Stephen Angle's notion of coherence

Abstract

Rather than "Principle'' "Rule," and "Law," Stephen C. Angle takes "Coherence" to he the translation of the concept of Li in Neo- Confucianism, which is often interpreted to mean "pattern of the cosmos." Angle's defense of his translation is mainly based on Brook Ziporyn's illustration of the characteristics of Li in Chinese thought (Angle 2009, pp. .35, 40, 44, 49). Ziporyn considers that Li in its simplest sense is "how to divide things up so they fit together well" (Ziporyn 2013, p. 65). And Angle further modifies this such that Li is "the valuable, intelligible way that things fit together" (Angle 2009, p. 33). I oppose neither Angle's nor Ziporyn's translations since Coherence is better at expressing the logether-ness of Li. However, I find that Angle's usage of Coherence particularly serves his own philosophical project, and thus might perplex readers who are familiar with the source texts he reinterprets.