As I began writing this manuscript in 2012, this book is the result of a longstanding thinking on the subject of feeling, value and virtue. During the different periods of writing and revising this work, I benefited from various sources.
I would like first of all express my gratitude to Douglas Berger, who was my PhD mentor at Southern Illinois University. He remarkably enlightened me with his extensive knowledge of Eastern and comparative philosophy. I learned from him about Buddhism, Hinduism, Chinese philosophy, as well as the ideas of Nietzsche, Schopenhauer and others. He kindly read through the primary draft of this book, and raised many valuable revision suggestions. I would also like to thank my phenomenology tutor Anthony J. Steinbock. Through participating in his regular courses and phenomenology workshops, I learned how to employ the phenomenological method. Three years of experience as a visiting researcher at his Phenomenology Research Center also tremendously benefited me. I am indebted to other professors in the philosophy department of siu as well: Kenneth Stikkers, Thomas Alexander, Andrew Youpa, Larry Hickman, Stephen Tyman, Robert Hahn, Randall Auxier and others.
During my visit to the Chinese University of Hong Kong, I received guidance from the following professors inside and outside the classroom: Liu Xiaogan, Wang Qingjie, Huang Yong, Zheng Zongyi and Yao Zhihua. As a reader, Professor Liu Xiaogan also put forward inspirational questions for the draft of this book. Thanks also to my senior alumnus, Professor Li Ruiquan, whom I have learned from on different occasions. Professor Guo Qiyong of Wuhan University and Professor Yang Guorong and Yu Zhenhua of East China Normal University offered me strong support. I would like to express my gratitude here.
I am also indebted to my colleagues as graduate students in siu philosophy department: Dennis Lunt, Nicholas Smaligo, Jeffery Morrisey, Kevin Taylor, Thomas Ruble, Matthew Williams-Wyant, Sun Ning, Cheongho Lee and Juan Alejandro Chindoy. They discussed with me on various aspects of this work, and/or proofread the manuscript. My gratitude also goes to Li Puqun, Carl Helsing, Benjamin Coles, John Ramsey, Jeffery Ulrich, and my ecnu graduate students Rory O’Neill and Blake Simmons for their comments and proofreading of the manuscript.
I would like to thank John Makeham, editor of the Brill series in Modern Chinese Philosophy, whose work made the emergence of this book possible. I am also grateful to the senior acquisitions editor Qin Higley, the associate editor Elizabeth You and the production editor Michael Mozina for their enthusiastic help. I am thankful to Zhejiang University Institute for Advanced Study in
Thanks to my mother Qiu Guange and my father Lu Xuewen. Without their instruction and support from my childhood, I would not have been able to make progress in my studies. Thanks are due especially to my grandmother Sun Xiurong. She loved me very much, and I owe her too much. When she passed away, I was studying in the United States, and my family did not tell me this news. When I came back to China and returned to my hometown with the anticipation of being reunited with my grandmother, I realized that I could never see her again. I did not have the chance to see my grandmother for the last time. In the last few years before her death, I did not spend much time accompanying her, and we mostly communicated through international telephone calls. When her phone could not be reached, I was told that it was broken. In my heart, I am always guilty and uneasy. In the past few years, I have often dreamed of my grandmother, chatting with her in the dream, with her old voice and appearance.