Bio
Eunice Jianping Hu is a Assistant Teaching Professor in the Program for Leadership and Character and the Interdisciplinary Humanities Program. She earned her Ph.D. in Philosophy at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, and holds an M.A. in Chinese Philosophy and a B.A. in Philosophy from East China Normal University in Shanghai. Jianping was a visiting scholar at Duke University (2019-2020) and at Chinese University of Hong Kong (2016).
Jianping’s research interests are in Classical Chinese Philosophy, Normative Ethics, Meta-Ethics, and Moral Psychology. Her dissertation reconstructs and reinterprets the moral cultivation theory in the Xunzi as a long-term dynamic interactional model of situations and character traits that is not only virtue-centered but also, more importantly, empirically promising. In response to the situationist critique of traditional virtue ethics, Jianping points out several problems of situationism that are worth noticing, e.g., the misinterpretation of the relationship between character traits and virtue, the absence of longitudinal studies on character development, and the infeasibility of situationist strategies for morality. Her peer-reviewed articles can be found in journals such as Philosophy East & West and Studies in Applied Ethics (in Chinese). She has also translated articles and books on Virtue Ethics, Sinology, and Daoist Philosophy. Prior to joining Wake Forest University, Jianping was a lecturer of interdisciplinary teaching in the School of Humanities at Nanyang Technological University. She enjoys working with colleagues and students from various backgrounds and is strongly dedicated to creating a classroom where informed, open, and reflective discourse is encouraged. According to Xunzi, a junzi (exemplary person) should “engage in persuasions with a heart of ren (benevolence), listen with a heart eager to learn, and debate with a heart without prejudice.” (以仁心說，以學心聽，以公心辯) (Xunzi, ch.22) This inspires Jianping’s teaching and mentoring, and is something she is excited to share with her students.