Category Archives: Comparative philosophy

The Princeton Early Text Cultures Workshop

The Princeton Early Text Cultures Workshop will bring together 11 graduate students from the USA and the UK, specialists in Early China, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Ancient Rome and Greece, to discuss similarities and differences in the patterns of textual formation and textual practices in early civilizations. These patterns define the social role of texts, the composition of their audience, the repertoire of text types, and the paths towards the development of creative literature.

What: Graduate Workshop

When: April 16 and 17, 2016

Where: 202 Jones Hall, Princeton University

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Am I Missing Your Favorite Book?

This semester I am teaching a seminar on Comparative Philosophy. As part of the class, each of the 15 students will choose a monograph the engages in comparative philosophy (related at least in part to Chinese philosophy), and write an extended review essay on their book. They will then present their findings, revise the essays, and I will then edit the final versions into an on-line book, tentatively titled “Comparative Philosophy: Reviewing the State of the Art.” I have never done this before, but the students and I are excited.

I have compiled a list from which the students will choose their books, but I am afraid I may have left of some excellent choices. It is important that the books be explicitly engaged in comparative philosophy, rather than works of scholarship solidly focused on a single thinker or tradition. Exactly what “explicitly engaged in comparative philosophy” means is, admittedly, not always so clear, and there are a few books on my list that may be marginal cases. That’s not the end of the world. More importantly, what are the good choices that I have left off? Apologies in advance to authors whom I have inadvertently neglected! Please let me know, either in the Comments below, or via email. Thanks! The list follows.

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Joshua Mason – Columbia Society for Comparative Philosophy Lecture: “Cognitive Linguistics and Cultural Gulfs: From Embodied Metaphors to Responsible Generalizations”, Feb. 26 @5:30pm

THE COLUMBIA SOCIETY FOR COMPARATIVE PHILOSOPHY

Welcomes: JOSHUA MASON (West Chester University of Pennsylvania)
With responses from: DEREK SKILLINGS (CUNY Graduate Center)

Please join us at Columbia University’s Religion Department on FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26th at 5:30PM for his lecture entitled:

“Cognitive Linguistics and Cultural Gulfs: From Embodied Metaphors to Responsible Generalizations”

ABSTRACT: An ongoing debate in comparative research is about whether we should see cultural diversities as manifestations of essential differences or as superficial variations on a universal blueprint. Edward Slingerland has pointed to cognitive linguistics and the use of embodied metaphors to emphasize the universality of concept formation and cognition across cultures. He suggests that this should quiet the “cultural essentialists” who take fundamental differences in eastern and western thinking as their starting points. Michael Puett has also leveled a critique of cultural essentialism in support of a presuppositionless approach, and Slingerland’s conclusions seem to offer him support. However, I will argue that even if all modern humans are broadly similar in metaphor use and cognitive processes, research in the humanities must continue to account for the differences implied by the particular metaphors employed and emphasized in diverse traditions. I contend that responsible hermeneutic practice does this through provisional, yet indispensable, generalizations. A starting point which recognizes the existence of cultural gulfs will facilitate, not vitiate, future advances in cross-cultural understanding. Continue reading →

Opportunities Related to “Intellectual Humility”

With the support of the John Templeton Foundation, and subject to a final grant agreement, the University of Connecticut’s Humanities Institute announces a funding proposal competition of $2 million dollars to support interdisciplinary research projects on intellectual humility and its role in promoting meaningful public discourse. The deadline for letters of intent is May 1st 2016. 

Topical areas of focus include both the barriers that prevent people from engaging in constructive, reason-based dialogue, conducted with intellectual humility, regarding culturally divisive issues, as well as scalable models or other interventions that may be effective or ineffective in promoting this sort of talk. 

In addition, applications are being accepted for both residential and non-residential fellowships for work relevant to the project’s aims. The deadline for residential fellowship applications is April 15th 2016; non-residential fellowship applications will be considered on a rolling basis. 

Full details can be found at: http://publicdiscourseproject.uconn.edu/.