxford University Press (forthcoming)
Routledge Companion to Global and Comparative Philosophy, Routledge (forthcoming)
Works of Philosophy and their Reception: Lunheng, De Gruyter (forthcoming)
Myth and Identity in the Martial Arts: Creating the Dragon, Lexington Books (January 2025)
An Introduction to Mesoamerican Philosophy, Cambridge University Press (July 2023)
Choice “Outstanding Academic Title” Award, 2024
The Dao of Madness: Mental Illness and Self-Cultivation in Early Chinese Philosophy and Medicine, Oxford University Press (October 2021)
Transcendence and Non-Naturalism in Early Chinese Thought, co-authored with Joshua Brown (Theology, Mount St. Mary’s University), Bloomsbury (September 2020)
The Bloomsbury Research Handbook of Early Chinese Ethics and Political Philosophy (editor), Bloomsbury (February 2019)
The Philosophical Thought of Wang Chong, Palgrave Macmillan (October 2018)
Philosophy of the Ancient Maya: Lords of Time, Lexington Books (December 2017)
Astronomy in the Ancient World: Early and Modern Views on Celestial Events, Springer (July 2016)
Theories of Truth in Chinese Philosophy: A Comparative Approach, Rowman and Littlefield International (December 2015)
Understanding Asian Philosophy: Ethics in the Analects, Zhuangzi, Dhammapada, and Bhagavad Gita, Bloomsbury (November 2014)
[Articles]:
“Strategies of Intellectual Delegitimization and Responses of the Five Percent Movement”, co-authored with Siddhartha McLeod, The Philosophical Forum (forthcoming)
“Disordering the Regularities of Nature and the Human Role in Cosmic Completion in the Huainanzi”, Dao Companion to the Huainanzi (forthcoming)
“Knowledge as Creative Vision in Maya Philosophy”, British Journal for the History of Philosophy (2025)
“Kuang (Madness) and Mental Illness in Early China”, in Rom, ed. Other Bodies: Disability and Bodily Impairment in Early China, Routledge (2025)
“Heaven and Fate in Han Period Thought”, in Ziporyn and Walker, eds. Routledge Companion to Chinese Philosophy (2025)
“The Divine Names: The Human Role in Construction of the Cosmos in the Maya Popol Vuh and Ibn Arabi’s Fusus al-Hikam”, in Green, ed. Doing Metaphysics in a Diverse World, Bloomsbury (2025)
“Selections from Daodejing, Zhuangzi, Popol Vuh, and Chilam Balam Books,” in Rustom, ed. Sourcebook in Global Philosophy, Equinox (2025)
“Independent Han Thinkers”, in Ambrogio and Rogacz, eds. Chinese Philosophy and Its Thinkers: From Ancient Times to the Present Day, Vol. 1 (Ancient and Early Imperial Thought), Bloomsbury (2024)
“New Text Confucianism”, in Ambrogio and Rogacz, eds. Chinese Philosophy and Its Thinkers: From Ancient Times to the Present Day, Vol. 1 (Ancient and Early Imperial Thought), Bloomsbury (2024)
“Historical Overview”, “Anxiety” and “Trauma”, in Cheng, ed. Chinese Medicine for the Mind (2024)
“Morality in the Fa Tradition”, in Pines, ed. Dao Companion to China’s Fa Tradition, Springer (2024)
“Transformative Identity in the K’iche’ Maya Popol Vuh”, in Bruno and Vlasits, eds. Transformation and the History of Philosophy, Routledge (2023)
“Philosophy in Han Dynasty China”, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2023)
“A Daoist Conception of Virtue: The Virtue of Virtuelessness,” in Guerrero and Harman, eds. Norton Introduction to Ethics (forthcoming)
“The Self and the Chariot (from the Milindapañha),” in De Cruz, ed., Philosophy Illustrated: 40 Thought Experiments to Broaden Your Mind, Oxford (2021)
“Responsibilities of the Father- A Problem in Early Confucianism?”, Frontiers of Philosophy in China(forthcoming)
“Humility in Early Confucianism”, in Alfano, Lynch, and Tanesini, Routledge Handbook on the Philosophy of Humility (2020)
