Cheng Lian (1965-2024)
Cheng Lian, professor of philosophy at Wuhan University, died this past Saturday.
Professor Cheng worked on many areas of analytic philosophy, including metaphysics, the philosophy of mind, and ethics. He played a pivotal role introducing ideas from English-language philosophy to a Chinese audience. His main publications include Thoughts and Arguments, Key Words in Ethics, and An Introduction to Ethics.
Cheng Lian received his MA from New York University in 1994 and his PhD from Rice University in 1998. He then returned to China and worked at Peking University for a decade, first as a postdoctoral fellow and eventually as an associate professor. In 2009, he joined the faculty at Wuhan University as a full professor. He was also a visiting scholar at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton from 2001 to 2002.
Cheng Lian was well known for his dedication to teaching, most especially the creation of the “International Contemporary Philosophy” program designed to introduce students to English-language analytic philosophy. Over a hundred students have graduated from that program since 2010, many of them now professional philosophers working across the world.
(by Peter Finocchiaro)
I was a graduate from the Interenational Contemporary Philosophy program, and I am currently getting a Ph.D. in philosophy in the US. Given the situation of philosophy education in China 10 years ago, I am quite sure that without Prof.Cheng and the program, I would have walked away from philosophy with disgust instead of finding passion in it. He was dedicated to open a window for Chinese philosophy students to the outside world, and let’s just say that was not an easy task in the intellectual and cultural climate of China. He will have my eternal gratitude and respect.
His participation in 1989 Tiananmen protest made him remembered more than as a philosopher.
I met Cheng Lian back in 2004 or 2005, during an academic year I spent Beijing. He was a kind, generous, funny, brilliant, and sometimes-mischievous friend. I was lucky enough to cross paths with him at least a couple times after that year, both in China and during a trip he took to the U.S. It was a damn fine thing to be able to raise a glass with him and talk about the world. I am so sorry to hear that he is gone.