Considered second only to Confucius in the history of Chinese thought, Mencius (371?-289 b.c.), was a moral philosopher whose arguments, while pragmatically rooted in the political and social conditions of his time, go beyond particular situations to probe their origins and speculate on their larger implications. His writings constitute a living tradition in China and the world at large. Sinological studies of Mencius have long emphasized philological and archaeological research, situating the texts mainly in Chinese history. Critical appraisal of the texts lends itself to Western traditions of interpretation.

Part 1 : The Text, the Man, the Ideas, 2. Harmonia Mundi in Homo-Mundane, Anthropo-Ecological, and Hsin-ch 'i-hsing Unity, 3. Social Dimension: "Rightness"(yi) Versus "Profit"(li), 4. Political Dimension: Populist Government of Familiar Empathy, Part 2: Mencius in Context, 5. Hermeneutics as Apologetics (I): Hsiin Tzu Contra Mencius, 6. Hermeneutics as Apologetics (II): Mind-Body Unity in On Five Activities, 7. Hermeneutics as Politics: The Sung Debates over the Mencius, 8. Hermeneutics as Pilgrimage (I): Impacts on Chu His, 9. Hermeneutics as Pilgrimage (II): Impacts on Wang Yangming, 10. Hermeneutics as Apologetics (III): Tai Chen's Mencian Normativity Within Desire, 11. Mencius' Encounter with Modernity: T 'ang Chun-i, Hsu Fu-kuan, Mou Tsung-san, Epilogue: Chinese Hermeneutics as Politics, Apologetics, Pilgrimage