Tianhong Ying

I am a Visiting Assistant Professor in Political Theory at New York University. I go by Hong. I study global and comparative political theory, with a particular focus on the role of Confucian China in Locke's liberalism. My research and teaching interests span across the history of Western and Eastern political philosophy, religion and politics, American political thought, Chinese political thought, and Confucianism and liberalism.   

In my dissertation titled “The Beginning of John Locke’s Liberalism,” I examine the beginning of John Locke’s liberalism in Two Tracts on Government and Questions Concerning the Laws of Nature. I argue that the priority of reason over revelation and the priority of public security over individual freedom reflect the rational, skeptical, and realistic basis of Locke’s liberalism. Locke also follows Hobbes to be a liberal by lowering the end of politics to the pursuit of public security and establishing secular absolute state on the individual natural right of self-preservation. Furthermore, I argue for interpreting Locke’s liberalism in the context of global political thought, especially the clash between Confucian China and Christian Europe in the Age of Discovery. Although Confucianism differs from liberalism in whether right is prior to duty, Confucian China still offers a model of secular enlightenment and religious toleration to Locke. Understanding Locke’s liberalism in global political thought also enables us to rethink the intellectual interaction between Confucianism and liberalism.  

I hold a PhD and an MA in political science from MSU (2024, 2020) and obtained both an MA and a BA in political science from Renmin University of China (2018, 2015). I was also a visiting student at VU University Amsterdam (2016) and Salesian Pontifical University (2019).