Category Archives: Aesthetics

CFP: Defining Aesthetics through East Asian Philosophy

The Journal of East Asian Philosophy is happy to announce that they are now accepting papers for their special issue “Following the Brush: Defining Aesthetics through East Asian Philosophy”. These papers are meant to be on the broad topic of defining the field of aesthetics through an engagement with East Asian philosophy. Please read below for more information on submissions.

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New Book: Ziran: The Philosophy of Spontaneous Self-Causation


I’d like to announce the publication of my new book Ziran: The Philosophy of Spontaneous Self-Causation. Targeted specifically at students, this book takes a key concept form early Chinese metaphysics—ziran 自然—and applies it to several fields of contemporary scholarship.

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Conference at NCCU: Chinese Aesthetics and the Art of Landscape Painting

Kai Marchal of National Cheng-chih University and Michael Forster of Bonn University have organized a conference this week on “Chinese Aesthetics and the Art of Landscape Painting”; details are here. The organizers describe their goals as follows:

Traditional Chinese landscape painting is a paradigmatic genre of Chinese art. The “Chinese literati ideal” of artistic production is closely associated with the painting of mountains, rivers, trees, bamboo, pavilions and other elements of what we today simply call landscapes. We presume that the reconstruction of any aesthetic tradition and theory always requires actual aesthetic experience on the spot. Instead of merely discussing aesthetic theorems in a general and highly abstract way, we want to take the experience of actual Chinese landscape paintings as a starting point for further discussion. We thus hope to foster a dialogue between more conceptually driven approaches to Chinese art and more specialized, sinological ones.

Paul Goldin – Columbia Society for Comparative Philosophy Lecture: “THE IMMORTAL SPIRIT IN CLASSICAL CHINESE AESTHETICS” Friday Dec 6

THE COLUMBIA SOCIETY FOR COMPARATIVE PHILOSOPHY

Welcomes: PAUL GOLDIN (University of Pennsylvania)
With responses from: SANDRA SHAPSHAY (Hunter College, CUNY)

Please join on December 6, 2019 at 5:30 for his lecture entitled:
The Immortal Spirit in Classical Chinese Aesthetics

ABSTRACT: This will be the third (and, time permitting, some material from the fourth) of a series of lectures that I aim to write up formally as a book.  We will begin with a brief review of the most familiar theory of Chinese aesthetics: works of art are the products of sensitive human beings who cannot suppress their sincere responses to emotional stimuli.  If art is understood as a sincere statement of this kind by a great genius, it stands to reason that, by correctly interpreting the work, one can communicate with that genius’s mind (xin 心) even after his or her death–and, likewise, that an artist today can communicate with audiences yet unborn.  Continue reading →

Postdoc in Chinese Aesthetics at ECNU

East China Normal University (ECNU) in Shanghai is looking for a two-year post-doc in ancient Chinese art theory and classic Chinese aesthetics. Applicants must have PhD in related areas.  Stipend is 75,000 RMB for one year and 150,000 RMB for two years. Please send application materials to Professor Zhu Zhirong (suzhouzhuzhirong@163.com) at the Department of Chinese Language and Literature of ECNU. 

Conference on De 德 (Virtue) and Mei 美 (Beauty)

International Conference on De德 (Virtue) and Mei 美 (Beauty) in Chinese Philosophy

国际学术研讨会(2015, 3月25-27)

In order to promote a deeper understanding of philosophy and culture among civilizations and encourage further professional and cultural exchanges between China and Europe we will hold the conference on virtues and beauty in Venice, Italy, March 25-27, 2015.

为了加深对世界文明的理解和推动中国与欧洲的学术交流,我们将2015年3月25-27在意大利威尼斯大学共同举办首届国际中国德性与美学术研讨会。

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“Boston Confucian” Lecture Series, with The Wisdom of Chinese Art Nov. 7

Students at Boston University are putting on a good-looking lecture series; click here for details. This coming Friday, Yair Lior will be presenting on “The Wisdom of Chinese Art”:

The lecture will be titled “The Wisdom of Chinese Art” and will look at different philosophical ideas that inform Chinese art theory, especially landscape painting. It will also look at the unique relationship between Chinese calligraphy, the literati class, and the development of Song-Yuan landscapes. These themes will be explored with constant allusions to concepts of perspective, brush techniques, and choices of subject-matter in European oil painting. Perhaps most importantly, the lecture will give us an opportunity to look at the beautiful images produced by Chinese painters.

2nd Rutgers Workshop on Chinese Philosophy

I am very happy to announce the 2nd Rutgers Workshop on Chinese Philosophy, which will be held on Friday, April 11, on the topic “Xunzi on Authority.” Four scholars of Chinese philosophy will present papers, each followed by a critical commentary from a member of the Rutgers University Philosophy Department. Attendance (including lunch) is free but requires an advance RSVP so that we know how much food to get. Please read on for details!

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