CHAN Wing Ching Elton

Assistant Professor,
Philosophy Department, Lingnan University

Area of Specialization

(i) Political Philosophy; (ii) Confucianism; (iii) Comparative Philosophy.

Education

  • Ph.D , The University of Hong Kong
    • Political Philosophy, Nov 2014
    • Title: From Sagekings to Confucian Republic: the political theories of ‘Jiaohua’
    • Supervisor: Joseph Chan
  • BSS, The University of Hong Kong,
    • First Class Honour, 2008
    • Political Philosophy & History (Double Major)

Language

  • English (fluent in speaking and writing)
  • Chinese (fluent in writing)
  • Classical Chinese (proficient)
  • Mandarin Chinese (moderate in speaking)

Awards

  • Research & Knowledge Transfer Fund Award, Lingnan University 2022
    • An award in recognition of research achievement and grant application
  • Charles Wei-hsun Fu Foundation Essay Award in 2013 ISCP Essay Contest in Asian Philosophy with the essay “Ritual propriety as discipline—a Foucauldian reading,” 2013
    • The contest was jointly held by Charles Wei-hsun Fu Foundation and International Society for Chinese Philosophy.
    • One of the two recipients of the award in a global contest open to PhD candidates
  • Semi-finalist of Worlds Universities Debating Tournament (ESL), 2008
    • A major global English debating tournament participated by over 300 universities worldwide.
    • Semi-finalist in the English as Second Language Group.
  • Dean’s Honour List, 2007
    • Awarded by The University of Hong Kong.
  • Worldwide Undergraduate Student Exchange Scholarships, 2005 Awarded
    • by The University of Hong Kong for academic distinction.
    • A scholarship of 20,000 Hong Kong Dollars in support of exchange study in U.S.A

Grant and Funding

  • Research Grant Council – Early Career Scheme (ECS), 2022
    • The research project, entitled Realist Confucianism: From Dirty Hands to Political Virtues, is fully funded

Presentation & Publication

Published Work

Book

  • Chan, Elton, Toward Confucian Republicanism: Democracy as Virtue Politics. Oxford University Press, forthcoming.

Journal Article

  • Chan, Elton, “Rejecting Dirty Hands: Confucian Political Realism in Wang Fuzhi’s commentary on history.” Dao: a Comparative Journal of Philosophy. (Revision for Resubmit)
  • Chan, Elton, “Confucian virtues for democratic leadership.” Philosophy East and West. (Revision for Resubmit)
  • Chan, Elton, “Defending Political Equality: A Confucian Democratic Response to Bai Tong Dong’s proposal of hybrid-regime.” China Review International, 26 (3), 2021
  • Chan, Elton. “Reconciling Confucianism with Rule of Law: Confucianisation or Self-restraint?”Asian Philosophy 30, no. 4 (2020): 275-94.
  • Chan, Elton, “The Indispensability of Moral Cultivation in Confucian Politics.” Dao: a Comparative Journal of Philosophy, 18 (2), 2019.
  • Chan, Elton, “Huang Zongxi as a Republican: A Theory of Governance for Confucian Democracy.” Dao: a Comparative Journal of Philosophy, 17 (2), 2018.

Book Chapter

  • Chan, Elton and Hammer Jurrien, “Confucianism and Human Dignity.” In Human Dignity: Chinese and Western Perspectives. Edited by Marcus Duwell. Cambridge University Press. (Forthcoming)
  • Joseph Chan and Elton Chan, “Confucianism and Political Leadership.” In The Oxford Handbook of Political Leadership. Edited by R. A. W. Rhodes and Paul’t Hart. Oxford University Press, May 2014

Book Manuscript

  • Chan, Elton, Towards Confucian Republicanism: Democracy as virtue politics. Oxford University Press (full manuscript under review)

