One way of understanding Roger Ames's new book is to see it as a scholar's taking a pause and drawing an interim result of his past work,which nonetheless introduces a variety of new twists and thoughts and which is meant as a preliminary step toward future work.This is clearly indicated in the Preface,in which the work is said to seek an answer for the putatively modest task of drawing out a cluster of concepts in early Confucian texts,taken on their own terms,that fully expresses the notion of Confucian role ethics-a task that is to be followed by tackling a more challenging task of articulating "a new and inclusive concept-cluster that draws critically from all of our cultural resources" (xvi,italics added).Therefore,when now commenting on Confucian Role Ethics:A Vocabulary,I do so fully aware of its preliminary character.