“Wang Chong’s View of Spontaneity and Its Influence on Wang Bi and Guo Xiang”, in Chai, ed. Dao Companion to Neo-Daoism, Springer (2020)
“Amadou Bamba—Integrity and the Struggle for Spiritual Cultivation,” in Alston, Carpenter, and Wiseman, eds. Portraits of Integrity, Bloomsbury (2020)
“Comments on Ing’s The Vulnerability of Integrity in Early Confucian Thought,” in Res Philosophica 96; 3 (2019)
“Sacrifice: A Maya Conception of a Misunderstood and Underappreciated Component of Well-Being,” Science, Religion, and Culture 6;1 (2019)
“Itz and the Descent of Kukulkan: Central Mexican Influence on Postclassic Maya Thought”, Parergon 35; 2 (2018)
“The Role of Anxiety in the Zhuangzi, Indian, and Hellenistic Philosophy”, in McLeod, ed. Bloomsbury Research Handbook of Chinese Ethics and Political Philosophy, Bloomsbury (2018)
“Some Considerations in Defense of a Radical Reading of the Mohist Jian Ai”, in McLeod, ed. Bloomsbury Research Handbook of Chinese Ethics and Political Philosophy, Bloomsbury (2018)
“East Asian Martial Arts as Philosophical Practice”, APA Newsletter on Asian and Asian-American Philosophers and Philosophies 17; 4 (2018)
“Xunzi and Mimamsa on the Source and Ground of Ritual: An Analogical Argument”, Philosophy East and West 68; 3 (2018)
“Introduction to Special Issue on Han Dynasty Thought”, with Michael Ing (Indiana University), Asia Major, Third Series 29; 2 (2016)
“The Convergence Model of Philosophical Method in the Early Han”, International Communication of Chinese Culture 3; 2 (2016)
“Methodology in Comparative Chinese-Indian Philosophy”,”, in Tan, ed. Methodology in Chinese Philosophy, Bloomsbury (2016)
“May You Live in Interesting Times: Reflections on the State of the Field” in APA Newsletter on Asian and Asian-American Philosophers and Philosophy 15; 2 (2016)
“Philosophy in Eastern Han Dynasty China (25-220 CE)”, Philosophy Compass 10; 6 (2015)
“Replies to Brons and Mou on Wang Chong and Pluralism”; Comparative Philosophy 6;1 (2015)
(also included in Mou, ed. Philosophy of Language, Chinese Language, Chinese Philosophy: Constructive Engagement, Brill, 2018)
“Communal Moral Personhood and Moral Responsibility in the Analects and the Bhagavad Gita”, in Theodor and Yao, eds. Brahman and Dao: Comparative Studies of Indian and Chinese Philosophy and Religion, Lexington Books (2013)
【论语】及【薄伽梵歌】中的公众道德人格及道德责任 (Chinese Translation of “Communal Moral Personhood About Truth in Early Chinese Philosophy”)
“Wang Chong” in Berkshire Dictionary of Chinese Biography, Vol. I (2013)
“In the World of Persons: The Personhood Debate in the Analects and Zhuangzi”, Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy 11; 4 (December 2012)
“Ren as a Communal Property in the Analects”; Philosophy East and West 62; 4 (2012)
“Wang Chong” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2012)
“Pluralism About Truth in Early Chinese Philosophy: A Reflection on Wang Chong’s Approach”; Comparative Philosophy 2; 1 (2011)
(also included in Mou, ed. Philosophy of Language, Chinese Language, Chinese Philosophy: Constructive Engagement, Brill, 2018)
早期中国哲学的真理多元主义: 对王充进路的一种反思 (Chinese Translation of “Pluralism About Truth in Early Chinese Philosophy”); in 中外人文精神研究 Zhongwai renwenjingshen yanjiu (Chinese and Foreign Research in Humanistic Spirit), Beijing Academy of Social Sciences (2012)
“A Reappraisal of Wang Chong's Critical Method Through the Wenkong Chapter of the Lunheng”; Journal of Chinese Philosophy 34; 4 (2007)
[Book Reviews]:
Book Review of Anne Behnke Kinney and John Major, trans. Essays of a Recluse: A Complete Translation of the Qianfulun, Journal of Chinese Studies (forthcoming)
Book Review of Bryan Van Norden, Taking Back Philosophy: A Multicultural Manifesto, in The Journal of Asian Studies (forthcoming)
