ZHONG, Lei

Professor

B.Econ. (RUC); M.Phil. (Peking); Ph.D. (Michigan)
Rm 425, Fung King Hey Building
39437156
leizhong@cuhk.edu.hk

Brief Biography

I joined the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2014, after briefly teaching at Peking University and Lingnan University. I mainly work in philosophy of mind, moral philosophy, and metaphysics, striving to develop a robust version of anti-reductionism about mentality and morality. I have also done research in related areas, such as epistemology, philosophy of language, political philosophy, and comparative philosophy. I always aim to address relatively “big” philosophical issues and to reveal the connections among apparently different topics at a deeper level and in a broader context. I am currently working on a five-year project, “An Emergentist Theory of Mind”, supported by the RGC Research Fellow Scheme of Hong Kong Research Grants Council.

As a leading Chinese analytic philosopher, my work has regularly appeared in top philosophy journals and stimulated worldwide responses and discussion. My research is listed in the key works of the “Exclusion Problem” entry in the PhilPapers index, and also acknowledged in major reference resources (such as Oxford Bibliographies in Philosophy, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, and Philosophy Compass). Three conferences discussing my philosophical theories were organized in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, respectively. Some of my works have been translated into Chinese by other scholars. I have received the RGC Research Fellow Award in 2022, the Research Excellence Award of CUHK in 2020, and the Young Researcher Award of CUHK in 2017.

When not doing philosophy, I have a special interest in reading Classical Chinese poetry. I also enjoy watching English movie and TV series, playing table tennis, and exploring different parts of the world.

[More information can be found in my Curriculum Vitae.]

Research Interests

  1. Philosophy of Mind
  2. Moral Philosophy
  3. Metaphysics
  4. Epistemology
  5. Political Philosophy

Selected Publications

Zhong, Lei (2024) “Phenomenal Concepts, Direct Reference, and the Problem of Double Aspect,” The Philosophical Quarterly 74: 978-997.

Zhong, Lei (2023) “A Causal Argument for Physicalism,” Asian Journal of Philosophy 2: 1-9. [Lead paper for article symposium]

Zhong, Lei (2022) “Why Causation Is Biconditional But Not Proportional,” American Philosophical Quarterly 59: 263-271.

Zhong, Lei (2022)《道德實在論及其認知向度》(Moral Realism and Its Epistemic Dimensions). Shanghai: Orient Publishing Center.

Zhong, Lei (2021) “Physicalism without Supervenience,” Philosophical Studies 178: 1529-1544.

Zhong, Lei (2020) “Intervention, Fixation, and Supervenient Causation,” Journal of Philosophy 117: 293-314.

Zhong, Lei (2020) “Taking Emergentism Seriously,” Australasian Journal of Philosophy 98: 31-46.

Zhong, Lei (2019) “The Hard Problem for Soft Moral Realism,” Journal of Philosophy 116: 555-576.

Zhong, Lei (2017) “Semantic Normativity and Semantic Causality,” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 94: 626-645.

Zhong, Lei (2016) “Physicalism, Psychism, and Phenomenalism,” Journal of Philosophy 113: 572-590.

Zhong, Lei (2016) “A Confucian Virtue Theory of Supererogation,” Philosophy East & West 66: 328-341.

Zhong, Lei (2015) “Why the Counterfactualist Should Still Worry About Downward Causation,” Erkenntnis 80: 159-171.

Zhong, Lei (2014) “Sophisticated Exclusion and Sophisticated Causation,” Journal of Philosophy 111: 341-360.

Zhong, Lei (2012) “Counterfactuals, Regularity and the Autonomy Approach,” Analysis 72: 75-85.

Zhong, Lei (2011) “Can Counterfactuals Solve the Exclusion Problem?” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 83: 129-147.

[A complete list of publications can be found in my Curriculum Vitae.]