Larry Whitney at BU recently told me about fascinating videos of the Autumnal Sacrifice to Confucius at the Confucius temple in Tainan, Taiwan. Thomas A. Wilson video recorded the sacrifice in 1998 and it’s been posted on his website here.
Category Archives: Ritual
Olberding on the Confucian role for etiquette in resisting injustice
Amy Olberding’s “The Moral Gravity of Mere Trifles” at LSE’s The Forum. She begins:
“Some of the most heated critiques of etiquette emphasize a tension between progressive political values and conformity to polite norms. Insistence on polite rules of interaction may, so the worry goes, stifle righteous dissent, suppress critique of the powerful, and mire us all in hidebound tradition. Better to forcefully call out injustice when we see it than abide by polite rules that sacrifice moral progress to surface social accord. In these critiques, etiquette can seem an enemy of salutary change and a barrier to justice. This reasoning, the early Confucians would argue, misses much about how etiquette works and what it contributes to moral life….”
Analects 1.6, and how Confucius envisioned moral progress
Confucius’ remark at Analects 1.6 is often cited to show that he thought proper moral development begins with filial piety and then extends that attitude to ever-larger groups of people (ever less intensely). I shall argue that the remark does not display such a view. Confucius did not in general envision moral progress as extension.
Special Journal Issue on Tradition, Ritual, and Heaven
Special Issue of the European Journal For Philosophy of Religion: Tradition, Ritual, and Heaven in East Asian Religious Philosophy
Guest Editor: Philip J. Ivanhoe
Ruist Retreat in Boston
Bin Song, a graduate student at BU, writes:
We Boston Ruists will host a Ruist retreat this summer, July 1-3rd, at Boston University. Attached is the schedule, including all details of the retreat and logistics.
The initiative of this retreat was proposed by some friends in the Facebook group ‘Friends from Afar: a Confucianism group.’ I hope the retreat can be organized as a ‘middle’ sort of Ruism, aiming to propagate Ruist wisdom among ordinary American people but still not losing its scholarly virtuosity.
Anyone interested in learning more about the retreat, or in registering, should contact Bin Song (the information is on the attachment). Comments on this undertaking are of course welcome here.
New Book: Traces of the Sage
A new book that may be of interest: James Flath, Traces of the Sage: Monument, Materiality, and the First Temple of Confucius (Hawaii, 2016). More information is here.
New Book: Ritual & Religion in the Xunzi
Not without shame, I’d like to mention (and thereby promote) a book that I co-edited with Jack Kline, Ritual & Religion in the Xunzi, devoted to interpretations of Xunzi as a religious philosopher. I’ll include a brief description below the fold.
Conference on Ritual
People in the New York area might be interested in the following conference which, while not about China, is concerned with an area of central importance to much Chinese philosophy: namely, ritual.
Exploring Ritual in the Ancient Near East and Mediterranean: Performance, Texts, and Material Culture
Friday, May 16, 2014, 9:30 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. Seating is limited, please email isaw@nyu.edu to register.
Special issue of Sophia on Ritual in Chinese Philosophy
This may be old news to many of you, but until recently, I was unaware of the special issue of Sophia devoted to ritual in Chinese philosophy, which contains a number of excellent articles. Read on for the Table of Contents.
2nd Rutgers Workshop on Chinese Philosophy
I am very happy to announce the 2nd Rutgers Workshop on Chinese Philosophy, which will be held on Friday, April 11, on the topic “Xunzi on Authority.” Four scholars of Chinese philosophy will present papers, each followed by a critical commentary from a member of the Rutgers University Philosophy Department. Attendance (including lunch) is free but requires an advance RSVP so that we know how much food to get. Please read on for details!
