New Book Series: East Asian Philosophy and Political Thought

A message from Sungmoon Kim:

I’m pleased to announce the launch of a new book series with Amsterdam University Press called “East Asian Philosophy and Political Thought.” As a series editor, I am joined by Ellie Wang, Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Philosophy at National Chengchi University, as the series’ associate editor. Please check out this link for the series web page: https://www.aup.nl/en/series/east-asian-philosophy-and-political-thought

As a series editor, my primary role will be identifying talented (young) scholars in East Asia and beyond and helping them find an intellectual platform in which their original ideas can be taken seriously and critically engaged by other scholars. I hope this will turn out to be a helpful academic venue for all of you who engage in East Asian philosophy and political thought, broadly understood. Please note that this series publishes both authored books and edited volumes that engage in East Asian philosophy and political thought, broadly defined. You can download the book proposal from our web page above.

Conference: Echoes of the Past, Visions for the Future

Next week there will be an exciting conference at Harvard: “Echoes of the Past, Visions for the Future: The Power of Ideas to Navigate the China- West Divides” on March 8-9, 2024. Please see this poster for more details.

You can also see this link at the EALC’s website, or see here for more on the broader project of which the conference is a part (“The ‘Right’ in Human Rights: Aristotelianism and Neo-Confucianism at the basis of the EU-China Dialogue”)

“Works in Progress” series for the 四海为学 Collaborative Learning Project

We are delighted to announce the launch of a “Works in Progress” series within the 四海为学 “Collaborative Learning” Project. This series aims to provide an academic forum where graduate students and early career scholars engaged in Chinese or comparative philosophy can share their projects and receive constructive feedback from peers in conference-style panel sessions. It welcomes projects at any stage of development and aims to accommodate the intellectual needs of each presenter. This series will also be collaborating with a number of academic journals, offering those working on articles the possibility for publication. Events will be held once a month, and the first application deadline is April 1.

Interested individuals can visit the website (General 2 — 四海为学 Collaborative Learning) or email WorksinProgressSHWX@hotmail.com for more information and an application form to present in our next session.

Sincerely,

 Sara Barrera and Daniel Sarafinas, co-directors of Works-in-Progress

Episode 3 of “This Is the Way”: Oneness

In the third episode of This Is the Way we explore the topic of oneness with our guest Philip J. Ivanhoe, a distinguished scholar and translator of East Asian philosophy. In part I, Justin gives a quick overview of Neo-Confucian philosophy and its connection to oneness. In part II, we talk with Ivanhoe about his book, Oneness: East Asian Conceptions of Virtue, Happiness, and How We Are All Connected. Some issues that we discuss include the following: the truth value of oneness (neither “strictly true” nor a groundless and pointless hallucination), the benefits of oneness (security, spontaneity, and metaphysical comfort), and the sense in which we are the minds of Heaven, Earth and the myriad things (Wang Yangming was right after all!).

Below you will find a more detailed accounting of topics, some specific passages and books or articles mentioned in the episode, and an opportunity to “weigh in” and share your views about the topic (or about the hosts’ wild claims about oneness or Chinese philosophy).

Your feedback is very welcome! Please leave a comment below, mail the hosts at ChinesePhilosophyPodcast@gmail.com, or follow them on X @ChinesePhilPod.

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Episode 2 of “This Is the Way”: Confucians on Shame

The second episode of This Is the Way is on shame as a moral emotion, as understood by classical Confucian philosophers (especially Confucius and Mencius, but also Xunzi). Our special guest is Jing Iris Hu (HU Jing 胡婧), author of “Shame, Vulnerability, and Change.” Key questions include the following: What are the Confucian arguments for having a sense of shame? To what extent can shame be autonomous or independent of social attitudes, and what mechanisms do the Confucian recommend for making it so independent? Do fully virtuous people need a sense of shame?
Below you will find a more detailed accounting of topics, some specific passages and books or articles mentioned in the episode, and an opportunity to “weigh in” and share your views about the topic (or about the hosts’ wild claims about the text). Continue reading

Episode 1 of “This Is the Way”: Daoist Detachment

Richard Kim and Justin Tiwald are pleased to present a new podcast series on Chinese Philosophy, This Is the Way. The administrators of Warp, Weft, and Way have generously agreed to host supporting materials and discussions of specific podcast episodes.  Links to support pages for all published episodes can be found here.

The first episode is titled “Daoist Detachment.” In fact, it’s really just about the distinctive sort of detachment that seems to be at the heart of some (“core”) passages of the Zhuangzi. In this episode, Richard and Justin introduce themselves and talk about the motivation for the podcast series, the idea of “philosophical double-vision” that makes Zhuangzi-style detachment possible, and some worries about this sort of detachment. Below you will find a more detailed accounting of topics, some specific passages and books or articles mentioned in the episode, and an opportunity to “weigh in” and share your views about the topic (or about the hosts’ wild claims about the text).

Your feedback is very welcome! Please leave a comment below, mail the hosts at ChinesePhilosophyPodcast@gmail.com, or follow them on X @ChinesePhilPod.

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