Overview

The ECNU Philosophy Department is a major center of philosophical study in mainland China. The department has 18 full professors, 17 associate professors, and a number of assistant professors. There are 7 Ph.D. programs (Chinese philosophy, Western philosophy, Marxist philosophy, ethics, logic, philosophy of science, and religious studies) and 7 M.A. programs (Chinese philosophy, Western philosophy, Marxist philosophy, ethics, logic, philosophy of science, and religious studies) in the department. 

Our department holds a prestigious place among philosophy departments in China.   Our philosophical tradition is in the direct line of the Jin-Feng School of Thought in modern Chinese history, a line that began with the great logician-epistemologist Jin Yuelin and passed on to Feng Qi, founder of the ECNU philosophy department.  The department is home to the International Society for Metaphysics  since 2012, with Professor Yang Guorong serving as the society’s current president. Professor Yang Guorong also served as the  president of the International Society for Chinese Philosophy (ISCP) during 2019-2022. Our Chinese Philosophy Program has enjoyed a high reputation both at home and abroad. 
The department’s graduate programs began to enroll international students in 1995, and since then has accepted students from U.S.A., U.K., Ireland, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Israel, Belarus, Poland, South Korea, Japan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, and so on. In recent years the Chinese Philosophy Program has produced top doctoral and post-doctoral international students who have become productive professional philosophers in their own fields of studies.  
The International Program for Graduate Studies in Chinese Philosophy at ECNU will provide students with excellent academic training, wonderful life experience in Shanghai and great advantage for further study, finding globally focused careers in and beyond the university setting.

Eligibility

Application for the M. A. degree in the International Program for Graduate Studies in Chinese Philosophy at ECNU requires a bachelor’s degree in philosophy or other related academic disciplines. Application for the Ph. D. degree requires a master's degree in philosophy or the equivalent of an M. A. in philosophy. Good command of the Chinese language is desirable, but not required.  

Degree Requirements

1. Requirements for the M.A.

The MA program at ECNU is a two-year program. The degree requirement has two components: 

（1）Completion of 30 credit hours of course work. The course work comprises of 2 common-core courses (Chinese Language, Chinese Culture/Civilization, 7 credits), 4 required courses in philosophy (12 credits), 3 elective courses in philosophy (9 credits), and 1 outside courses from any of the following departments: Chinese Language and Literature, History, Anthropology, Political Science, and other MA programs at ECNU (at least 2 credits). In addition, students are required to participate in at least 4 academic lectures, and submit a written report for each lecture attended (1 credit). Students MUST pass HSK Level 3 (≥180) or pass the “International Chinese Proficiency Standard Test” arranged by the university before graduation.

（2）Successful defense of an MA thesis of at least 10,000 words in length. Successful defense of the M.A. thesis research plan is also required in the end of the second semester. 

2. Requirements for the Ph.D.

The 4-year Ph.D. program requires a course work of 15 credits and a Ph.D. dissertation. The Ph.D. program at ECNU is a four-year program. The degree requirement has three components:  

（1）Completion of 15 credit hours of course work. The course work comprises of 1 common-core courses (Chinese Language, Chinese Culture/Civilization, 2-3 credits), 3 required courses in philosophy (9 credits), and 1 or 2 elective courses (at least 3-4 credits). In addition, students are required to participate in at least 4 academic lectures, and submit a written report for each lecture attended (1 credit). Students MUST pass HSK Level 3 (≥180) or pass the “International Chinese Proficiency Standard Test” arranged by the university before graduation. 

（2）At least 1 academic article published in A&HCI or SSCI journals, or at least 2 academic articles published in other journals (as the sole or first author, indicating ECNU as the sole or first academic affiliation). 

（3）Successful defense of a Ph.D. thesis of at least 50,000 words in length. Successful defense of the Ph.D. thesis research plan is also required in the third semester.

Course of Study

Core Program Faculty

Our faculty is made up of a group of highly dedicated and academically well-established scholars and educators. Below are the profiles of some of the faculty members who are responsible for the teaching and thesis-directing in the International Program:

Professor Yang Guorong 

Prof. Yang is a leading figure in philosophy in China today. He is a holder of the Changjiang Professorship endowed by China’s Ministry of Education, and is currently serving as the President of the International Society for Metaphysics(ISM) and the President of the International Society for Chinese Philosophy (ISCP). Professor Yang is the author of more than 15 books and over 180 articles. An entry on Yang and his contribution to Chinese philosophy can also be found in Encyclopedia of Chinese Philosophy (New York: Routledge, 2003). Research Areas: metaphysics, ethics, history of Chinese philosophy, comparative philosophy. 

