Category Archives: Confucianism

Review of Book on Shame

Shame is an important idea in Confucianism, as several blog readers and contributors have noted. From the following review, it sounds like the position of this book’s authors might resonate well with Confucian perspectives in several respects (though the perspective of the reviewer might come even closer!).

Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

2013.08.35 View this Review Online   View Other NDPR Reviews

Julien A, Deonna, Raffaele Rodogno, and Fabrice Teroni, In Defense of Shame: The Faces of an Emotion, Oxford University Press, 2012, 268pp., $55.00 (hbk), ISBN 9780199793532.

Reviewed by Jason A. Clark, Institute for Cognitive Science, University of Osnabrueck

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Confucian Statement on Environment

An Op-ed in the South China Morning Post argues that Confucianism can help with China’s (and the world’s) environmental problems. In addition, the piece mentions:

Last month, a major new development in Confucian ideas and commitments was launched. The Confucianists of China issued their first ever statement on the environment. In it they questioned the destructive basis of contemporary Chinese development and proposed instead a vision of humanity playing a caring role, not a destructive one.

This statement argues that what the world needs is a spiritual humanism founded on Confucian values: “What Mencius reminds us of is a core Confucianist value that this world is a precious heritage passed on to us from our ancestors and it is a resource entrusted to us by numerous generations yet to come.”

Any thoughts?

Confucian Religion Leaders Summit 2013

I recently received an invitation to attend — as an observer — the following event. Alas, I won’t be able to get myself to Jakarta for it, but I thought that blog readers might be interested to know that there is such an event. I will paste a little information here, and I also attach this longer document with some further details. I do not believe it is open to the public.

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Is it Possible to be Too Yi 義?

Passage 3B10 in the Mengzi stood out during my last read through the text. In 3B10 Mengzi tells the story of Chen Zhongzi, who in seeking purity (lian 廉) refused to eat his mother’s food or live in his brother’s house (believing that his brother had not rightly [buyi 不義] attained his salary and home). Mengzi’s critique of Chen Zhongzi is that “only an earthworm could fill out [the values] he holds to” 蚓而後充其操, which I take to mean that living in the human world (i.e., a world of complex relationships) entails living a life where one cannot live to such a degree of purity and at the same time realize other (often more important) values. Mengzi seems to have similar sentiments about figures such as Bo Yi in passage 5B1. While he praises Bo Yi (and Chen Zhongzi in 3B10), being too lian 廉 or qing 清 is problematic for Mengzi. Continue reading →

Holloway Book and Video

Ken Holloway’s new book, The Quest for Ecstatic Morality in Early China, has been published by Oxford. He writes that:

This book is an analysis of religion in the Guodian manuscript the “Xing zi mingchu” 性自命出. In the Appendix, I provide an annotated translation and Chinese edition of the text. When I was in Beijing shortly after I finished writing the manuscript, I made a short movie of an exhibit of a copy of the “Xing zi mingchu” in the Confucian Temple in Beijing.

The movie should now be available via the Oxford blog: http://blog.oup.com/2013/05/antiquity-perceptions-chinese-culture/; enjoy! And congratulations, Ken.

A Busy Week at Fudan University

In addition to the lectures by Kurtis Hagen on Xunzi that I just posted about, there are several other events taking place over the next week at Shanghai’s Fudan University. In chronological order:

Friday May 24, 10:00am, P. J. Ivanhoe (Chair Professor of East Asian Philosophy and Religion, City University of Hong Kong) is speaking on “Kongzi and Aristotle as Virtue Ethicists.” Details are here.

Friday May 24, 6:30pm, P. J. Ivanhoe is delivering the first lecture of a series on “Chinese Research on Confucianism in Global Perspective”; Prof. Ivanhoe’s lecture is titled “Confucian Cosmopolitanism.” Details on this and the subsequent lectures in the series are here.

Saturday and Sunday, May 24-25, an international conference on the topic “Chinese Research on Confucianism in Global Perspective” will take place; details on all speakers and titles are here.

Tuesday May 28, 10:00am, I am speaking on the topic “Progressive Confucianism on Social Criticism and the Values of Deference.” Details are here.

I hope that blog readers lucky enough to be in Shanghai will be able to enjoy some of these lectures!

Call for Commentators-ACPA at APA Eastern 2013

MOVED TO TOP WITH THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE:

We still need commentators, and please let me know if you are interested.  Dr. Kim’s and Mr. Lu’s papers already have commentators (and there are three other commentators who are not set on any particular paper yet).  Thanks!

– Tongdong Bai (baitongdong@gmail.com)

ACPA Group Meeting at the APA Eastern Convention
December 27-30, 2013, at the Marriott Waterfront, Baltimore

 

Session 1: Moral Cultivation and Moral Agency in Confucianism and Western Philosophy
1. Mental Blindness and Moral Rectitude: The jiebi chapter of the Xunzi

David Chai, University of Toronto, Canada, david.chai@utoronto.ca

Abstract: The idea of being figuratively blind is a well-used trope in early Confucian thought. Confucius referred to blindness of virtue while Mencius to blindness of the senses and speech. For Xunzi, blindness stems from a person having ‘two minds,’ that is, one’s mind is caught between two principles or goals of moral conduct. Xunzi’s solution, like Guanzi’s theory of ‘mental arts’ (xinshu 心術), was to engage in ‘singular concentration’ (jing 精). Through a close hermeneutic reading of chapter 21 of the Xunzi (jiebi 解蔽, “Removing Blindness”), this paper will examine Xunzi’s use of jing and how cultivating one’s mental essence by adhering to Dao can result in overcoming mental blindness. It will also look at one of the more interesting metaphors Xunzi uses, that of brightness (ming 明). Moral brightness is a quality every person should strive for in that it reflects the perfect virtue of Dao. For Xunzi, using ming to nurture jing is not enough to cure a person completely of their mental blindness however; they must endeavor to replicate the mind of Dao. How they do this is through studying the principle of men’s minds as Xunzi so clearly illustrates: “Sageliness consists in a comprehensive grasp of the natural relationships between men. True kingship consists in a comprehensive grasp of the regulations for government. A comprehensive grasp of both is sufficient to become the ridgepole for the world.” (Xunzi, 21.9)

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Request for Comments on the Dissemination of Confucianism

Professor Peimin Ni writes with an intriguing request:

A friend of mine works as a local policy making/consulting officer at Confucius’ hometown Qufu. I received a request from him, saying that he would like to get help from the international community of scholars in Chinese philosophy. He wants to know what we perceive as the current situation, problems, and difficulties in (1) disseminating Confucianism outside of China, and (2) the establishment and operation of Confucius Institutes in the world. He would also like to know that (3) on the basis of our assessment of these situations, what we recommend for promoting broader understanding of Chinese culture in the world, and (4) what particularly relevant material we would recommend him to read. Any idea or suggestion would be appreciated.

The call for help, I think, is a good sign that the local government is conscientious about the cultural heritage. It would be great if we can help, even if just offering him bits and pieces of information or opinions.

Anyone with comments or suggestions can post theme here as comments, and Peimin will collect them and summarize them for his friend (who does not read English). Alternatively, if you wish you can just write to Peimin directly. Of course, general discussion of the issues raised here (which may or may not be helpful to an official in Qufu) is also welcome.

Three New Books: Mozi, Yi Jing, and Confucianism in HK

Three new (or at least new to me) books of interest:

If anyone has read any of these, please let us know what you think!