An interesting-sounding lecture that touches on the possible “new life” to be found in the Neo-Confucian compendium, Reflections on Things at Hand; June 18th at Taiwan Normal University:
「當代與東亞儒家市民論壇」
講 題：朱熹、呂祖謙合編「近思錄」的古意和新生
主講人：朱浤源教授 （中央研究院 近代史研究所）、呂榮海律師 （蔚理法律事務所）
主持人：潘朝陽教授 （國立臺灣師範大學 東亞學系）
時 間：民國一０四年六月十八日（週四）晚上七點至九點
地 點：臺師大誠大樓九樓 政治學研究所多功能會議室
The latest issue of Telos (171; Summer, 2015) contains a special section on the debate over “universal values” in China. Here is the on-line introduction to the issue; the Table of Contents follows.
At a recent event in China, a colleague — relatively new to the China scene — asked me why there was so much interest in the topics of “livelihood” on the parts of the Chinese scholars at our interdisciplinary conference Here is a partial explanation: “On Xi Jinping’s Thought Regarding People’s Livelihood.”
For those in Taiwan, this lecture on the future of cross-straits relations from a Confucian perspective may be of interest; it is announced as the first in a new series of lectures of Confucian perspectives on contemporary civil society issues):
Daniel Bell’s latest New York Times op-ed: “Teaching ‘Western Values’ in China” grapples with some of the difficulties with teaching and researching both “Western” and “Chinese” values.
Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews
2015.02.31 View this Review Online View Other NDPR Reviews
Sungmoon Kim, Confucian Democracy in East Asia: Theory and Practice, Cambridge University Press, 2014, 321pp., $29.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781107641211.
Reviewed by Loubna El Amine, Georgetown University
Sungmoon Kim’s book offers an important and passionate defense of democracy, especially as it applies to East Asian countries. It moves the current debate on the topic from the question of whether democracy is relevant to, and compatible with, the East Asian context, to the question of “the particular mode of Confucian democracy” that is suitable for East Asia (247). In other words, the starting premise of Kim’s inquiry is the simple fact that democracy does already exist in that part of the world, including in South Korea, Taiwan, and (“arguably,” according to Kim), in Hong Kong (247). The question then is, what form of democracy does, will, and should work in East Asia?
According to the Guangming Daily, “the interpretation of Confucian political philosophy” was one of the ten “hot” areas within Chinese academia in 2014. According to the newspaper’s staff, one of the key questions that scholars sought to answer was “What conceptual resources does the Confucian tradition have that can assist with the design of institutions in today’s China 儒家传统对今日中国之制度设计有哪些可资借鉴的思想资源？” For those with Chinese, some more details, and the other nine hot areas, are below. (It is item 3 on the list.)
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.
An article by Roger Ames, “儒学与世界文化秩序变革 (Confucianism and the Transformation of the International Cultural Order)” appeared in People’s Daily on Nov. 7.
