Post-doctoral fellowship at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

The Philosophy and Religion Program in the Division of Humanities at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology invites expressions of interest for the RGC Junior Research Fellow Scheme (JRFS). The scheme provides funding to cover up to 36 months full-time post-doctoral fellowship. The starting date of the fellowship is usually 1 July 2025 the earliest, 31 January 2026 the latest, and is negotiable.

The annual stipend is around HK$420,000 (inclusive of travel allowance at around HK$13,300).
Research Interests: Chinese Philosophy, Buddhism, Comparative/Intercultural Philosophy

Please read below for details regarding the application.
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Episode 8 of “This Is the Way”: The Golden Rule

Across different religious and moral traditions we often find some version of the Golden Rule. In this episode we explore the Golden Rule as formulated in the Analects and explore questions such as how fundamental it is to the Confucian ethical framework, how it is supposed to work in actual practice, and how it connects with issues about self-centeredness. We also examine how it might apply differently to ordinary people and sages, focusing on Analects 15.24 and Analects 6.30. Continue reading

OUP Highlights Korean Women Philosophers

This March, Oxford Universty Press is focused on ‘Women in the History of Philosophy’ and have made the following chapter Introduction | Korean Women Philosophers and the Ideal of a Female Sage: Essential Writings of Im Yungjidang and Gang Jeongildang | Oxford Academic (oup.com) free to read. Congrats to the editors/translators, P. J. Ivanhoe and Hwa Yeong Wang!

How much historical context when teaching topically?

A colleague recently wrote to me saying that he was:

…inspired by the topical discussion in the Neo-Confucianism book you co-authored and so I decided to structure my course on Neo-Confucianism according to a thematic/topical discussion instead of the usual historical or thinker structure. However, how does one mitigate the pitfalls of sacrificing historicity? Specifically, how much context or historicity should I provide?

I would love to hear any thoughts that folks out there have, either as it relates to teaching Neo-Confucianism or any other relevant subject. Justin Tiwald and I share some thoughts here about why we prefer to teach in a thematic way, and have collected a few teaching ideas here, but I am sure there are some great ideas out there. Please share!

Episode 3 of “This Is the Way”: Oneness

In the third episode of This Is the Way we explore the topic of oneness with our guest Philip J. Ivanhoe, a distinguished scholar and translator of East Asian philosophy. In part I, Justin gives a quick overview of Neo-Confucian philosophy and its connection to oneness. In part II, we talk with Ivanhoe about his book, Oneness: East Asian Conceptions of Virtue, Happiness, and How We Are All Connected. Some issues that we discuss include the following: the truth value of oneness (neither “strictly true” nor a groundless and pointless hallucination), the benefits of oneness (security, spontaneity, and metaphysical comfort), and the sense in which we are the minds of Heaven, Earth and the myriad things (Wang Yangming was right after all!).

Below you will find a more detailed accounting of topics, some specific passages and books or articles mentioned in the episode, and an opportunity to “weigh in” and share your views about the topic (or about the hosts’ wild claims about oneness or Chinese philosophy).

Your feedback is very welcome! Please leave a comment below, mail the hosts at ChinesePhilosophyPodcast@gmail.com, or follow them on X @ChinesePhilPod.

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Columbia Neo-C Seminar: Wong on Wang Yangming

The next session of the Columbia Neo-Confucianism seminar will convene on Friday 2/2 from 3:30-5:30 pm in the Heyman Center on Columbia’s campus. The guest speaker will be Professor Baldwin Wong of Hong Kong Baptist University. Professor Wong will present his draft “To Confucianism, are Perfectionist Policies a Help or a Trap? Lessons from Wang Yangming’s Moral Psychology”. The draft will be circulated a week before the talk. To be on the list, please RSVP to Weiling Kong at wk2363@columbia.edu before 1/31.

New Article: Song, “A Study of Cheng Yi’s Quiet-Sitting Meditation”

Bin Song’s article “A Study of Cheng Yi’s Quiet-Sitting Meditation and Other Contemplative Practices in the Confucian Context” has been published by the Journal of Contemplative Studies. The journal has a very nice website, where readers can view and download the article in multiple formats: https://contemplativejournal.org/#/texts/67516.

New series of bilingual editions of source texts in Chinese philosophy (Chinese & German)

Meiner, a renowned philosophy publisher from Hamburg, has established a new series of bilingual editions of source texts in Chinese philosophy in both Chinese and German. For the series see: https://meiner.de/monographien-reihen/sino-philosophica.html

The first volume of the series is a translation by Iso Kern of a selection of the correspondence between Wang Yangming, Ouyang De and Luo Qinshun on the basis of ethical action. For this new publication see:
https://meiner.de/monographien-reihen/sino-philosophica/kontroversen-uber-die-grundlagen-ethischen-handelns.html

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Israel, “The Trouble with Wang Yangming”

George Israel published a lovely on-line essay titled “The Trouble with Wang Yangming” a little over a year ago, but it remains highly relevant. If you are interested in all the enthusiasm about Wang in the contemporary PRC, or about Wang more generally, this is essential reading.

Announcement of 2022 Dao Annual Best Essay Award

Announcement of 2022 Dao Annual Best Essay Award

Dao established “The Annual Best Essay Award” in 2007. In addition to a certificate of achievement, the award comes along with a prize of US$1,000. The award winners will be noted in the website of the journal as well as the website of Springer, the publisher of the journal. The award ceremony is held each year at the American Philosophical Association Annual Meeting (Eastern Division) in early January, where a special panel on the theme of the award-winning essay is held. The critical comments and the author’s responses to them presented at the panel, after review and revision, will be published in the last issue of Dao each year.

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