Category Archives: Pedagogy

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.

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Announcing “The Deviant Philosopher” Website

A team based at the University of Oklahoma have just announced a splendid new website devoted to teaching “deviant philosophy.” It is made up of Primers, Units and Lessons, and Exercises and Activities, all designed to be incorporated into existing courses or to spur the creation of new ones. The editors are also very interested in new content, so please contribute! Their discussion of the meaning of “deviant philosophy” helps to make clear the scope of the project:

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Chung on the Upsides of Non-Specialists Teaching Asian Philosophy

There is a piece by Julianne Chung in the new volume of the Newsletter for the APA Committee on Asian and Asian American Philosophers and Philosophies, on the beneficial aspects of non-specialists of Asian philosophy teaching courses on it. I think we’ve had discussions of this topic in various comment sections on our site, so I thought some of you might be interested. Further discussion is welcome, of course.

New Book and Website: Angle & Tiwald, Neo-Confucianism

Justin Tiwald and I are very happy to announce the publication of our jointly-authored book, Neo-Confucianism: A Philosophical Introduction (Polity, 2017). Advance copies of the book have begun to appear, it will be generally available in the UK soon, and available in the US in another six weeks or so.

Justin and I have also prepared a website, Neo-Confucianism.Com, to support the book and to promote the study of Neo-Confucianism more generally. That site has its own blog (plus lots of other stuff, including sample syllabi and the Chinese texts corresponding to all the translated material in the book), though I expect that when we post things there, we will also announce it here. If anyone has ideas about what other material we can include at Neo-Confucianism.Com, please just let one of us know!

Vaidya on the Inclusion Problem in Philosophy; and Call for More Discussion

The APA has launched a blog about the profession and practice of philosophy, and Anand Vaidya, Director of the Center for Comparative Philosophy at San Jose State University, has posted two discussions concerning the inclusion (or lack thereof) of non-Western philosophy in philosophy curricula and courses.

In addition, the APA blog is interested in more posts on inclusivity in philosophy. If you would like to submit a contribution, they’d love to hear from you.  Please contact them via the submission form here.

CFP: Education and the Hong Kong Umbrella Movement

This is a call for submissions to a special issue of the journal Educational Philosophy and Theory, which will be edited by Liz Jackson and Timothy O’Leary of the University of Hong Kong.

The Umbrella Movement, a student-led series of protests, occupations and collaborations across different social groups, has permanently altered the social and political landscape of Hong Kong. In marked contrast to the depoliticized, capitalist orientation that predominated in the public sphere in the past, the Umbrella Movement is marked by youth performance of alternative values of collaboration, accountability, and communitarian care. Participants in the Umbrella Movement, both students and educators, are finding new ways to nurture experiential learning in student-authored contexts, in contrast with the teacher- and test-centered education historically customary in Hong Kong. Resistance to the conservative political values of Hong Kong, that preclude local youth democratic participation in revising and reshaping the society, lies at the heart of this movement.

This Special Issue of Educational Philosophy and Theory examines the Umbrella Movement as not only a political movement, but also an alternative form of education that is framed by student resistance and the desire by young people to reclaim their cultural, social, and political world.

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