E-Mail: yangguorongecnu@163.com 

Select Publications:
The Mutual Cultivation of Self and Things, Bloomington: Indiana University Press,  2016.
On Human Action and Practical Wisdom, Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2013.
"Being and Value", Philosophy: East and West, Hawaii, Vol.58/2, April, 2008.
"Wang Yangming’s Moral Philosophy: Innate Consciousness and Virtue", Journal of  Chinese Philosophy, 37:1，March 2010, Blackwell Publishing.
"Yang Guorong’s Concrete Metaphysic", Contemporary Chinese Thought , Summer 2012, Vol. 43 No. 04. 

Associate Professor Paul Joseph D’Ambrosio 

Paul J. D’Ambrosio is associate professor of Chinese philosophy at East China Normal University in Shanghai, China, fellow of the Institute of Modern Chinese Thought and Culture, Dean of the Center for Intercultural Research, and the program coordinator ECNU’s English-language MA and PhD programs. He is the author of 真假之间 (Kong Xuetang Press, 2018), co-author (with Hans-Georg Moeller) of Genuine Pretending (Columbia University Press, 2017), editor (with Michael Sandel) of Encountering China(Harvard University Press, 2018). Additionally, he has authored over 40 articles, chapters, and reviews, and is translator of several books on Chinese philosophy. Research areas: Pre-Qin Chinese philosophy, Wei-Jin Xuanue (Neo-Daoism), Comparative Western and Chinese philosophy, conceptions of the person, ethics. 

E-mail: pauljdambrosio@hotmail.com

Select Publications：
真假之间——中国哲学中的说谎与假装 (Between Truth and Falsity: Lying and Pretense in Chinese Philosophy)  (Translated into Chinese from English by Zhao Fengfang) Kong Xuetang Press 孔学堂书局, 2019.
Encountering China: Michael Sandel and Chinese Philosophy. Harvard University Press, 2018. (with Michael Sandel)
Genuine Pretending: On the Philosophy of the Zhuangzi. Columbia University Press, 2017. (with Hans-Georg Moeller)
“Wang Bi’s Commentary on the Analects: A Confucian-Daoist Critique of Effable Morality” Philosophy East and West, April, 2019. 62(2) 
“Incongruent Names: A Theme in the History of Chinese Philosophy” Dao: Journal of Comparative Philosophy, September 2018. 17(3)
“Imagination in the Zhuangzi: The Madman of Chu’s Alternative to Confucian Cultivation” Asian Philosophy, March 2017. 27(1)
“Guo Xiang on Self-So Knowledge” Asian Philosophy, May 2016. 26(2): 119-132.
“Wei-Jin Period Xuanxue ‘Neo-Daoism’: Reworking the Relationship between Confucian and Daoist Themes” Philosophy Compass, November 2016. Volume 11, Issue 11: 621-631.
“Authenticity in the Zhuangzi? Contemporary Misreadings of Zhen 真 and an Alternative to Existentialism” Frontiers of Philosophy in China, October 2015. 10(3): 353-379. 

Assistant Professor Dimitra Amarantidou 

Assistant Prof. Dimitra obtained her Ph.D. at ECNU. She serves as a program coordinator of the English taught graduate program at ECNU, and a fellow of the Center for Intercultural Research. Since “philosophy” began in Greece, and Dimitra is also from Greece, she is here to keep a careful eye on us. She also possesses deep knowledge and insight regarding the Analects. Dimitra has published important work with the publishers, and also has achieved many things of great merit. 

E-mail: amarantidoud@126.com. 

Dr. Robert Carleo 

Dr. Carleo obtained his Ph.D. at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He serves as a program coordinator of the English taught graduate program at ECNU, and a fellow of the Center for Intercultural Research. He works mainly on Confucianism and contemporary Chinese philosophy. He has published some crucial works in the field, such as translations of The Origins of Chinese Thought and Humanist Ethics by Li Zehou, the volume Confucian Political Philosophy: Dialogues in the State of the Field, co-edited with Huang Yong, and the monograph Confucian Liberality: An Exploration.  

E-mail: racarleo@qq.com. 

Dr. Daniel Sarafinas 

Dr. Daniel Sarafinas serves as program coordinator of the English taught graduate program at ECNU, and a fellow of the Center for Intercultural Research. He is an expert in the classics and the intellectual history of early Confucianism.  

E-mail: Dansarafinas@yahoo.com. 

