Two Lectures in Boston on Thursday

An embarrassment of riches! This coming Thursday, interested folks in the Boston area can choose from the following two options (Prof. Ci’s lecture is part of the series he has been giving at Harvard; see here; see also here for a related conference on Friday):

Thursday, November 12, 4:30 p.m.

A Realistic Utopia for China, Democratic or Otherwise

Ci Jiwei, Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Hong Kong

Commentator: Stephen Angle, Professor of Philosophy and Mansfield Freeman Professor of East Asian Studies, Wesleyan University

Harvard Law School, Austin Hall, The Morgan Courtroom


Thursday, November 12, 5:00 – 6:00 p.m.

The Values of Spontaneity

Professor Philip J. Ivanhoe, Chair Professor of East Asian and Comparative Philosophy & Religion, City University of Hong Kong; Director of the Center for East Asian and Comparative Philosophy (CEACOP); Director of the Laboratory on Korean Philosophy in Comparative Perspectives

This talk will discuss two Chinese views of spontaneity found in Confucian and Daoist texts from the pre-Qin (before 221 B.C.E.) period.

The Daniel C Morrissey ’88 and Chanannait Paisansathan, MD Lecture Series in Asian Studies, Boston College

Fulton 511, Boston College, 140 Commonwealth Ave., Chestnut Hill, MA

New Book: 公民儒學 (Civic Confucianism)

When I was in Taiwan last week, friends there recommended that I should look at the new book 《公民儒學》 (Civic Confucianism) by Norman Teng 鄧育仁, recently published by National Taiwan University Press. Professor Teng, who received his PhD a number of years ago from Southern Illinois University, is now a researcher at the Academia Sinica; I had a chance to meet him and talk with him at length about his book and future research projects while I was there. The book is fascinating. He proposes that in this age of democratic pluralism, a “civic philosophical 公民哲學” approach should be to seek serious dialogue among philosophical traditions, in the spirit of egalitarian democracy. In particular, he is interested in how we should think about Confucians and Confucianism in a pluralistic, democratic society like Taiwan. His book combines a number of innovative methodological approaches (e.g., paying special attention to the ways that early Confucians use narrative reflection and the reframing of premises, rather than explicit deductive logic, which techniques can then be applied in the present day as well) in order to explore a particular means of developing a form of democratic Confucianism today. He draws extensively on John Rawls in some chapters; that, plus his emphasis on a rootedness in the actual experience of Taiwan’s democratic society, suggests some very interesting comparisons between Teng’s work and that of Sungmoon Kim (whose work on modern Confucian democracy is rooted in the experience of South Korea). In any event, well worth serious attention for those of us thinking about the future of Confucianism.

Scholarship for China Study

A blog reader who is currently studying in China has written me to pass on the following, about the scholarship that she is currently enjoying (we have posted some info about this scholarship in the past, but this is an update):

I’m currently studying in China thanks to the scholarship of the Confucius China Studies Program of Hanban. The scholarship may cover all the expenses for a three-years PhD in China as well for joint PhD program with non-Chinese universities. It’s a very generous scholarship, covering university fees, living expenses and participation to seminars.  I think, it’s a great opportunity for graduated students aiming to attend humanistic faculties in China. I would like to pass on the following presentation.

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Seok reviews Slingerland, Trying Not to Try

Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

2015.11.05 View this Review Online   View Other NDPR Reviews

Edward Slingerland, Trying Not to Try: The Art and Science of Spontaneity, Crown, 2014, 295pp., $26.00 (hbk), ISBN 9780770437619.

Reviewed by Bongrae Seok, Alvernia University

In his recent book, Edward Slingerland explains and analyzes one of the unique ideas of Chinese philosophy, viz., wu-wei (無爲). The term is used mostly in Daoist texts, but the concept is discussed broadly in many schools of Chinese philosophy. Wu-wei is usually translated as non-action or non-doing, but it does not mean not doing anything. Rather it means doing things in a spontaneous and natural manner. If you act without a strongly imposed or premeditated intention or will, you are very close to the natural flow of wu-wei. Chinese philosophy, whether it is Confucianism or Daoism, focuses on the question of living a meaningful and happy life with a sustained effort to achieve natural spontaneity. Yet this specific ideal of spontaneity hasn’t been fully articulated and explained in philosophy. With his broad understanding of Chinese philosophy and cognitive science, Slingerland provides a coherent picture of how the ancient Chinese wisdom of wu-wei can be defined, explained, and promoted.

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More Jobs in Chinese/Asian/Comparative Philosophy

I have noticed several relevant jobs being listed at PhilJobs:

  • First, a biggie: Roger Ames is retiring from the University of Hawaii, and they are searching for a replacement, at the Associate or Full Professor level.
  • Bryn Mawr College is searching for an Assistant Professor with a specialization in either philosophy of science and epistemology or comparative philosophy (East and West).
  • Loyola University Maryland is searching for an open-rank position in “some tradition of non-Western philosophy.”

This is in addition to position previously noted here (search for the category “Job Opening”).

New Book Series

Studies in Comparative Political Theory (Oxford University Press)

Editor: Diego von Vacano (Texas A&M University)

Consulting Editors: Andrew March (Yale) and Leigh Jenco (LSE)

The book series will seek to publish the best new research in Comparative Political Theory. We understand this term in a broad sense, as work that goes beyond traditional Western canonical approaches to major political questions or problems. We are especially interested in work that is comparative (deals with two or more distinctive cultural traditions in political thought) and which comes from the discipline of Political Theory in Political Science. However, other approaches and disciplines such as History, Philosophy, Anthropology, and Sociology are welcome. Interdisciplinary perspectives on cardinal political issues will also be of interest.

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