Book Review of Michael Ing, The Vulnerability of Integrity in Early Confucian Thought, in The Journal of Religion(forthcoming)
Book Review of Chenyang Li and Peimin Ni, Moral Cultivation and Confucian Character: Engaging Joel Kupperman, in Philosophy East and West (forthcoming)
Book Review of Fung Shu Fun, Yinyang wuxing de jiewei zhixu: Dong Zhongshu de ruxue sixiang 陰陽五行的階位秩序－董仲舒的儒學思想 (The Position and Order of Yin-yang and the Five Elements: The Confucian Thought of Dong Zhongshu), in Dao: A Journal of Chinese Philosophy
Book Review of Berruz and Kalmanson, eds. Comparative Studies in Asian and Latin American Philosophies, in Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (2018)
Book Review of Huang, Confucius: A Guide for the Perplexed and Rosemont, A Reader’s Companion to the Confucian Analects, in Philosophy East and West in Philosophy East and West (2015)
Book Review of Zhou Guidian, Qinhan Zhexue 秦漢哲學 (Qin and Han Philosophy), in Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy (2011)
Book Review of Bryan W. Van Norden, Introduction to Classical Chinese Philosophy, in Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy (2011)
Book Review of David Wong, Natural Moralities, in Journal of Chinese Philosophy, 38:3 (2011)
Book Review of Bryan W. Van Norden, Virtue Ethics and Consequentialism in Early Chinese Philosophy, in Philosophy East and West 60:4 (2010)
[Interviews, General Pieces, and Other Publications]
Interview on Myth and Identity in the Martial Arts, on New Books Network podcast, July 2025 (https://newbooksnetwork.com/myth-and-identity-in-the-martial-arts)
METIS Wisdom Talks Interview: “Archaeological Philosophy in Search of Mesoamerican Wisdom”, March 2024 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mKjNViXb8Q)
Interview in “Wisdom of China: Laozi”, China Central Television (CCTV-9), February 2024
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnSUnDKDoxQ)
“Editor’s Note: On Philosophy, a Pandemic, and Our International Future”, The Philosophical Forum 53(1), 2022.
“Ancient Cultures and Mental Health”, interview on The Juke Blue Show (https://youtu.be/FFIYqwIfyf0), 2022.
“Chinese Philosophy and the Dao of Madness”, 3:16, February 2022. (https://www.3-16am.co.uk/articles/chinese-philosophy-and-the-dao-of-madness)
“An Interview With Alexus McLeod”, The Philosopher’s Eye blog, September 2021. (https://philosophycompass.wordpress.com/2021/09/28/an-interview-with-alexus-mcleod/)
“Loss and Continuation: Lessons from the Popol Vuh”, Sightings, June 2021. (https://divinity.uchicago.edu/sightings/articles/loss-and-continuation-lessons-popol-vuh#:~:text=The%20face%20of%20the%20lord,are%20always%20potentially%20within%20us.)
Interview on Looking for Wisdom, “Alexus McLeod on Maya Philosophy”, February 2021. (https://www.willbuckingham.com/alexus-mcleod-maya-philosophy/)
“How Do We Diversify Philosophy? Pluralism Rather than Inclusivism”, Blog of the APA, July 2020. (https://blog.apaonline.org/2020/07/23/how-do-we-diversify-philosophy-pluralism-rather-than-inclusivism/)
Interview on “Ancient Chinese Philosophy and Mental Health”, Minds and Mics, July 2020. (https://nickwignall.com/ancient-chinese-philosophy-and-mental-health-with-alexus-mcleod/)
“Chinese philosophy has long known that mental health is communal”, Psyche, June 2020. (https://psyche.co/ideas/chinese-philosophy-has-long-known-that-mental-health-is-communal)
“Taking Others Seriously as Anti-Racism in Philosophy”, The Philosophers’ Cocoon, June 2020. (https://philosopherscocoon.typepad.com/blog/2020/06/taking-others-seriously-as-anti-racism-in-philosophy.html#:~:text=To%20be%20anti%2Dracist%2C%20I,intellectually%2C%20racially%2C%20or%20otherwise.)
