ABSTRACT
Before we embark on the explication of Mencius to follow, however, it should be noted that the exposition is tinged with my own hermeneutic. Mencius himself did not use terminology like “cosmic,” much less “homo-mundane continuum,” “anthropo-ecological interdependence,” and so on. But, plainly, the sort of sentiment and orientation to which such terms call attention is there. Hopefully, these terms bring out, or at least highlight, the broadly revolutionary character of Mencius’ proposals, at once intimate and sociopolitical, private and cosmic. At the same time, I sincerely hope that these multi-syllabic terms do not ossify into
technical terms in Mencian scholarship; they serve as mere ciphers to some salient features in Mencius that otherwise might well be overlooked.
