Translating the Ancient Classics in China and the West: 1950 and Beyond
University of South Carolina, 16th Annual Comparative Literature Conference
February 26-March 2, 2014
Send one page abstracts of 20 minute papers to 2014cplt@gmail.com by September 15, 2013. We also encourage panel submissions of up to four papers. Panel submissions should include abstracts of the individual papers and should not be more than four pages.
As Chris has recently reminded us, ctext is a terrific resource, both in terms of its textual coverage and the many innovative features that Donald has added to it. Currently it has some very useful coverage of the Song-Ming era, but for anyone looking for more texts from Neo-Confucian authors, I can recommend the Hong Kong Society of Humanities site (click on the 宋明哲學經典 link), which I have just added to our list of resources.
See below for the Table of Contents of Asian Philosophy 23:2 (2013):
The next session of the Columbia University Seminar on Neo-Confucian Studies will convene on Friday, May 3, 2013, from 3:30 to 5:30pm. We will meet in the Board Room of the Heyman Center for the Humanities at Columbia University. Please note the earlier starting time.
Our presenters for this session (listed here in alphabetical order) are Agnes Chalier and Tom Selover. Dr. Chalier’s paper is titled “Scientific Variations: Research on History and Philosophy of Science in Europe and China.” A copy of her paper is attached (actually, if you’re reading this on-line, contact one of the organizers for a copy). Dr. Selover’s paper is titled “Neo-Confucian Principle(s) in the Thought of Sun Myung Moon (1920-2012).” His paper will be distributed as soon as it is available.
If you work with early Chinese texts, you have probably used the Chinese Text Project (ctext.org), a wonderful on-line resource created by Donald Sturgeon some years ago while he was still a master’s student in Taiwan.
To many of us, within two or three years of its founding, ctext.org had become a more convenient and useful research tool than the online e-text resources created by large institutions such as Academia Sinica. As Donald has continued to expand the site’s functions — such as by adding a dictionary and concordance indexing — its utility has overtaken that of any rival Chinese text database, online or not.
Often, while working on a book chapter or essay, I have multiple browser windows open displaying different pages of content from ctext.org. I’m sure many others in the field use the site the same way.
All that useful content takes up a lot of server resources, however, which someone has to pay for. For years now, that someone has mainly been Donald himself. He’s had a few welcome anonymous donations and a handful of short-term sponsors, but by and large the costs for the site come out of his own pocket. And that’s not counting all the time and programming expertise that he’s put into it.
So a graduate student living on a modest stipend in one of the world’s most expensive cities is paying for a valuable research tool that all of us use.
May I suggest that those of us who can afford it — not graduate students, but professors and other interested readers — consider donating to support the site’s operations? You can do so through Paypal on the site’s support and donation page here. To those of us who visit the site frequently, the Chinese Text Project is worth much more than the cost of a book and probably more than the cost of most of the software on our computers. So why not consider donating an amount equal to the price of a book or a software package to support the continued operation and growth of this invaluable resource?
And if you’re in a position to do so, consider arranging for an institutional subscription to or sponsorship of the site, as described here.
This is a project that deserves our support.
— Chris Fraser
CALL FOR PAPER AND PANEL PROPOSALS
2013 Eastern Division Conference of the American Philosophical Association
December 27-30, 2013, Baltimore, MD – Marriott Waterfront
The Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy welcomes proposals for our panels at the American Philosophical Association’s Eastern Division meeting. Please submit individual paper abstracts or complete panel proposals.
Paper abstracts should be 150-200 words in length.
Complete panel proposals should include: panel title, a 150 word introduction to the theme of the panel, and a 150 word abstract for each of the papers.
Include each presenter’s name, e-mail address, and institution.
Proposals regarding any aspect of Asian or comparative philosophy are welcome.
Please submit these materials no later than May 7 to Brian Bruya at bbruya@emich.edu.