Conference Papers & Presentations

  • “Confucian Virtues for Democratic Leadership,” paper presented 1st Oxford Symposium on Comparative Political Philosophy, July 2019
  • “Rejecting Dirty Hands: Historical commentaries of Wang Fuzhi,” paper presented MANCEPT Political Theory Workshop, Sept 2017
  • “Confucian Notion of Civil Society: A Revisit,” paper presented in The 20th International Conference on Chinese Philosophy, July 2017
  • “Confucianisation or Toleration? a case for reconciling Confucianism with rule of law,” paper presented in Routledge Series of Political Theories in East Asian Context International Symposium 2016
  • “Rejecting Dirty Hands: Historical commentaries of Wang Fuzhi,” paper presented in FudanHarvard-NYUAD Conference on Justice, July 2016
  • “Is Huang Zongxi a Republican?” paper presented in Inaugural Biennial Conference of EACP “Thinking Across the Borders: Philosophy and China,” Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania, June 2016
  • “Towards Confucian Republicanism: a theoretical proposal,” paper presented in Northeast Conference on Chinese Thought, Wesleyan University, Connecticut, U.S.A., November 2013.
  • “Ritual Propriety as Discipline—a Foucauldian reading,” award winning essay presented in the 18th International Conference of the International Society for Chinese Philosophy: Chinese Philosophy and the Way of Living, Buffalo State University, N.Y., U.S.A., July 2013.
  • “Discipline for Harmony—the power of Confucian ritual propriety,” paper presented in The 2013 Joint Meeting of the Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy and the Australasian Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy: Conflict and Harmony—from embodied emotions to global realms, National University of Singapore, July 2013.
  • “It All Depends on the Virtue: a proposal for Confucianism’s political role in a liberal society,” paper presented in graduate student workshop in East Asia Perspective on Politics: Advancing Research in Comparative Political Theory, Workshop VI: Deparochializing Political Theory, University of Victoria, Victoria B.C., Canada, August 2012.
  • “Perfectionist Education as a Source of Legitimacy in Confucianism,” paper presented in graduate student workshop in East Asia Perspective on Politics: Advancing Research in Comparative Political Theory, Workshop IV: East Asia Perspective on Political Legitimacy, The University of Hong Kong, August 2011.
  • “Three Way Relation Between Ruler, People and Heaven in Confucianism,” poster presented in Research Postgraduate Conference, The University of Hong Kong, May 2011.

Research Experience

  • Assistant Professor, Lingnan University, January 2021 to present
  • Assistant Professor, Yale-NUS College, July 2015 to 2020
  • Honorary Assistant Professor, The University of Hong Kong, 2014-2015
  • Research Assistant (part time), The University of Hong Kong, Jan-Dec 2014
    • Duties include: research support for Common Core course development. Copy-editing for the Chinese translation of Prof Joseph Chan’s Confucian Perfectionism: A Political Philosophy for Modern Times.
  • Research Assistant (part time), The University of Hong Kong, Jan-Dec 2011
    • Duties include: primary source gathering, analysis & translation, literature review, critical commentary and copy-editing for Prof Joseph Chan’s Confucian Perfectionism: A Political Philosophy for Modern Times.
  • Research Assistant (full time), The University of Hong Kong, May-Dec, 2009
    • Duties include: primary source gathering, analysis & translation, literature review, critical commentary and copy-editing for Prof Joseph Chan’s Confucian Perfectionism: A Political Philosophy for Modern Times.
  • Research Assistant (part time), City University of HK, Aug-Oct, 2008
    • Participated in the project “A study of Business Travelers’ needs to Hong Kong.”
  • Conducted administration and interview coordination, case report and research summary writing & report editing.

Teaching Experience

  • Assistant Professor, Lingnan University, January 2021 to present
    • Course instructor and tutor for courses: “Chinese Political Philosophy: Confucianism and its rivals,” “Men and Heaven in Chinese Philosophy,” “The Philosophy of Mozi,” and “Final-Year Research Seminar
    • Supervisor for Final Year Project students each year
    • Member of Committee for Bachelor of Liberal Arts in Global Development and Sustainability
  • Assistant Professor, Yale-NUS College, 2015-2020
    • Course instructor and tutor for courses: “Philosophy and Political Thought 1 & 2” and “Chinese Political Philosophy: Confucianism and its rivals.”
    • Supervisors for capstone students each year
    • Committee member of Chinese Study Council.
  • Honorary Assistant Professor, The University of Hong Kong, 2014-2015
    • Course instructor and tutor for politics course: “Making Sense of Politics” and “Dilemma of Humanitarian Intervention.”
  • Teaching Assistant, The University of Hong Kong, 2010-2014
    • Tutored senior political theory courses: “Ethics and Public Affairs” and “Liberalism & its Limits”
    • Tutored junior courses: “Moral Controversies in Contemporary Society” and “Dilemmas of Humanitarian Intervention.”
    • Duties include: designing weekly tutorial session, guiding tutorial discussions, and grading final papers.
  • Instructor, Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education, Feb, 2013
    • Conducted workshops for public speaking skills for 120 students.
    • Duties include: offering three hours of lectures on public speaking skills, designing training sessions, organizing and adjudicating speech days for students.