Professor Liu Liangjian 

Dr. Liu received his Ph.D. in Philosophy from East China Normal University (ECNU), Shanghai. Since 2006 he has worked for the Department of Philosophy and Institute of Modern Chinese Thought and Culture at ECNU, where he is now Associate Professor of Philosophy. Liu is the author of Heaven, Humans, and the Fluctuating Boundary: A Metaphysical Exposition of Wang Chuanshan (Shanghai, 2007), as well as many Chinese and English articles concerning ethics, linguistic philosophy, history of Chinese philosophy and comparative philosophy in Journal of Chinese Philosophy, Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy, Contemporary Chinese Thought, etc. He is also the Chinese translator of Barry Allen’s Knowledge and Civilization (Hangzhou, 2010) and Karyn L. Lai’s An Introduction to Chinese Philosophy (Beijing, 2013). Research Areas: Chinese philosophy, comparative study of Chinese and Western philosophy 

E-mail: skyliuchina@163.com. 

Select Publications:
“It’s Time to Change the World, So Interpret It!: On Vattimo and Zabala’s Hermeneutic Communism”, in Making Communism Hermeneutical, ed. by Silvia Mazzini and Owen Glyn-Williams, Spinger Nature, Chapter 21, 2017.
“Thinking through Kang Youwei’s Doctrine of Datong (Great Unity) and World Political Order in a Glocal Age”, in Pillip Tolliday eds. Asian-Pacific Between Conflict and Reconciliation, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, pp.219-236. 2016.  
“Virtue Ethics and Confucianism: A Methodological Reflection,” in Virtue Ethics and Confucianism, ed. by Stephen C. Angle and Michael A. Slote, Routledge, 2013.
“Contemporary Chinese Studies of WANG Fuzhi In Mainland China,” Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy,Vol.3, No.2, Summer 2004. 

Assistant Prof. Sean Clancy 

He earned his B. A. at Princeton University, his M.A. at University of Maryland , and his Ph.D. at Syracuse University. Research areas: normative ethics, moral Psychology, applied ethics.   

E-mail: clancy.philosophy@gmail.com 

Select publications:  
“Virtue and the Problem of Conceptualization”, Philosophers’ Imprint, Forthcoming. 
“Psychopaths, Ill-Will, and the Wrong-Making Features of Actions”, Ergo 3 (29), 2016: 755-777.
“A Strong Compatibilist Account of Settling”, Inquiry 56 (6), 2013:653-665. We also invite prestigious scholars as guest professors to help conduct workshops and teach short-term courses in our English-language Master and Ph.D. programs. Some of our short-term professors include Graham Parkes, Roger Ames, Hans-Georg Moeller, Yong Huang, Stephen Angle, and Geir Sigurðsson, and we are currently recruiting from five to ten more. Every year, the students of our English-language Master and Ph.D. programs host an international graduate conference on philosophy. 

Professor Yu Zhenhua 

Professor Yu obtained one Ph.D. from East China Normal University and another from University of Bergen, Norway. He is now the Chairperson of the Department of Philosophy, ECNU and Co-director of the Knowledge and Action Lab, Joriss. He also teaches a course on Chinese philosophy at New York University Shanghai. Research Areas: metaphysics, epistemology and comparative philosophy. 

E-mail: ecnuyu@hotmail.com, zhyu@philo.ecnu.edu.cn 

Select Publications:
The Tacit Dimension of Human Knowledge, Beijing: Beijing University Press, 2012. 
“Polanyi and Wittgenstein on Doubt”，International Philosophical Quarterly, Vol. 52, No. 4, December, 2012.
"The Expansion of Epistemology: The Metaphysical and the Practical Approach", Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy, Vol.11, No.2, 2012.
"Embodiment in Polanyi's Theory of Tacit Knowing", Philosophy Today, Vol. 52, No.2, 2008. 

Professor Fang Xudong 

Prof. Fang obtained his Ph.D. at Beijing University in 2001. He is now a professor and doctoral supervisor at the Department of Philosophy, ECNU. Fang was a visiting professor in 2006 at Harvard University and at Oxford University in 2009. Research Areas: Neo-Confucianism, Confucian Ethics, Interpretation of classics. 

E-mail: xdfang@philo.ecnu.edu.cn 

Select Publications:
The Painting Comes After the Plain Groundwork: The Interpretations and Philosophical Studies of the Classics, Beijing: Beijing University Press, 2012.
“After Truth or Obey Parents: A Comparative Study on the Filial Piety”, Philosophical Researches, No.10 (Oct, 2014).
“Confucian Ethics and Impartiality: On the Confucian View about Brotherhood”, Frontier of Philosophy in China, Vol.7, No.1 (Jan, 2012).

Contact Information 

Global Education Center, ECNU

Tel: (86-21) 62232013 / 62238353

Email: lxs@ecnu.edu.cn