The widely-read ethics blog PEA Soup hosts regular discussions of recently published books (or more precisely, books recently reviewed for Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, which are themselves recently published). The featured book this time around is Owen Flanagan’s The Geography of Morals, a philosophical call to arms against parochialism in ethics that engages at length with Chinese philosophy. Check it out!
Amy Olberding has published an essay called “Degenerate Skepticism and the Thieves of Philosophy” on the “Department of Deviance” website. She explains the essay’s origin:
An essay presented at a special APA session on what Chinese philosophy can contribute to contemporary philosophy. There are increasingly many sessions at APA meetings pitched to offer the non-specialist an entry into “non-western” philosophy. Rarely are these attended by anyone who is not already a specialist in “non-western” philosophy. The essay here is not about how Chinese philosophy can contribute to contemporary debate. It is instead a polemic about the folly of this question in the current atmosphere within the discipline.
In case you missed it, Nicholas Tampio recently published a short piece in Aeon explaining why he thinks Confucius (among other non-Western thinkers) should not be regarded as a philosopher, with implications for the philosophy curriculum and the makeup of philosophy faculties. This is a response to the recent New York Times piece by Jay Garfield and Bryan Van Norden. Tampio and Van Norden subsequently exchanged tweets on the topic. Amy Olberding replies thoroughly and with humor here, and Ethan Mills responds on behalf of Indian philosophy here.
Where to begin?
Fellow committee member, Leah Kalmanson, is looking for respondents for an Author Meets Readers panel for the Central APA meetings in Chicago in March. Please contact her directly if you are interested. Find her contact info below.
The APA’s Committee on Asian and Asian-American Philosophers and Philosophies (CAAAPP) will be hosting an author-meets-reader panel at the next meeting of the APA Central Division (Chicago, March 2-5) for Peter K. J. Park’s recent book Africa, Asia, and the History of Philosophy: Racism in the Formation of the Philosophical Canon. Prof. Park’s work has already generated some conversation here at Warp, Weft, and Way. We are currently looking for respondents to serve on the panel. If you would be interested in attending the next Central meeting and serving as a respondent on our author-meets-reader panel, please contact Leah Kalmanson at kalmanson@gmail.com.
