An interesting use of a Chinese concept that has been much-discussed in Chinese philosophy and IR circles, tianxia, whatever one makes of the argument itself: Salvatore Babones, “American Tianxia” in Foreign Affairs.
Category Archives: Comparative Political Theory
Crane Reviews Kim, Public Reason Confucianism
Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews
2017.06.01 View this Review Online View Other NDPR Reviews
Sungmoon Kim, Public Reason Confucianism: Democratic Perfectionism and Constitutionalism in East Asia, Cambridge University Press, 2016, 276pp., $99.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781107106222.
Reviewed by Sam Crane, Williams College
New Book: A World History of Ancient Political Thought
Oxford has published a revised and expanded edition of Antony Black, A World History of Political Thought: Its Significance and Consequences. (It actually came out at the very end of 2016.) The volume is notable for taking various traditions that are often called “non-Western” completely seriously, and for its balanced, comparative observations. See more here or below.
Huang asking for help on Confucian Political Philosophy course
Yong HUANG asked me to post the following here; please post comments/replies here, addressed to him.
Inspired by a similar project that Steve Angle did a few years ago (on which see here, for the original plan, and here, for the outcome), I plan to offer a graduate level course on recent studies of Chinese philosophy in the English speaking world this fall. To have a better focus, I tentatively plan to limit it to Confucian political philosophy. At the end of the semester, each student will be required to write a substantive critical essay on the book he or she chooses to write. I’ll invite those students of high quality papers to do revision until I deem them publishable. Then I’ll invite authors of the books discussed to make responses to these papers. I’ll then seek a publisher to publish these papers, together with authors’ responses, tentatively with the title: Confucian Political Philosophy: The State of the Field.
After a quick search at Amazon, I’ve got the following list of books more or less explicitly devoted to Confucian political philosophy (I don’t include the edited volumes). Here I solicit your help to see whether I’ve missed some other books on Confucian political philosophy published in English since, say, the year of 2000. I’ll be also grateful, of course, if you guys have any other suggestions regarding what I plan to do in this course.
MANCEPT Workshop on Confucian Political Theory workshop (updated)
I have some updates to share on the workshop on Confucian political theory at the Manchester Centre for Political Theory. Note especially the new deadline for submissions (June 2) and the keynote speaker (Joseph Chan).
The workshop itself will run from September 9 (Monday) to September 13 (Wednesday), 2017. The venue will be in Arthur Lewis Building, University of Manchester. Thanks to co-convener Baldwin Wong of The Chinese University, Hong Kong, for the latest.
Chan at Harvard on “Democratic Equality and Confucian Hierarchy”
Faculty Seminar with Joseph Chan – “Democratic Equality and Confucian Hierarchy”
The Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard will be hosting a seminar with Joseph Chan, who will present his paper, “Democratic Equality and Confucian Hierarchy.” Archon Fung will be the discussant. This event is co-sponsored with the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation.
DATE & TIME: Tuesday, May 23 3:00-5:00pm
LOCATION: Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics
More information here.
Berggruen Workshop at Harvard: “Perspectives on Chinese Thought in the World”
This workshop celebrates the partnership between the Berggruen Institute and the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics, thereby also taking advantage of the presence of the first group of Berggruen Fellows at Harvard. The topic of the workshop, also related to a major concern of the Berggruen Institute, is “Perspectives on Chinese Thought in the World.” Some of the presenters work on China in a rather straightforward way, others don’t, but China, and thus Chinese thought, concerns us all, and increasingly so. One way or another, the talks will address how it does. Advance reading of papers is not expected, though papers are available for some of the talks (upon request).
On February 9, 2017, the workshop convened for a successful session, featuring Viren Murthy, Tongdong Bai, and Sungmoon Kim, before the organizers were compelled to postpone the afternoon panels due to the onset of a blizzard. These panels have now been rescheduled as a featured event that will kick off the Center’s 30th Anniversary Celebration, May 4-6, 2017. More details are here.
Confucian Political Theory in Manchester
The Manchester Centre for Political Theory will host a workshop on Confucian political theory on September 11-13. The deadline to apply is May 26. Graduate students and faculty emeriti will, upon acceptance, be able to apply to the Centre for funding. More information is here.
Dissertation Workshops on Comparative Political Theory
Shortly before the next American Political Science Association meeting in San Francisco, the organization will host dissertation workshops, one of which is devoted to students working in comparative political theory. The workshops group six ABD students together with two scholars. The deadline to apply is May 15. The workshops will take place on August 30, the day before the main APSA meeting commences. More information is here.
Kim at Next Neo-Confucianism Seminar
The next session of the Columbia University Seminar on Neo-Confucian Studies will convene Friday, April 21st, from 3:30 to 5:30pm in the Heyman Center for the Humanities at Columbia University.
The speaker will be Professor Kim Sungmoon, and his presentation is titled: “The Confucian Value Theory of Criminal Punishment.” If you would like to attend, please contact rapporteur Zach Berge-Becker for a copy of the paper.
