Persisting in the good : Thomas Aquinas and early Chinese ethics / Peng Yin

Includes bibliographical references and index.

"The life of virtue takes place in a field of adversities. It involves not only contingencies that can thwart the virtues but also tragedies that can bring to naught even the sturdiest virtue. Persisting in the Good confronts this ubiquitous fact of moral striving by retrieving moral wisdom from Thomas Aquinas and early Chinese ethics. Christian moral reflection has been decisively shaped by its early engagement with Platonism, Aristotelianism, and Stoicism, but limited effort has been made with Chinese thought. The book fills the gap by demonstrating the potential for mutual illumination on ethical questions such as human nature, ritual, and cosmic order. In the face of constitutional limits both in the self and the world, these two pre-modern traditions appeal to a fuller, higher good as we pursue more quotidian goods"-- Provided by publisher.