“The Most Important Chinese Philosophy Books” contributor on The Reading Lists https://www.thereadinglists.com/most-important-chinese-philosophy-books
Interview on Philosophy of the Ancient Maya, on New Books in Philosophy podcast, 2018. (https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/new-books-network/alexus-mcleod-philosophy-of-o-QcbjN34gE/?srsltid=AfmBOoo094RErE0L6lRz2RVzenqxQ6_k-p2x65NDQ600ZUzPQIHp5_fo)
“Wang Chong, o del razionalismo anticonformista. Il professor McLeod ci guida alla riscoperta di un pensatore dimenticato” (Interview with Stefano Bigliardi), L’ateo 115 (2017)
Radio appearance on The Attitude with Arnie Arnesen, interview about early Chinese philosophers on death and grief, 2017.
“What Chinese philosophers can teach us about dealing with our own grief.” The Conversation (Oct. 30, 2017) (https://theconversation.com/what-chinese-philosophers-can-teach-us-about-dealing-with-our-own-grief-85959)
“Eclipse as Omen: The Human Response.” UConn Today, (Aug. 17, 2017) (https://today.uconn.edu/2017/08/eclipse-omen-human-response/)
“Comparative Philosophy in an Age of Cultural Chauvinism, (or ‘The Art of Traveling Without Traveling’), Philosopher blog, https://politicalphilosopher.net/2017/02/23/featured-philosopher-alexus-mcleod/
[Works in Progress]
I Self Lord And Master: Self and Divinity in Black Nationalist Religion (in progress)
Human Creation of the Cosmos (in progress)
A History of Chinese Philosophy in the Han Dynasty (in progress)
“Chinese Martial Arts and the Reclamation of African-American Personhood” (under review)
“The Myth of Yakub and the Creation of Blackness: W.D. Fard and Elijah Muhammad’s New Conception of Race” (in progress)
Presentations:
“Confucian Syncretism in the Han Dynasty”, Scripps College, April 2026
“Martial Arts and Empowerment in Black America”, Association for Asian American Studies Annual Conference, Honolulu, HI, April 2026
“Intercultural Philosophy and Mesoamerican Traditions”, University of Exeter Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies seminar, December 2025
“Remarks on Rustom, ed., Global Philosophy” American Academy of Religion annual meeting, Boston, MA, November 2025
“Martial Arts as a Key to Understanding Our Contemporary World”, University of Southern California East Asian Studies Center, November 2025
“Social Roles of the Myth of Martial Arts as Combat”, Kruse Speakers in History Annual Lecture, Nebraska Wesleyan University, Lincoln, NE, October 2025
“Remarks on the Intercultural Philosophical Association”, ICPA Launch, British Academy, London, June 2025
“Essences, Capacities, and the Question of Mind in Maya Thought”, American Philosophical Association Pacific Meeting, April 2025.
“Human Activity and Creation in Colonial Maya and Contemporary Black Nationalist Thought”, Philosophy Department Colloquium Lecture, University of Illinois, August 2024.
“Transcendence and Nothingness in the Laozi”, World Congress of Philosophy, Sapienza University of Rome, August 2024.
“Creation of the Cosmos in Early Chinese Metaphysics”, World Congress of Philosophy, Sapienza University of Rome, August 2024.
“Moral Self-Cultivation as Treatment for Mental Illness in Early China”, 12th East-West Philosophers’ Conference, University of Hawai’i, May 2024.
“Completion, Heaven’s Regularities, and Human Creation of the Cosmos”, Simon Fraser University Chinese Metaphysics Workshop, April 2024
“Generation and Completion in Neiye”, Midwest Conference on Chinese Thought, April 2024
“Truth and Natural Pattern in the Zhuangzi” Virtual International Consortium for Truth Research, February 2024.
“Illness and Respect for Persons in the Zhuangzi”, Human Rights and East Asian Philosophy Workship, Hong Kong Baptist University, January 2024.
“Comparative Philosophy as Global Synthesis”, Parami University, November 2023.
“Book Discussion: Theories of Truth in Chinese Philosophy”, University of Washington, November 2023.
“Changing Conceptions of Ren Cheng (Human Completing) in Late Warring States and Early Han Texts”, Lieberthal-Rogel Center for Chinese Studies lecture, University of Michigan, September 2023.
“Book Discussion: The Philosophical Thought of Wang Chong”, 四海為學: Collaborative Learning Forum, August 2023.
“Tulaakal Yook’ol Kaab: Maya Philosophy and Global Methodologies”, OSEA Crossroads Conference, July 2023.
“Creation of the Winal and Correlative Thought in the Chilam Balam of Chumayel”, IU Indigenous Thought Workshop, May 2023.
