John Darley is a contemporary philosopher working in the area of Chinese philosophy and Confucian ethics. His scholarship engages the classical debate between Mencius and Xunzi over human nature, with particular attention to how interpretive frameworks such as the water-metaphor view shape the force of these competing arguments.
Analyzed the interpretive consequences of the water-metaphor reading of Mencian moral psychology
Assessed the strength of Xunzi's critique of Mencius under different hermeneutic assumptions