[Posting for Tim Connolly – please direct comments to him]
The consensus approach to comparative philosophy draws on Rawls’ idea of “overlapping consensus,” in which adherents of different religious or philosophical worldviews reach an agreement on certain shared norms, though based on their own individual reasons which are not necessarily compatible with one another.
From Princeton University Press, what looks to be a very useful resource:
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The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism
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“UH Mānoa Philosophy Professor Roger T. Ames has been presented with a 2013 Confucius Culture Prize at the Sixth Annual World Confucian Conference in Shandong, China. The prizes are sponsored by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Ministry of Culture and the provincial government of Shandong Province—the home province of the sage Confucius.”
The full press release can be found here: http://manoa.hawaii.edu/news/article.php?aId=6047
Issue 75:4 (2013) of The Review of Politics contains reviews of three recent books in Chinese and comparative philosophy:
Nylan’s review of Bai is relentlessly critical, concluding that:
When all is said and done, this book highlights the enormous chasm that currently exists between Euro-American and PRC scholarship on a great many issues relating to the early empires in China. Tying scholarship so tightly to contemporary politics does not make for careful analyses likely to ameliorate long-standing disputes between the two great continental powers, as is Bai’s ostensible goal. Instead, this book will irritate knowledge- able readers while confirming others in their old prejudices. (p. 679)
It’s surprising to hear that a book as provocative as Bai’s will confirm people’s old prejudices. What Nylan means is that Bai’s picture of early China is based, she says, on a variety of views (e.g., that “zhongguo” means “Middle Kingdom”; she says it means “Central States,” courts once closely allied with the Zhou kings) that critical historians have long since rejected. She also objects to Bai’s characterizing Confucians and Daoists as belonging to schools, and wishes he had attended instead to the many overlaps among the early texts. And so on. Some of her points strike me as accurate and useful; others as tendentious but certainly based in relevant scholarship; and still others veer toward the realm of the “simplistic or unsubstantiated” that she says she finds in Bai’s book. As far as one can tell from the review, Nylan did not find a single thing of value in Bai’s book. I daresay there is an enormous chasm between the largely historical goals of Nylan’s scholarship and the largely philosophical goals of Bai’s. This is not to say that philosophers cannot learn from historians, or vice versa. But there are many challenges, not the least of which is learning to approach one another charitably, mindful of differing objectives and audiences.
The European Association of Chinese Studies lists Philosophy as among its interests, and a friend who is currently at a conference in Portugal says she never wants to leave. What more could you want? The conference is in July, 2014; abstracts must be submitted by December 16, 2013. More information here.
March 27-29, 2014 University of Alaska, Anchorage (UAA) Philosophy Department and UAA Ethics Center are jointly hosting a conference and convocation of undergraduates, graduate students and faculty. We will gather around the theme “Living Ethically in the Global World.” Intentionally the broad theme allows for diverse papers engaging ethics and topics requiring ethical analysis. Rogers Ames will offer the keynote address on Confucian Role Ethics.
We are particularly hopeful that there will be broad participation from students and faculty with interest and expertise in non-Western perspectives. We are eager to have participants from many countries and states.
Virginia Tech has a job out in Contemporary Global Ethical / Political Thought. Some of you might be interested in it. The job add can be found at https://listings.jobs.vt.edu/postings/43271.
The next session of the Columbia University Seminar on Neo-Confucian Studies will convene Friday, November 1, 2013 from 3:30 to 5:30pm in the Board Room of the Heyman Center for the Humanities at Columbia University.
Our presenter is Sor-hoon Tan of the National University of Singapore. Her paper is titled “The Concept of Yi in the Mencius and Problems of Distributive Justice.” A copy is available from the organizers.
All are welcome to attend. Please feel free to forward this message to interested colleagues. Please join us after the seminar for dinner at Columbia Cottage restaurant, which is located on the corner of Amsterdam and 111th Streets.
APA Newsletters, Fall 2013 (Volume 13, Number 1): Newsletter on Asian and Asian-American Philosophers and Philosophies
Where to buy this ebook