Professor Peimin Ni writes with an intriguing request:
A friend of mine works as a local policy making/consulting officer at Confucius’ hometown Qufu. I received a request from him, saying that he would like to get help from the international community of scholars in Chinese philosophy. He wants to know what we perceive as the current situation, problems, and difficulties in (1) disseminating Confucianism outside of China, and (2) the establishment and operation of Confucius Institutes in the world. He would also like to know that (3) on the basis of our assessment of these situations, what we recommend for promoting broader understanding of Chinese culture in the world, and (4) what particularly relevant material we would recommend him to read. Any idea or suggestion would be appreciated.
The call for help, I think, is a good sign that the local government is conscientious about the cultural heritage. It would be great if we can help, even if just offering him bits and pieces of information or opinions.
Anyone with comments or suggestions can post theme here as comments, and Peimin will collect them and summarize them for his friend (who does not read English). Alternatively, if you wish you can just write to Peimin directly. Of course, general discussion of the issues raised here (which may or may not be helpful to an official in Qufu) is also welcome.
I’ve added a plugin that allows you to download a PDF version of a post. This may be of use for some purposes, however, the current plugin does not include the comments for a post (which can be very illuminating). Nor does it convert non-Latin characters or accented Latin ones. It is what it is. Also, videos from popular sites such as YouTube or Vimeo are converted to links in the pdf. Please note the header, which indicates the presumptive intellectual property ownership by the author of the particular post. For citation norms governing blogs, see this MLA style summary.
There is a link along the bottom of each post for the purpose. Cheers.
THE COLUMBIA SOCIETY FOR COMPARATIVE PHILOSOPHY
Welcomes JOERG TUSKE, Department of Philosophy, Salisbury University
With responses from David Nowakowski , Department of Philosophy, Princeton University
Please join us at Columbia University Department of Religion on March 22, 2013 at 5:30pm for his lecture entitled
Free Will in Indian Philosophy
ABSTRACT: Recent discussions of free will in Indian Philosophy have mainly focused on the problem in the context of Buddhist Philosophy. Buddhist philosophers reject the existence of the self and the question is whether they also reject the existence of free will. The answers to this question vary from philosophers who claim that Buddhists have to be determinists to philosophers who argue for some form of compatibilism with regards to Buddhist Philosophy. In my talk I will focus on free will in at least one of the non-Buddhist schools of Indian philosophy, the Navya-Nyāya school. I will argue that while the philosophers of this school believed in the existence of a self, it would not be accurate to label them with one of the Western positions on free will. In fact the whole concept of free will is problematic in the context of Indian philosophy. This also has consequences for the Buddhist positions and how we classify them. Continue reading →
[On behalf of Ben Hammer, Shandong University]
A Call for Drafts for the Inaugural English-language Edition of Heritage and Transition: Studies in Chinese Humanities
Shandong University’s Journal of Literature, History and Philosophy (《文史哲》Wen Shi Zhe) is one of mainland China’s most well-known and well-respected academic journals. It has appeared bi-monthly for more than half a decade and has gained the highest repute among Chinese scholars. The Journal focuses on presenting scholarly work on various aspects of China’s traditional culture and society.
Due to the rising demand and desire for international dialogue as well as the rising prominence of sinology in Western countries, the editorial board has decided to begin publishing an edition in English, entitled Heritage and Transition: Studies in Chinese Humanities. It is our goal to help foster such international dialogue and provide a platform for important academic exchange.
This notice is to officially extend an invitation to Western scholars to take part in Heritage and Transition’s inaugural English-language edition. The theme of the inaugural edition is “The Forms and Formation of Chinese Society” (中国社会形态的问题). All entries must be original works somehow related to this theme.
There is no fee to submit. All submissions will be reviewed by the editorial board. All accepted submissions will receive payment. Furthermore, along with being published in the English edition, accepted works will also be translated into Chinese and published separately in the Chinese edition.
The deadline for the first edition is September 30, 2013. Submissions should be between 6,000 and 10,000 words in length. If you are interested in contributing or have questions, please contact Dr. Ben Hammer at benkhammer@sdu.edu.cn
Benjamin Hammer
Assistant Editor, Heritage and Transition
Lecturer, Advanced Institute of Confucian Studies
Shandong University
Jinan, Shandong, China, 250100
+011-86-152-6411-3113
