The latest issue of Confluence: Online Journal of World Philosophies, has just been released. It contains about 300 pages of articles, including a symposium led by Jonardon Ganeri on the question, “Is reason a neutral tool in comparative philosophy?” Near the end of the issue is a short survey article I wrote about the competing role ethical and virtue ethical interpretations of early Confucianism.
Category Archives: Indian Philosophy
Call For Proposals: Critical Inquiries in Comparative Philosophy book series
We are currently seeking book proposals for the Critical Inquiries in Comparative Philosophy book series (Rowman and Littlefield International). The volumes in this series aim to present recent research on topics within comparative philosophy generally as well as to present original work on these topics. Right now we are most interested in developing volumes focusing on Chinese Philosophy and/or Indian Philosophy, though proposals on topics in other areas of Asian and Comparative Philosophy are certainly welcome too.
There are currently two volumes of the series in development. Alexus McLeod’s Theories of Truth in Chinese Philosophy: A Comparative Approach will be released this November, and Bongrae Seok’s Moral Psychology of Confucian Shame: Shame of Shamelessness is due to appear in 2017. Further information on the series and individual volumes can be found at the RLI series webpage.
Those interested in discussing topics or possible proposals for the series should contact Alexus McLeod at alexus.mcleod@colostate.edu
Statistics on Asian Philosophy Panels at the 2015 Pacific APA
This last Saturday evening, I was carping to a colleague about the fact that three panels on Chinese philosophy were scheduled simultaneously during the very last time slot of the Group Program of the Pacific APA. Now that the APA has distributed a link to the evaluation survey, I decided to take a look at the actual numbers to see if there is a genuine issue of equity at the conference.
Below are the stats that I got from a first-time run-through of the main and group programs (I’m concerned with Asian philosophy broadly, which I categorized, following the panel titles or society names, as Chinese, Buddhist, Japanese, Comparative, and Martial Arts (didn’t see Indian, alas!)).
Interpreting an Alien Philosophy: What Works for Me
[Dear readers: I am happy to present the following invited guest post from Dr. Elisa Freschi of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Dr. Freschi (BA +MA in Indology and Tibetology, BA in Philosophy, PhD in South Asian Studies) has worked on topics of Classical Indian Philosophy and more in general on comparative philosophy, epistemology, philosophy of religion, philosophy of language and on the re-use of texts in Indian philosophy (about which she has just finished editing a volume). She is a convinced upholder of reading Sanskrit philosophical texts within their history and understanding them through a philosophical approach. She has worked at the Austrian Academy of Sciences since September 1, 2012, with a Lise Meitner project on Epistemology of Sacred Texts in Vedāntadeśika’s Seśvaramīmāṃsā. For more information about her work see here.]
No matter whether one focuses on Classical Chinese philosophy (as probably most readers of this blog) or on Classical Indian philosophy (like myself), one works on something which is different than oneself. I will contend that this feeling is useful also if one focuses on contemporary Chinese, or Indian (or Tibetan and so on) philosophy, or on Classical, Medieval, Modern Western philosophy, since it alerts one to a key factor, namely the difference between oneself and one’s object of study.
New Book: India in the Chinese Imagination
India in the Chinese Imagination: Myth, Religion, and Thought
John Kieschnick and Meir Shahar, Editors
New Book – Nothingness in Asian Philosophy
Nothingness in Asian Philosophy – Routledge 2014
by Douglas Berger (editor) & Jeeloo Liu (editor)
From the Description at Amazon:
“A variety of crucial and still most relevant ideas about nothingness or emptiness have gained profound philosophical prominence in the history and development of a number of South and East Asian traditions—including in Buddhism, Daoism, Neo-Confucianism, Hinduism, Korean philosophy, and the Japanese Kyoto School. These traditions share the insight that in order to explain both the great mysteries and mundane facts about our experience, ideas of “nothingness” must play a primary role.”
Philosophers’ Carnival Hosted by The Indian Philosophy Blog
Just a quick heads up that our good friends over at The Indian Philosophy Blog are hosting the 163rd Philosophers’ Carnival. Enjoy!
Comparative Political Thought Conference at Yale
There will be a one-day conference, “Comparative Ancient and Medieval Political Thought,” at Yale University on May 1. Details here.
Columbia Society for Comparative Philosophy lecture on “Śāstravid: A New Electronic Research Tool for Studying Indian Philosophical Texts” THIS FRIDAY March 28th @5:30pm
THE COLUMBIA SOCIETY FOR COMPARATIVE PHILOSOPHY
and
THE COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF RELIGION
welcome:
welcome:
JAN WESTERHOFF (University of Oxford)
Please join us on
Friday, March 28 at 5:30PM
CFP: Chinese and Indian Approaches to Cultivation
The AAR “Religions in Chinese and Indian Cultures: A Comparative Perspective” Group is looking for papers on “Cultivation and Its Consequences.” Read on for details.
