Curie Virág

I am an Associate Professor in World Philosophy in the Department of Philosophy at Warwick. I work in the history of ethics, epistemology, moral psychology, and philosophical anthropology in classical China and across traditions, with a particular focus on emotions. Much of my research on emotions has been dedicated to reconstructing how emotions were conceptualized in early and middle period sources and how these conceptualisations were bound up with ways of thinking about the self and the human being, the nature of human agency, and the meaning and sources of knowledge and understanding. My most significant work on these issues is The Emotions in Early Chinese Philosophy (Oxford 2017) and I am currently writing a second monograph that continues my investigations into the early imperial and medieval periods, highlighting the role of emotions in ongoing debates about moral and cognitive authority, self and personhood, and the contours of the ethical and political community. I have also published on such topics as pleasure, contempt, moral agency, practical wisdom, the praxis of learning and self-cultivation, and cross-cultural philosophical method.

My interest in recovering in past worlds of thought is part of a broader concern with metaphilosophy and with philosophical method. I am convinced of the value of channeling the rich conceptual resources to be found across the world’s traditions to illuminate philosophical possibilities for the present and to rethink our ways of doing philosophy. To this end, I have been actively engaged in collaborative, cross-disciplinary research across classical traditions – especially with colleagues working in Greco-Roman and Indian thought, religion and literatures – and with those working in contemporary philosophy. My co-edited volume with Douglas Cairns, In the Mind, in the Body, in the World. Emotions in Early China and Ancient Greece (Oxford, 2024), has recently been published, and other collaborative volumes and projects are in preparation. I am also an Associate Editor for Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, where I have been supporting the journal’s ongoing endeavour to bring Asian and non-Western philosophical traditions into engagement with contemporary practical ethics.

Current Teaching

Early Chinese Philosophy (Term 1)

World Philosophies (Term 2)

Publications

Books

The Emotions in Early Chinese Philosophy. Oxford, 2017.

In the Mind, in the Body, in the World. Emotions in Early China and Ancient Greece. Co-edited with Douglas Cairns. Oxford, 2024.

Selected Articles and Chapters

‘Cosmic and Human Agency in the Daodejing’. In Xiaogan Liu and Ai Yuan eds., Dao Companion to the Philosophy of the Daodejing. Springer, Forthcoming.

‘The Conceptual Foundations of the Moral Sentiments: Ethical Naturalism in Simon Blackburn and Xunzi’. In Yong Huang ed., Simon Blackburn Encountering Chinese Philosophy. Bloomsbury, Forthcoming.

‘Mapping Emotions in the Tang-Song Transition. The Case of Pleasure’. In Anna Shields and Robert Hymes, eds., From Tang to Song: Transitions and Inventions in China’s Middle Period. Amsterdam University Press, Forthcoming.

‘Emotion Theory in Early and Medieval China, 500 BCE-1200 CE’. In Andrea Scarantino, ed., Emotion Theory. The Comprehensive Guide. Volume I: History, Contemporary Theories, and Key Elements. Routledge, 2024.

‘Introduction: Emotions as a Topic of Cross-cultural and Historical Investigation’ (with Douglas Cairns). In Douglas Cairns and Curie Virág eds., In the Mind, in the Body, in the World. Emotions in Early China and Ancient Greece. Oxford, 2024.

‘Editorial’. Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 26(3). Jul 2023.

‘Virtuous Contempt and the Ritual Community in Confucius and Xunzi’. Emotion Review15(3), 2023: 178-188.

‘Intercultural Understanding and the Possibility of Cross-Cultural Philosophy: Wittgensteinian and Zhuangzian Perspectives’. In David Pérez-Chico, Carla Carmona and Chon Tejedor eds., Intercultural Understanding After Wittgenstein. Anthem Press, 2023: 93-108.

‘Emotions, Measurement and the Technê of Practical Wisdom in Xunzi’s Ethical Theory’.In David Konstan ed., Emotions Across Cultures: Classical Greece and China. De Gruyter, 2022.

‘Editorial’. Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 24(4). Nov 2021.

‘The Pleasures of Virtue and the Virtues of Pleasure: The Classicizing Garden in Eleventh- and Twelfth-century China and Byzantium’ (with Foteini Spingou). Medieval Worlds 13, Jun 2021: 229-265.

‘Moral Psychology and Cultivating the Self’ (Introduction and translation). In Philip J. Ivanhoe ed., Zhu Xi. Selected Writings. Oxford, 2019: 35-55.

‘Introduction to History of Science Special Issue on Tong 通’ (with Volker Scheid). History of Science 56.2, Jun 2018: 123-130.

‘The Intelligence of Emotions? Debates over the Structure of Moral Life in Early China’. L’Atelier du Centre de Recherches Historiques 16, Jun 2016: 83-109.

‘Self-cultivation as Praxis in Song Neo-Confucianism’. In John Lagerwey and Pierre Marsone eds., Modern Chinese Religion (I). Brill, 2014: 1187-1232.

‘Early Confucian Perspectives on Emotions’. In Vincent Shen ed. Dao Companion to Classical Chinese Philosophy. Springer, 2014: 203-226.

‘Emotions and Human Agency in the Thought of Zhu Xi’. Journal of Song Yuan Studies 37, 2007: 49-88.

Public Writing

‘Rituals Create Community by Translating our Love into Action’. Psyche (29 Jul 2021).