We are pleased to share two pieces of grant news from Sungkyun Institute for Confucian Studies and East Asian Philosophy that it director, Philip J. Ivanhoe, and Dr. Hwa Yeong WANG have received two grants from the Korean Studies Promotion Service and the American Council of Learned Societies, with support from the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange. Congratulations!

1. Philip J. Ivanhoe and Dr. Hwa Yeong WANG, of the Sungkyun Institute for Confucian Studies and East Asian Philosophy (https://swb.skku.edu/sicep/index.do), Sungkyunkwan University, have been awarded a grant of $75,000.00 USD from the Korean Studies Promotion Service, to support their ongoing project to produce an annotated translation of the complete works of two Korean women Confucian philosophers: Im Yunjidang 任允摯堂 (1721-1793) and Gang Jeongildang 姜靜一堂 (1772-1832). They will be assisted by a graduate student from Sungkyukwan University, Mr. Jae Hyun SEO. Im and Gang both argued, on the basis of core, orthodox neo-Confucian beliefs, that women are equally capable of attaining the highest levels of moral achievement to become “female sages” (yeosaeng女聖). The themes they choose to write on, the genres they employed, and the style of their presentation offer remarkable insights into the lives of gentry women (yangban兩班) in the latter part of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1897). Gang was inspired by and explicitly followed Im and so their extant writings represent a lineage of women philosophers unique in all the world.
2. The Sungkyun Institute for Confucian Studies and East Asian Philosophy is pleased to announce that its director, Philip J. Ivanhoe, has been awarded a conference grant from The American Council of Learned Societies, with support from the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange in the amount of $25,000.00 USD. This generous grant, along with additional support from the institute, will be used to host an international conference on Confucianism, Buddhism, and Kantian Moral Theory, 6-7 September 2019 on the historic campus of Sungkyunkwan University, Korea. Presentations at the conference will explore contemporary trends in moral theory by bringing together influential and promising philosophers, East and West, who work at the intersection between Confucian, Buddhist, and Kantian moral theory. The goal is for them not only to share their views, but also to meet, listen to, and exchange ideas and arguments with one another with the aim of fostering a greater global perspective, deeper and more productive intercultural exchange, and future collaboration. The invited philosophers represent a geographically diverse group as well as a variety of interests and points of view. They all, though, are trained in and share the approach of analytic philosophy, which, it is hoped, will help to shed light upon the traditions, topics, and problems that serve as the theme of this meeting. For details about the event, please see: https://swb.skku.edu/sicep/events/conferences.do?mode=view&articleNo=1334&article.offset=0&articleLimit=10