Author Archives: Yang Xiao

ISCWP Panels at APA Pacific Division Meeting 2015

ISCWP (The International Society for Comparative Studies of Chinese and Western Philosophy) will sponsor two panels at APA Pacific Division Meeting in April 2015:

Panel #1: History, Atonement, and Care Ethics: Comparative Perspectives

Chair: John Berthrong (Boston University School of Theology)

 

1. “Sima Guang and Machiavelli: A History Lesson”

Billy Dean Goehring (University of Oregon)

Commentator: Yang Xiao (Kenyon College)

2. “Making Amends with Confucius and Royce”

Mathew A. Foust (Central Connecticut State University)

Commentator: Winnie Sung (Nanyang Technological University)

3. “What Are Other People If Not Hell?: The No Exit Objection and Intimate Relations

in Care Ethics and Confucianism”

Ian M. Sullivan (University of Hawaii at Manoa)

Commentator: Lijun Yuan (Texas State University-San Marcos)

Panel #2 “Non-Confucian Political Philosophy and its Contemporary Relevance”

Chair: Stephen Angle (Wesleyan University)

  1. “Shen Dao’s Conception of the Law and the Dao”

Eirik Lang Harris (City University of Hong Kong)

  1. “Mozi’s jian’ai and Political Philosophy”

Youngsun Back (City University of Hong Kong)

  1. “Hanfei on History and Political Philosophy”

Henrique Schneider (Karl Franzens Universität Graz)

  1. “Anarchism or Nihilism: Lessons From Daoist Anarchists for Post-Modern Critical Theory”

John Rapp (Beloit College)

Stephen Macedo on “Republic as Constitutional Democracy” in Hong Kong

Stephen Macedo has just published a really nice essay on how we might understand the nature of the Hong Kong protestors’ proposal for electing the Chief Executive in 2017. I think the term “Republic as constitutional democracy” is a good and accurate term here, especially if we take into account the fact that the recent discussion in mainland China by people who are of similar mind with HK protestors has usually been conducted under “憲政” (constitutionalism) or “共和” (republic, republicanism). I do not know how much that discussion has had on the HK protectors. It has been widely reported in Hong Kong media, including the controversy regarding  《南方周末》 2013 editorial “中國夢,憲政夢” (China Dream, Constitutionalist Dream).

Here is the whole essay:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stephen-macedo/would-americas-founding-fathers-consider-hong-kong-election-plan-democratic_b_5953016.html?utm_hp_ref=world

 

ISCWP Call for Papers for Pacific Division Meeting of American Philosophical Association, March 27-30, 2013 San Francisco

Dear Colleagues,

The International Society for Comparative Studies of Chinese and Western Philosophy (ISCWP) plans to sponsor one or two panels at next year’s Pacific Division Meeting of APA, which will take place at the Westin St Francis in San Francisco from March 27 to 30, 2013. We hereby invite submissions.

Our Goal: We would like to encourage submissions of individual papers that are comparative, as well as panels which combine philosophers working primarily in Chinese traditions with those working primarily in Western traditions, aimed at promoting more in-depth engagement between the two groups. We have not stipulated any specific themes for the panels, but the Board might organize a panel on “The Idea of Justice: Dialogues cross Traditions.” We especially welcome paper proposals on this topic.

Continue reading →

ISCWP Call for Papers for APA Eastern Division Meeting December 27-30, 2012

The International Society for Comparative Studies of Chinese and
Western Philosophy (ISCWP) plans to sponsor one or two panels at this
year’s Eastern Division Meeting of APA (American Philosophical Association),
which will be held on December 27-30, 2012, in Atlanta, USA.
We hereby invite submissions from the members.

Our Goal: We would like to encourage submissions of individual papers
that are comparative, as well as panels which combine philosophers
working primarily in Chinese traditions with those working primarily
in Western traditions, aimed at promoting more in-depth engagement
between the two groups. We have not stipulated any specific themes for
the panels, but would welcome suggestions. One possible topic is
Theory and Practice of Interpretation in the Chinese Commentary Tradition (jinxue 經學).
One of the paper proposals submitted for the Pacific Division meeting is on
“Context and Correct Meaning in Lunyu Zhengyi 論語正義.”

Continue reading →

Robert Bellah’s New Book "Religion in Human Evolution"

Looking back at the year 2011, I think Robert Bellah’s book Religion in Human Evolution: From the Paleolithic to the Axial Age (Harvard University Press, 2011) is arguably the most important book published last year. I hope the word “religion” in the title would not stop readers of this blog, who are interested in Chinese philosophy, from reading it. The book is really about civilization or culture (wen), which includes both religion and philosophy. One could understand the term “religion” in a very broad sense, which seems to be what Habermas does. In his blurb for Bellah’s book, Habermas says, “In the second part of his book, he succeeds in a unique comparison of the origins of the handful of surviving world-religions, including Greek philosophy.” In fact, since many of our readers believe that early Chinese thought is often both religion and philosophy, they might find this book especially stimulating. Continue reading →

Call for Papers for ISCWP Panels at the Pacific Division Meeting of APA, Seattle, April 4-7, 2012.

Dear ISCWP members:

The International Society for Comparative Studies of Chinese and
Western Philosophy
(ISCWP) plans to sponsor one or two panels at next
year’s Pacific Division Meeting of APA, which will be held in Seattle,
April 4-7, 2012. We hereby invite submissions.

Our Goal: We would like to encourage submissions of individual papers
that are comparative, as well as panels which combine philosophers
working primarily in Chinese traditions with those working primarily
in Western traditions, aimed at promoting more in-depth engagement
between the two groups. We have not stipulated any specific themes for
the panels, but would welcome suggestions. Continue reading →

2011 Is A Year of Interpretation!

It looks like 2011 will be remembered as a year of interpretation. As far as I know, there will be three international conferences on this very theme in June (so June will be the month of interpretation!):

1. There is the annual ISCWP Beijing Roundtable on Contemporary Philosophy, “Classical Texts and Philosophical Interpretation: In View of Studies of Chinese Philosophy and Development of Contemporary Philosophy” at Capital Normal University, Beijing, 3 June, 2011.

http://warpweftandway.com/2011/05/10/2011-iscwp-beijing-roundtable-on-contemporary-philosophy/#more-1819

2. There is the international conference co-organized by Shandong University and SUNY Buffalo: “Interpretation East and West: An International Conference” at Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, 2-6 June, 2011.Here is the program of the conference:

http://www.sps.sdu.edu.cn/sps60/cms/attachment/110523175814.doc

3. Finally, there is the international symposium “Reading Matters: Chinese and Western Traditions of Interpreting the Classics” at Leiden University, the Netherlands, 10-11 June, 2011.

http://www.hum.leiden.edu/news-agenda/iias-reading-matters.html

It is my impression that the organizers of these conferences have come up with the theme independently. I think there is something in the air!

I’ve always been interested in the fundamental question about interpretation, which is “How should we interpret and read texts today?.” Some might try to offer a general theory of interpretation as an answer to the question. Others might try to offer a radical “anti-theory” view, which is that one cannot (and should not) try to come up with any general theory of interpretation that is applicable to any text and any reader. Continue reading →