New book by Jiwei Ci: Moral China in the Age of Reform

A significant new book has been published by Cambridge: philosopher Jiwei Ci‘s Moral China in the Age of Reform. The Amazon link gives on access to some of the book. Here’s what I say on the back cover:

“Jiwei Ci accomplishes two things in his splendid new book. First, he goes beyond the account of his seminal Dalectic of the Chinese Revolution (1994) to explore the causes and effects of the moral crisis that has accompanied China’s three decades of post-Mao reform. Second, he uses this analysis as the foundation for theories of freedom and human agency — theories that are deeply revealing not just of the possibilities and challenges faced by Chinese citizens, but also of the human condition more generally.”

Conference on Reading the Masters

There will be an impressive-looking, interdisciplinary conference next month called “Reading the “Masters”: Contexts, Textual Structures, and Hermeneutic Strategies” held in Brno, Czech Republic. Much more information is available via their website. (I know that Paul already posted about this in the “Reader’s Discussion Topics” area of the blog, but I think that main posts have more visibility (and are included in our Facebook feed), so I am repeating the information here.)

Politics of Revival of Confucianism

An interesting article examining the CCP’s motives for promoting Confucianism has been published: Shufang Wu, “The Revival of Confucianism and the CCP’s Struggle for Cultural Leadership: a content analysis of the People’s Daily, 2000–2009,” Journal of Contemporary China 23:89 (2014), pp. 971-991. Abstract follows, with the key line in bold.

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Review of Chan, Confucian Perfectionism

This is a rich review of Joseph Chan’s important new book; the review is significant, in part, because it represents an engagement by someone from outside the Chinese philosophy world with contemporary Chinese thought. Wall is himself an advocate of perfectionism, which helps to explain why the cross-tradition engagement here is so fruitful.

Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

2014.08.16 View this Review Online   View Other NDPR Reviews

Joseph Chan, Confucian Perfectionism: A Political Philosophy for Modern Times, Princeton University Press, 2014, 256pp., $35.00 (hbk), ISBN 9780691158617.

Reviewed by Steven Wall, University of Arizona

This is an unusual book. It is partly an effort to reconstruct and revive an ancient tradition of political thought, partly an exercise in comparing that tradition to western liberalism and partly a contribution to contemporary political theory. It does not fit into any well-defined disciplinary niche. Its unusual aims, in turn, present a challenge to the reviewer. Should the success of the project be assessed in terms of its fidelity to a tradition of thought that has shaped Chinese culture for over two millennia, or should it be assessed in terms of its contribution to contemporary political thought? No doubt the right answer to this question is that it should be assessed along both dimensions, but this answer does not tell us how much weight to give to each measure of assessment. My own assessment will not grapple with this problem, since I am in no position to gauge its success in remaining faithful to traditional Confucian ideas. Accordingly, this review does not offer a verdict on how well Confucian Perfectionism succeeds in its aim of staying true to Confucian political thought (leaving that judgment to others who are better placed to make it). It focuses instead on how well the view of politics that it presents hangs together and how well it contributes to an understanding of the political topics that it addresses.

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Schwitzgebel’s Post about non-Western Philosophy and Mainstream Neglect

Over on his blog, The Splintered Mind, Eric Schwitzgebel wonders:

Why Don’t We* Know Our Chinese Philosophy?

(* “we” U.S.-based philosophy professors)

In 2001, I published a piece in the American Philosophical Association’s Newsletter on the Status of Asian & Asian-American Philosophers & Philosophies. In light of my recent reflections about the visibility of non-Western philosophy and philosophers, and especially this remarkable piece from an Asian-American who left philosophy, I thought I’d reproduce a revised version of the essay here. I’ve appended two new substantive notes at the end.

[Read his full post over on Splintered Mind. Discussion comments are welcome there or here.]

Gongsunlongzi & Other Neglected Texts – Conference in Zurich

The Gongsunlongzi and Other Neglected Texts: Aligning Philosophical and Philological Perspectives

Conference, August 27–29, 2014

Convenors: Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Behr, Dr. Lisa Indraccolo, Dr. Rafael Suter

Organization: Institute of Asian and Oriental Studies – Sinology and URPP Asia and Europe

Locations:

  • Museum Rietberg, Park-Villa Rieter, Lecture Hall, Seestrasse 110, 8002 Zurich (August 27, 2014)
  • Room KO2 F-174, University of Zurich, Main Building, Karl Schmid-Strasse 4, 8006 Zurich (August 28–29, 2014)

Registration required – Contact email:  lisa.indraccolo@uzh.ch

Program url: http://www.asienundeuropa.uzh.ch/events/conferences/gongsunlongzi.html

Description
The Gongsunlongzi is one of the few early Chinese received texts dealing with problems of logic and epistemology. Unfortunately, philological inquiries suggest that most probably huge parts were only composed during the Chinese Medieval period (3rd–7th centuries AD). Philosophical studies on the text usually take its authenticity for granted and consider the Gongsunlongzi as if it actually were a Warring States text (453–221 BC). Philological evidence speaking against this widely shared assumption tends to be ignored. Yet, the materials included in the received text are rather heterogeneous and any information about the context or reading instructions are lacking. As a consequence, any interpretation heavily relies on the premises of the reader. A more accurate philological study might not only provide a clearer picture of the process of composition of the Gongsunlongzi and the dating of the different textual layers that compose the text, but might also provide useful information about the context and valuable clues for its interpretation. The workshop aims at bringing together several scholars both in philosophical and philological studies, sharing an interest in the Gongsunlongzi. By contributing their complementary expertise, it is hoped that the workshop will provide ideal conditions for developing a more comprehensive perspective on the text, yielding new insights on the Gongsunlongzi and shedding light on the modalities in which questions of logic and epistemology were addressed in early and medieval China.

CFP: World Philosophies and War

Call for Papers

World Philosophies and War

Edited by Bassam Romaya and Eric S. Nelson

(University of Massachusetts Lowell)

Book chapters are solicited for a volume featuring global perspectives in the philosophical analysis of war. We seek papers that examine philosophical themes and perspectives on various aspects of war originating outside of the Western canon. The editors are especially interested in works that depart from or extrapolate upon existing philosophical frameworks (such as the just war tradition, war realism, etc.) commonly examined in Western philosophical literature on war. Prospective contributors may draw upon ancient sources (e.g., Sun Tzu’s Art of War) or contemporary works, literate or oral traditions, and secular or religious/philosophical schools of thought across global traditions. We seek papers that explore competing philosophies of war found in dominant world traditions such as Chinese, Indian, or Muslim, as well as the full range of disparate traditions (e.g., Buddhist, Jain, Hindu, Sikh, Confucian, et cetera) within the more dominate traditions. Submissions that draw from the cultural productions of African, Latin American, Indigenous societies, and other traditions are especially welcome.

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