Introduction

Abstract This chapter introduces the main problematic of the book: how to persist in the good in the face of pervasive and often tragic adversities. It explains the approach of putting different moral traditions—Scholastic theology and early Chinese ethics—in dialogue despite metaphysical differences. It provides an overview of the convergence between Thomas Aquinas, Mencius, Xunzi, and Laozi on human nature, ritual, and cosmic order. It indicates the unifying theme of the texts on positing a world, a cosmic order, beyond the quotidian order. It diagnoses and develops a typology of the impediments to such study due to historical misunderstandings of Chinese thought. It closes with a reflection on the rationale for the comparative project: to resist the traditions’ mutual misrecognition; to detect their common ideological abuse; and to illuminate the shared human moral question by drawing from multiple wisdom traditions.