A new issue of Hume Studies (49:2) includes three comparative essays that look at Hume’s moral, aesthetic and epistemological projects on taste, tradition and the self, side by side with Confucian texts such as Mengzi, Analects, and Xunzi, as well as works on Buddhist concepts like the two truths. Please read more to see information regarding the essays: Continue reading →
Category Archives: Comparative philosophy
Call for discussants: APA webinar on comparative philosophy
The APA offers an on-demand webinar series featuring engaging discussions on topics of interest to philosophers. Each webinar typically lasts one hour and brings together three to four philosophers to explore a specific theme from diverse perspectives. The APA strives to include a wide range of topics and viewpoints.
Eirik Harris and Henrique Schneider plan to host a webinar in May 2025, focusing on the contemporary state of comparative philosophy and emphasizing Chinese philosophy. The APA is seeking 2–3 philosophers to join this discussion.
If you are interested in participating, please email hschneider@gmx.ch by January 25, 2025. Include three topics you would like to discuss in the webinar.
CFP: Envisioning Futures: Decolonial and World Philosophical Approaches
The Department of Philosophy at the Chinese University of Hong Kong is pleased to announce the international conference Envisioning Futures: Decolonial and World Philosophical Approaches, scheduled for November 21-22, 2025. The university will provide accommodation for all participants for three days. The conference organisers are negotiating the possibility of publishing a selection of the accepted papers in a high-profile philosophy journal.
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This Friday, NOVEMBER 8: “Aspiration, Ambition, and Confucian Debates on Human Nature” (online session)
THE COLUMBIA SOCIETY FOR COMPARATIVE PHILOSOPHY
Welcomes you to an ONLINE meeting:
Hannah Kim (The University of Arizona):
« Aspiration, Ambition, and Confucian Debates on Human Nature »
With responses from Timothy Connolly (East Stroudsburg University)
ABSTRACT: A standard introduction to classical Confucianism teaches that Mengzi thought “human nature is good” and Xunzi, that “human nature is bad”. But the exact nature of their disagreement is subject to ongoing debate, with some underplaying the disagreement (they just mean different things by “human nature”) while others take the disagreement to be about the nature of agency, moral education, or dispositions. In this talk, I’ll argue that Agnes Callard’s distinction between ambition and aspiration helps us clarify what the disagreement is about. Mengzi thought humans need to fully pursue the values they already have, while Xunzi thought humans need to aspire towards values they don’t have and aren’t predisposed to. This account has the benefit of capturing Mengzi’s and Xunzi’s respective views on agency and education and providing Xunzi with a picture of moral motivation that even a selfish agent could develop.
DATE: November 8, 2024
TIME: 5:30-7:30pm EST
Zoom info below:
ToC: Dao 23:4
The new issue of Dao 23: 4 has just recently come out through Springer. This new issue includes 17 different articles. Please read below for the table of contents.
CFP: International Conference on Language, Culture, and Education
The Academy for Educational Development and Innovation at the Education University of Hong Kong is delighted to announce an upcoming conference in 8-9 April 2025, dedicated to exploring how traditional Chinese wisdom informs and enhances contemporary efforts to construct the values toward human flourishing.
Dates:
Abstract Submission Deadline: 1 November 2024
Notification of Abstract Review Results: 1 December 2024
Registration Opens: 2 December 2024
Full Paper Submission Deadline: 28 February 2025
Registration Closes: 20 March 2025
Conference Dates: 8-9 April 2025
Please visit the EdUHK website or refer to this document to see more details regarding the conference and the application process. For further inquiries, please contact Miss Cindy Hung via phone,(+852) 2948 7799, or email, ICLCE2025@eduhk.hk.
Loy Reviews Kim, Confucian Constitutionalism
Sungmoon Kim, Confucian Constitutionalism: Dignity, Rights, and Democracy, Oxford University Press, 2023, 296pp., $83.00 (hbk), ISBN 9780197630617.
Reviewed by Hui-chieh Loy, National University of Singapore
Sungmoon Kim’s book continues his long-standing project of bringing together insights from Confucianism and a political theorizing meant to be fit for the modern world. Like his earlier works, the new book combines interesting discussions of pre-modern texts and thoughtful applications of ancient ideas to modern concerns. The ambition of the book, as stated early on, is to articulate a “democratic theory of Confucian constitutionalism” (1). This ambition situates Kim’s book within the ongoing debate between the two main competing strands of modern Confucian political theorizing: Confucian political meritocracy and Confucian democracy. Kim advocates for the latter, putting his proposals…
Works In Progress Series
The 四海为学 “Collective Learning” program is delighted to announce the launch of their second season of the “Works in Progress” series. This series aims to provide an academic forum for graduate students and early career scholars engaged in Chinese or comparative philosophy to share and improve upon their projects with peers in conference-style panel presentations. Each session features a chairperson, 2-3 presenters, and an audience of participants who will provide constructive feedback on content, structure, or presentation style. It welcomes projects at any stage of development and aims to accommodate the intellectual needs of each presenter. Events will be held once a month. The first session for the Fall 2024 season is already planned for September 23 with three members presenting on their exciting new projects. Graduate students and early career scholars are welcomed to join or submit applications to present in the next October or November sessions.
Interested individuals can visit the website (General 2 — 四海为学 Collaborative Learning) or email WorksinProgressSHWX@hotmail.
Book Discussion: Wong, Moral Relativism and Pluralism
The 四海为学 “Collaborative Learning” Project will be starting off the new academic year with a book discussion of David Wong’s Moral Relativism and Pluralism. The discussion will start at 20:00 on September 6th, Beijing time. For more details and the Zoom link please visit the event page.
Note: Zoom does not always adjust the date and time correctly, please ignore what the link says and follow our scheduled time. No pre-registration or passcode is required. Everyone in the waiting room will be let in promptly when the event begins.
For more information on the 四海为学 “Collaborative Learning” Project visit the website, and for list of our upcoming events please see the calendar.
New Book: Li, The Self in the West and East Asia
Jin Li’s new book, The Self in the West and East Asia: Being or Becoming, is now available from Polity (see here). In this book, Li synthesizes philosophy with psychological research to examine how the self is conceptualized and functions in two distinct cultural systems. Please read on for more information.
