Creativity and Diversity: 11th International Conference on Daoist Studies
Nanterre, Paris, France, May 17-20, 2017
Revised Edition: Allan, Heir and Sage
Sarah Allan, The Heir and the Sage: Dynastic Legend in Early China (revised and expanded edition) is now in print with SUNY Press (2016).
Eric Schwitzgebel – Columbia Society for Comparative Philosophy Lecture: “Death and Self in the Incomprehensible Zhuangzi”, THURSDAY Oct.13 @ 5:30pm
THE COLUMBIA SOCIETY FOR COMPARATIVE PHILOSOPHY
Welcomes: ERIC SCHWITZGEBEL (University of California Riverside)
With responses from: CHRISTOPHER GOWANS (Fordham University)
Please join us at Columbia University’s Religion Department on *THURSDAY*, OCTOBER 13th at 5:30PM for his lecture entitled:
“Death and Self in the Incomprehensible Zhuangzi”
ABSTRACT: The ancient Chinese philosopher Zhuangzi defies interpretation. This is an inextricable part of the beauty and power of his work. The text – by which I mean the “Inner Chapters” of the text traditionally attributed to him, the authentic core of the book – is incomprehensible as a whole. It consists of shards, in a distinctive voice. Despite repeating imagery, ideas, style, and tone, these shards cannot be pieced together into a self-consistent philosophy. This lack of self-consistency is a positive feature of Zhuangzi. It is part of what makes him the great and unusual philosopher he is, defying reduction and summary. In this talk, I will look at Zhuangzi’s inconsistent remarks about death and the self. Continue reading →
Chinese Philosophy to Return to Michigan
I am thrilled to be able to share the news that, thanks in part to a gift from Don and Ann Munro, the University of Michigan will be re-establishing a tenure-track line in Chinese philosophy, to be housed jointly in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures and the Department of Philosophy. The support that the Munros have shown for the study of Chinese philosophy—in addition to Don’s distinguished career, the Munros have established the Tang Junyi Lecture Series at UM, the Munro Fund at the ACLS, and now this—is truly exemplary. Full text of the announcement follows.
Harvard EAS Conference CFP
CALL FOR PAPERS
The 20th Annual Harvard East Asia Society Conference:
Roads Through Asia
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
The Harvard East Asia Society (HEAS) invites currently enrolled graduate students working across all disciplines to submit abstracts for its annual conference.
This year’s conference will be held from February 24-25, 2017. Participants should plan to arrive on or before February 24, 2017.
The HEAS Conference Committee invites the submission of papers that examine Asia from various perspectives and disciplines, including but not limited to history, philosophy, religion, literature, art history, sociology, anthropology, archaeology, economics, political science, gender studies, environmental studies, and law. Preference will be given to work that speaks to multiple fields or engages critically with those categories and boundaries that define past and present research on Asia.
In its twentieth year, the HEAS Conference is an annual forum for graduate students to exchange ideas and discuss research related to Asia. It is an opportunity for young scholars to present their research to their peers and to faculty members of Harvard University’s department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations. The conference also helps participants to meet others doing similar research and to forge new professional relationships.
CFP: Middle Period Conference; Deadline Tomorrow!
With apologies for not posting this sooner, here is the Call for Abstracts for the “Second Conference on Middle Period Chinese Humanities.” The deadline is tomorrow, October 1, 2017. I attended the first such conference, and though I may have been the only card-carrying philosopher there, I learned a great deal and recommend the second conference highly to anyone interested in Tang-Ming philosophy (or intellectual history, etc., etc.).
New Book: Yu, Chinese History and Culture, vols. 1 and 2
Columbia University Press has published a two-volume set titled Chinese History and Culture, providing a collection of eminent intellectual historian Ying-shih Yu’s essays, many dealing with philosophical topics, some appearing for the first time in English. Details for volume one (Sixth Century B.C.E. to Seventeenth Century) and volume two (Seventeenth Century Through Twentieth Century); I’ll copy the Tables of Contents below.
Even More Jobs
Thanks to Alexus’s comment, I realize that I failed to use “Asian” as a search term, and in fact there are several more relevant ads:
- University of San Francisco (Asian Philosophy)
- University of New Mexico (Buddhist Philosophy)
- Underwood International College of Yonsei University (Asian Philosophy)
- Yale-NUS College (Asian Philosophy — Tenured/Head of Studies)
- Skidmore College (Open, but description emphasizes that “The Department has teaching needs in Asian, African, or other traditions heterogeneous to European.”)
UPDATE: Here is another relevant job listing:
- Eastern Connecticut State University (Comparative Philosophy)
More Jobs
The news about UCSD (not to mention the earlier news about Leiden’s senior position) nudged me into looking at PhilJobs, which lists 4 other tenure-track jobs that include Chinese or Non-Western philosophy as potential specialization:
- Whitman College (Asian Ethics)
- Bard College (Non-Western is one among a list of possibilities)
- Manhattan College (Ethics plus various possibilities of which Non-Western is one)
- University of Northern Colorado (Non-Western is one among a list of possibilities)
Pretty cool!
Job at UCSD
Exciting news: the University of California at San Diego department of philosophy is advertising for an assistant professor whose main area of research is some aspect of non-western philosophy. A faculty member wrote me to say: “As a department, we are very interested in diversifying the philosophy curriculum and recognizing the significant and underappreciated contributions to philosophy from scholars working in traditions that do not have their origin in Western Europe.” The details of the ad are here.
