Wenyang Gao
Biography
Wenyang Gao is a fifth year PhD candidate in political theory at Brown University. Her research stands at the intersection of democratic theory, environmental political theory, and comparative political theory/philosophy. Wenyang’s dissertation explores how we can cultivate ecological citizens who live a free and meaningful life by drawing insights from Confucian philosopher Mencius. Broadly, Wenyang's research interests focus on the concept of citizenship in relation to questions of political ethics, civic virtue, identity, political legitimacy, political judgment, and theories of freedom. Her research has been published in Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy.
Job Market Paper Title
The Mencian Respect for Other Natural Kinds and Ecological Citizenship
Job Market Paper Abstract
Recent work in environmental political theory has highlighted the urgency and significance of cultivation of ecological citizens who can forge ethically responsible attitudes towards nature and support ecological democracy. However, existing accounts of ecological citizenship fail to provide an adequate account of eco-virtues as they do not treat eco-virtues as moral virtues, and mainly focus on human sustainability instead of the good of non-human beings.
In this paper, engaging with Confucian philosopher Mencius’ work, I will develop an eco-virtue, “Mencian respect for other natural kinds.” It holds that, like humans, other natural kinds understood as individual living organisms and autopoietic ecosystems have their own goods. Thus, they are intrinsically valuable and worthy of respect. Natural kind A should not unduly interfere with other natural kinds’ development of their xing性 (nature).
The Mencian respect for other natural kinds nurtures ecological citizens by guiding people to appreciate the intrinsic value of nature, calling on humans to proactively assume responsibility in their interaction with nature, which expresses the distinctive human capacity. The Mencian respect not only gives rise to a cluster of attitudes, mentalities, and virtues, including awe and inspiration, humility, and moderation that benefit individuals’ well-being, but also mitigates existing ecological degradation and constitutes an ecologically flourishing political community within which humans flourish alongside other non-human beings. By employing Mencius’ powerful theory of self-cultivation, this paper shows that the cultivation of ecological citizens is not only a desirable but also a viable political project.