Author Archives: Justin Tiwald

Chinese philosophy in the 2021-2022 Philosophical Gourmet Report

Once every few years, the Philosophical Gourmet Report publishes rankings of PhD programs in philosophy in the English-speaking world. It ranks programs “overall” and by areas of specialization. As one would hope for a report that aspires to be comprehensive and describe the current state of the field, one of those areas of specialization is Chinese philosophy.

You can find a general description of the methodology of the report here. As the member of the advisory board who took the lead in managing the Chinese philosophy area, and who wrote to the other assessors of Chinese philosophy to convene some joint deliberations about the process, I wanted to say a bit more about how we handled the Chinese philosophy section. Continue reading →

New Book: The Daodejing Commentary of Cheng Xuanying

Oxford University Press has published The Daodejing Commentary of Cheng Xuanying, a translation of Cheng Xuanying’s 成玄英 famous and philosophically rich commentary, which in turn shaped both Daoist and Buddhist discourse thereafter. The translation is expertly elucidated with ample notes and glosses by the translator, Friederike Assandri, a leading authority on Cheng Xuanying and the Twofold Mystery School.
This is now the third translation in the Oxford Chinese Thought book series, which is devoted to providing high-quality translations of important philosophical and religious texts, for scholars and for classroom use. A short description follows below the fold.

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New Book: Treatise on Awakening Mahāyāna Faith

Oxford University Press has published a second translation in the Oxford Chinese Thought series, which is the Treatise on Awakening Mahāyāna Faith, a translation of the Dasheng qixin lun 大乘起信論. We are very pleased to make widely available this scholarly translation of one of the most influential texts in East Asian Buddhism. This is the product of years of careful work by John Jorgensen, Dan Lusthaus, John Makeham, and Mark Strange. A short description follows below the fold.

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PPR Book Symposium on P.J. Ivanhoe’s Oneness

Philosophy and Phenomenological Research has published a book symposium on Philip J. Ivanhoe’s recent book, Oneness: East Asian Conceptions of Virtue, Happiness, and How We All Are Connected. It includes a précis to the book by Ivanhoe and responses from Julianne Chung, Owen Flanagan, and Graham Priest, as well as replies from Ivanhoe. The exchange is rich and elaborates on issues in Ivanhoe’s book in constructive and eye-opening ways. The articles are linked here. Be sure to click on the “more” button in the bottom, right-hand corner to get access to all of the essays.

New Book: The Wrong of Rudeness

Oxford University Press has now published Amy Olberding’s The Wrong of Rudeness: Learning Modern Civility from Ancient Chinese Philosophy.

A short description follows. I also recommend that people look at the brief blog entry that introduces some major themes and the remarkable first-person approach of the book to these issues. Anyone familiar with the look-to-oneself-first methodology and tenor of so much Confucian reflection will particularly appreciate this approach, and it makes the book all the more compelling reading as well.

Description:

In a time of fractious politics, being rude can feel wickedly gratifying, while being polite can feel simple-minded or willfully naïve. Do manners and civility even matter now? Is it worthwhile to make the effort to be polite? When rudeness has become routine and commonplace, why bother? When so much of public and social life with others is painful and bitterly acrimonious, why should anyone be polite? Continue reading →

New Book: Zhu Xi

Zhu Xi: Selected Writings has been published. This is the first volume in the new translation series, Oxford Chinese Thought.

This is the first book-length translation to give a comprehensive look at Zhu Xi’s thought and his place in history, literature, philosophy, and religion. It includes Zhu’s writings or lessons on a wide variety of topics, including his ethics, metaphysics, political thought, views on ghosts and spirits, objections to Daoism and Buddhism, selected commentaries, and his thoughts on literature, poetry, and current social conditions. The volume is edited by Philip J. Ivanhoe with contributions from experts in various areas and aspects of Zhu Xi’s writings.

The book has been released directly into paperback and there is a companion website that includes the Chinese text for all translated materials, both of which we hope will appeal to instructors looking to adopt the volume for their courses. The paperback edition is quite affordable, and the easy reference to the Chinese text gives language instructors a way to teach Song dynasty Chinese as applied to a variety of topics and genres.

The table of contents is below the fold.

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New Book Series: Oxford Chinese Thought

Eric L. Hutton and I are very pleased to announce the launch of a new book series devoted exclusively to translations of Chinese philosophical and religious texts, Oxford Chinese Thought. The series will be published by Oxford University Press and, at least initially, all books will be released immediately into paperback. As most readers of this blog know, there is a vast body of philosophical and religious literature in Chinese and only the thinnest slice of it — barely a sliver — has been translated into English, which has created major obstacles to teaching and scholarship on Chinese thought, especially to teaching the post-classical thinkers in depth. Oxford Chinese Thought aims to address this longstanding challenge by providing high-quality English translations that are well suited for classroom use.

Translations are solicited by the series editors in consultation with the advisory board. We intend to focus primarily on post-Han texts that played significant roles in shaping Chinese thought. Continue reading →

New Book: Taking Back Philosophy: A Multicultural Manifesto

Taking Back Philosophy: A Multicultural Manifesto
Bryan W. Van Norden. Foreword by Jay L. Garfield
Columbia University Press

Are American colleges and universities failing their students by refusing to teach the philosophical traditions of China, India, Africa, and other non-Western cultures? This biting and provocative critique of American higher education says yes. Continue reading →