“Correlative Metaphysics and Politics in Late 19th and Early 20th Century Chinese Martial Arts Manuals”, Midwest Conference on Chinese Thought, March 2023.
“Iris Book Prize Comments on Rubinstein, Worlds Without End”, International Society for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture Annual Conference, February 2023.
“Human Construction of the Cosmos in the K’iche’ Maya Popol Vuh and Ibn Arabi’s Fusus al Hikam”, Comparative Metaphysics Group, February 2023.
“Correlative Metaphysics in Maya Philosophy”, Oxford Americanist Archaeology Seminar, February 2023.
“The Huainanzi and the Development of Contemporary Global Philosophy”, Knowledge and Action Lab Lecture, ECNU Shanghai, December 2022.
“Chinese and Western Philosophical Thought and Their Influence in the Modern World”, ECNU Summer Seminar, July 2022.
“Comments on Lauren Pfister’s Vital Post-Secular Perspectives on Chinese Philosophical Issues, ISCP 2022 International Conference, June 2022.
“Truth and Formulations of the Ideal Person in Early China”, VICTR Truth 2022 Conference, June 2022
“How to Infuse Asian Content into Philosophy Courses”, APA Live Panel, May 2022.
“Intercultural Communication and the Problem of Ownership”, American Philosophical Association Pacific Conference, April 2022
“The Human Role in Construction of the Cosmos in the Popol Vuh”, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Philosophy Colloquium, April 2022.
“The Huainanzi and the Quest for a Universal Philosophy”, University of Central Arkansas Workshop on the Three Teachings, February 2022.
“Comparative Philosophy as Global Synthesis”, Mahan Lecture 2021, Gettysburg College, April 2021.
“Astronomy and Culture”, Guest Lecture, University of Maryland, February 2021.
Author Meets Critics Session on McLeod, Philosophy of the Ancient Maya, American Philosophical Association Eastern Conference, January 2021.
Guest Lecture, Amy Reed-Sandoval, Latin American Philosophy course, UNLV, September 2020.
“Between Worlds: The Nature of the Cosmos in Maya Philosophy”, Colorado College Spring Colloqium, invited lecture, January 2020.
“The Origins of Truth Pluralism in Early China”, American Philosophical Association Eastern Conference, Philadelphia, PA, January 2020.
“Greater Knowledge and Lesser Knowledge in the Zhuangzi—When Normativity Fails?” Sosa Encountering Chinese Philosophy Conference, Fudan University, Shanghai, invited lecture, April 2019.
Diversifying Syllabi Panel Discussion, American Philosophical Association Pacific Conference, Vancouver, BC, Canada, April 2019.
“Roles and the Nature of Personhood in Early Chinese and Maya Philosophy”, Conference on Comparative Ancient Philosophy, invited presentation, Princeton University, March 2019.
“The Transcendent Dao and the Nature of Language”, Yale-NUS College, Singapore, invited lecture, March 2019.
“Philosophical Naturalism in the Han Dynasty”, Bard College, invited lecture, September 2018.
“Zhuangist Views of Truthmakers and Practice”, 24th World Congress of Philosophy, Beijing, China, August 2018.
“Natural Propensities in the Huainanzi”, Smith College, invited lecture, April 2018.
“Lessons on Synthesis and Unification from the Huainanzi”, David Ross Boyd lecture, University of Oklahoma, invited lecture, March 2018.
“Comments on Michael Ing’s The Vulnerability of Integrity in Early Confucian Thought, American Philosophical Association Central Conference, Chicago, IL, February 2018.
“Time in Maya Philosophy”, Brooklyn Public Library “Philosophy in the Library” invited lecture, NYC, February 2018.
“Philosophical Exploration and the Creation of a New Renaissance”, Brooklyn Public Library “Night of Philosophy and Ideas” invited lecture, NYC, January 2018.
“Embedded Identity in Maya Philosophy,” 2018 Mesoamerica Meetings, University of Texas, Austin, TX, January 2018.
“Truth as a Property of Conduct in the Zhuangzi”, American Philosophical Association Eastern Conference, Savannah, GA, January 2017.
“Ming, Cultivation, and Determinism in the Lunheng”, Wang Chong Workshop, UC Berkeley, invited lecture, November 2017.
