Adjunct Professor, Department of Social Science
Email: rwklau1122@gmail.com
Professor Lau Professor Lau was trained as a sociologist specializing in theoretical issues, since the late 2000s, his research interests have extended to ancient Chinese intellectual developments, both on its own and in comparison to that of ancient Greece and Europe. He retired as full professor (sociology) from the Open University of Hong Kong (renamed as the Metropolitan University of Hong Kong since September 2021) in August 2017. Since formal retirement, he has published various peer-reviewed research papers on the philosophy of Zhuangzi (in both English and Chinese), as well as three monographs (two in English, one in Chinese) and one edited volume (in English).
Research Interests
Philosophy of Life; Contemporary French Philosophy; History of Modern Chinese Thought; Ethics, Religion and Secularization
Publications
Selected Journal Articles
- Lau, R.W.K. (2021). Revisiting the role of craft in Zhuangzi’s philosophy. Journal of Asian Philosophy, published online 29 Apr 2021, https://doi.org/10.1080/09552367.2021.1918367.
- 劉榮錦，〈莊子認識論和相關學說新探〉，收入《新亞學報》第三十六卷，2019年8月，頁1-48。
- 劉榮錦，〈以現代科學實在論為參照看老子之道〉，收入《新亞學報》第三十二卷，2015年7月，頁231-96。
- Lau, R.W.K. (2014). Integrating discourse, construction and objectivity: a contemporary realist approach (with second-listed co-author Jamie Morgan). Sociology, 48(2): 573-589.
- Lau, R.W.K. (2004). Critical realism and news production. Media, Culture & Society, 26(5): 693-711.
- Lau, R.W.K. (2004). Habitus and the practical logic of practice. Sociology, 38(2): 369-87.
- Lau, R.W.K. (2001). Socio-political control in urban China: changes and crisis. British Journal of Sociology, 52(4): 605-620.
Books and Monographs
- 劉榮錦《中國崛起對世界的深層意義》，香港：明文出版社（2025年12月）。
- Lau, R.W.K. (2024) Rethinking the Needham Question: A Non-Eurocentric Framework Transcending Dialogism. Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan, 2024.
- Lau, R.W.K., Arun Bala and Mei Jianjun (2024) Multicivilizational Exchanges in the Making of Modern Science. Needham’s Dialogical Vision. Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan.
- ‘The Needham Question: A Non-Eurocentric Approach Transcending Dialogism’, chap. 2 of Arun Bala, Raymond W.K. Lau and Meijianjun (eds.), (2024) Multicivilizational Exchanges in the Making of Modern Science. Needham’s Dialogical Vision. Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Lau, R.W.K. (2020). Intellectual Developments in Greece and China: Contingency, Institutionalization and Path Dependency. Newcastle upon Tyne, England: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.