“Disordering the Regularities of Nature in the Astronomy of the Huainanzi”, Body and Cosmos in China Conference, University of Pennsylvania, invited lecture, October 2017
“A Concept of Personhood Based on Classical Chinese and Traditional West African Views”, American Philosophical Association Pacific Conference, Seattle, WA, April 2017
“Value Skepticism and Skepticism as a Value in the Zhuangzi”, American Philosophical Association Eastern Conference, Baltimore, MD, January 2017
“The Madman of Chu: Mental Illness and Personhood in Early Chinese Philosophy”, Columbia Comparative Philosophy Seminar, invited lecture, New York, NY, December 2016
“Chinese Astronomy and Martial Arts”, Philosophy Department/Confucius Institute, Central Connecticut State University, New Britain, CT, invited lecture, November 2016
“Truth and Formulations of the Ideal Person in the Huainanzi”, Northeast Conference on Chinese Thought, Bridgeport, CT, November 2016
“A Substantive Pluralist Theory of Truth in Early Chinese Philosophy: Wang Chong on 實(Shi)”, 3rd Rutgers Workshop on Chinese Philosophy, New Brunswick, NJ, April 2016
“Zhen as a Truth Concept: The Chuzhen Chapter of Huainanzi”, 12th Annual Midwest Conference on Chinese Thought, Chicago, IL, March 2016
“Truth Chauvinism, Deflationism, and Chinese Philosophy”, American Philosophical Assoication 2015 Central Conference, St. Louis, MO, February 2015
(also presenting at 2015 APA Pacific, Vancouver, BC, April 2015)
“The Role of Anxiety in the Zhuangzi and the Upanishads”, American Academy of Religion annual meeting, Baltimore, MD, November 2013
“On the Concept of Truth in Ancient Chinese Philosophy” and discussion, Rutgers Summer Institute for Diversity in Philosophy, invited lecture, New Brunswick, NJ, July 2013
“On Two Methods of Philosophical Thought in the Han Dynasty”, International Conference on the History of Logical Thought in China, Tianjin, China, April 2013
“The Problem of Identity in Zhuangzi,” American Philosophical Association 2012 Eastern Conference, Atlanta, GA, December 2012
“Ritual Duty in Xunzi and the Purva Mimamsa Sutra,” American Academy of Religion annual meeting, Chicago, IL, November 2012
“Two Problems Concerning Materialism in Wang Chong’s Lunheng,” 8th Annual Midwest Conference on Chinese Thought, Bloomington, IN, April 2012
“The Analects and the Bhagavad Gita on Moral Personhood,” American Academy of Religion annual meeting, San Francisco, CA, November 2011
“Community and Moral Agency”, invited lecture at Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, China, May 2011
“Jia Yi and Lu Jia on Shame, Self-Cultivation, and Social Order”; American Philosophical Association 2011 Central Conference, International Society for Chinese Philosophy panel, Minneapolis, MN, March 2011
“Ambivalence Toward Children and the Ethics of Fatherhood in the Analects”; American Philosophical Association 2010 Pacific Conference, International Society for Chinese Philosophy panel, San Francisco, CA, March 2010
“A Reconstruction of Wang Chong’s Argument Against Han Feizi’s Legalism in His Essay Fei Han”; American Philosophical Association 2010 Pacific Conference, Association of Chinese Philosophers in North America panel; San Francisco, CA, March 2010
(later version presented at University of Dayton brown bag series, February 2011)
“The Human Nature Debate of Analects 18.5-7 and the Renjianshi Chapter of the Zhuangzi”' American Philosophical Association 2009 Eastern Conference, Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy panel; New York, NY, December 2009
“Wang Chong on Shi and Han Dynasty Philosophical Method”; Midwest Conference for Asian Affairs 2009; Miami University, Oxford, OH, October 2009
“The Concept of Ren and Differing Views of the ‘Chinese Character’”; Midwest Conference for Asian Affairs 2009; Miami University, Oxford, OH, October 2009
"Rejection of Community and Non-Persons in Analects Book 18"; American Philosophical Association 2009 Pacific Conference, Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy panel; Vancouver, BC, Canada, March 2009.
“The Psychologization of the Confucian Ren”; American Philosophical Association 2007 Eastern Conference, International Society for Chinese and Western Philosophy panel; Baltimore, MD, December 2007.
(also presented at University of Connecticut, Philosophy Brown Bag Series, October 2007)
“Beyond Qingtan: A Reappraisal of the Philosophical Method of Wang Chong”; American Philosophical Association 2005 Pacific Conference, International Society for Chinese Philosophy panel; San Francisco, CA, March 2005
“The Evolution of Anatta: Contemporary American Conceptions of the Theravada “Not-Self”; Society for Indian Philosophy and Religion 2004 conference on globalization, Buffalo, NY, October 2004
Grants and Awards:
“Being Human Indigenously” grant for 3 year research project on Maya Philosophy in Yucatán, Quintana Roo, and Campeche, Mexico, as part of Luce Foundation Grant to IU’s Center for Religion and the Human, 2025-2028 ($90,000)
Provost Commendation for Teaching Excellence, University of Connecticut, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Fall 2020
[Ph.D. Dissertations and MA Theses directed]:
Christopher Rahlwes, Ph.D., University of Connecticut, Denial, Negation, and Classical Asian Logics (currently Lecturer in Philosophy at Smith College)
Kristin Pandolfi, Ph.D., University of Connecticut, Embracing the Non-Ideal: A Suffering-Oriented Ethical Approach (currently Visiting Assistant Professor at Fairfield University)
Lake Davidson, MA, Colorado State University, Inclusive Just War Theory: Confucian and Mohist Contributions
Joshua Brown, Ph.D. (Theology), University of Dayton (committee member), Incorporating Xiao: Exploring Christ’s Filial Obedience through Hans Urs von Balthasar and Early Confucian Philosophy (currently Associate Professor in Theology at Mount St. Mary’s University)
Professional Memberships:
American Academy of Religion
American Philosophical Association (Eastern Division Member)
Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy
International Society for Comparative Studies of Chinese and Western Philosophy (President, 2020-2023, Vice President 2017-2020)
Intercultural Philosophy Association (founding member and Steering Committee member)
Department/University Service:
Bloomington Faculty Council member, Indiana University (2024-present) (also chair of DEI Committee of the BFC)
Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies Promotion Committee, Indiana University, 2024-present
College of Arts and Sciences Promotion Committee, Indiana University, 2023- present
Graduate Committee, Religious Studies Dept.- Indiana University, 2022-present
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Strategic Planning Committee, University of Connecticut, 2019-2020
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Committee for Courses and Curricula, University of Connecticut, 2019-2022
University of Connecticut Humanities Institute Advisory Board member, 2018-2020
Tenure and Promotion Committee, Philosophy Dept.- University of Connecticut, 2017-2018
Climate Committee, Philosophy Dept.- University of Connecticut, 2016-2022
Graduate Committee, Philosophy Dept.- University of Connecticut, 2016-2022
Advisory Committee, Philosophy Dept.-University of Dayton, 2010-2012, Colorado State University, 2015-2016
Faculty Council Representative, Philosophy Dept.- Colorado State University, 2015-2016
Coordinator for “Called to Question: Faith and Reason in Community” Living Learning Community- University of Dayton, 2012-2013
Faculty Global Intercultural Study Travel Program Participant-University of Dayton, 2011
Common Academic Program Pilot Service-University of Dayton, 2010-2011
Professional Service:
President, International Society for Comparative Studies of Chinese and Western Philosophy, 2020-2023 (VP 2017-2020)
Editorial Board: Comparative Philosophy, Philosophy and Global Affairs
Co-Host, New Books in Philosophy podcast (on New Books Network), 2019-2021
Creator of Unpolished Jade: A Chinese Philosophy Blog (http://unpolishedjade.wordpress.com), and contributor to Warp Weft and Way: A Group Blog of Chinese and Comparative Philosophy(http://warpweftandway.wordpress.com)
Peer reviewer for numerous journals and publishers
Host and organizer of 2018 Northeast-Midwest Conference on Chinese Thought, Storrs, CT, April 2018
Host and organizer of 9th Annual Midwest Conference on Chinese Thought, Dayton, OH, May 2013; also MCCT committee member; Northeast Conference on Chinese Thought committee member
American Academy of Religion, Chinese and Indian Religions Compared Steering Committee Member, 2016-2019
Courses Regularly Taught
Classical Chinese Thought
Non-Western and Comparative Philosophy
African American Religions
Religion, Ethics, and Public Life
Mythologies of the Martial Arts