Wm. Theodore de Bary, among the most influential scholars of Confucianism in the United States, will be discussing a paper titled “Neo-Confucianism and the Core Curriculum” at the Columbia Neo-Confucianism Seminar on Friday, October 5. These seminars are open to any interested parties; contact the organizers for a copy of the paper (which should be read in advance). Details follow. (Also, note that the organizers are soliciting ideas for future sessions this year.) Continue reading →
"When two go together"
This post proposes a book project, for anyone who wants it.
Two kinds of serious conversation
By “serious” conversations I mean conversations that work toward knowledge (at least for one party), or good decision (at least by one party), or designing something complex.
The serious conversations glimpsed in the Analects are mainly between a master and student. The Mencius is more concerned with how an adept should counsel a king. 1A7 looks like a handbook for that.
These two kinds of conversation get their shape and point from inequalities: unequal wisdom and unequal power. Between master and student, one side has the wisdom and the power. Between counselor and king, one side has the wisdom and the other has the power. The point of both conversations, as understood by all parties, is to transmit some wisdom from the wiser party to the other — within constraints imposed by the powerful party, such as limited time.
One could do a study of these two forms of conversation in Confucian literature: the varieties of each and the guidance on how to do them well. That’s not my main proposal here.
Is it fair to say that when early Confucianism thought about serious conversation, these two are the main kinds it thought about?
Diomedean conversation
The Western tradition saliently values another kind of conversation, aiming more at discovering or creating than transmitting. Continue reading →
ACPA Call For Commentators for 2013 Pacific APA Group Sessions
[From Dr. Bai Tongdong, ACPA President and Professor of Philosophy, Fudan University]
Dear all,
The Association of Chinese Philosophers in North America (ACPA) will try to host two panels at 2013 Pacific Division Meeting of the American Philosophical Association (APA). Due to the limitation of space, the second panel might not be accepted by APA (this happens to all group meetings), but we are very hopeful. Each presentation will have a commentator to comment on. Please reply to me at baitongdong [at] gmail [dot] com if you are interested in commenting on any of the six presentations we are going to propose to APA. Thank you for your considerations!
Best wishes,
Tongdong
Association of Chinese Philosophers in North America (ACPA) Group Panels at the APA Pacific Convention
March 27-30, 2013, at the Westin St Francis in San Francisco
Conference Next Week on Contemporary Confucianism
I will be attending a conference next week (Sept. 26-8) at National Central University in Taiwan; its title is “International Conference on the International Dimension of Contemporary Neo-Confucianism.” A program (in Chinese) is available here, for anyone who’s interested.
"Growing Pains" and Chinese Philosophy
At dinner at a recent conference I had a very interesting conversation with Liu Qing from East China Normal University. He told a few of us how the television show Growing Pains (starring Alan Thicke and Kirk Cameron) had made a big impression when it was shown in China. For many children at the time, it was their first acquaintance with parents who reasoned with their children instead of just giving orders. He said the younger generation (meaning now people in their late 20s or 30s) began to ask their parents why they couldn’t be more like the parents on the show and explain their position to their children instead of expecting to be obeyed all the time. They began to question the parameters of the parental relationship they had grown up with and ask for more equal treatment
Memorial Session Planned to Honor Tong and Lee
Jiyuan Yu, President of the ISCP, writes:
Dear Colleagues:
In the past months, ISCP sadly lost two prominent members and former leaders, Professor Lik-Kuen Tong and Professor Kwang-Sae Lee. Their contributions to our Society and to philosophy will be forever remembered and cherished. I was informed by Professor Laura Weed that Professor Lee was originally scheduled as a speaker at the coming APA Eastern Meeting at a panel organized by the International Institute of Field Being.
With his unexpected passing away and the withdrawal of three other panelists, Laura suggested that the International Institute of Field Being and ISCP work together to turn the available space and time into a memorial session dedicated to Professors Tong and Lee. I think it is a great idea and wholly embrace it. Hence I am calling for your participation, especially those members who know these two great scholars well and/or are interested in their philosophies. You can present a paper about their thought, or a memorial piece about either or both of them, or any other talks in honor of them.
Please contact me or Laura if you would like to speak. Thanks in advance. I would also like to encourage all ISCP members who are at APA Eastern to attend the session, regardless whether you speak or not. The time is: Saturday Morning, Dec. 29, 11:15–1: 15.
All the best wishes;
Jiyuan
—
Jiyuan Yu Professor of Philosophy SUNY Buffalo President and Executive Director International Society for Chinese Philosophy (ISCP) 135 Park Hall Buffalo, NY 14260Query about Finances of Graduate Education in East Asia
Blog regular Joshua Harwood writes:
I am interested in the financial details of graduate programs in Chinese philosophy, in East Asia. Taiwan (where I am now) offers some scholarship assistance for those who enroll in Chinese graduate programs, which includes living stipends, etc., but I know that such assistance differs by major, and the details of the program are not crystal-clear to me.
I’ve saved some money, but doubt that I’ll ever meet the tuition demands of most US universities, and so I decided long ago that I would prefer to study in an East Asian graduate program. I’m probably nearing the time to begin my admissions process, and I would appreciate any helpful resources (in Chinese or English) which might help me focus my decisions.
If it helps, my primary interests in Chinese philosophy are Yang Zhu, pre-Han Chinese metaethics, and 命. For non-Chinese-specific topics, I’m most interested in formal logic, especially the connection of formal languages to natural languages, and mathematical logic.
I’m sure we’d all benefit from any thoughts or advice.
New Graduate Program at Nanyang
Nanyang Technological University of Singapore has launched a philosophy graduate program (MA and PhD), with an emphasis on Asian and comparative philosophy. The university also offers very generous financial aid packages (for 12 months a year). More information can be found at the website: http://philosophy.hss.ntu.edu.sg/Pages/OurProgramme.aspx .
For more information, you may also contact Prof. Chenyang Li directly at: cyli@ntu.edu.sg.
Buffalo ISCP International Conference on Chinese Philosophy
Call for Papers
18th International Conference on Chinese Philosophy
By the International Society for Chinese Philosophy (ISCP)
Chinese Philosophy and the Way of Living
July 21-24, 2013
State University of New York at Buffalo
Deadline for submission of the abstracts and symposium proposals: November 30th, 2012.
Please send to buffaloiscpconference@yahoo.com
For details, please visit the Conference website: http://iscp.philosophy.buffalo.edu/
The theme of the conference
One major characteristic of Chinese philosophical tradition is that it is not just a matter of theoretical pursuit, but is more a practical enterprise. Philosophy is thought to be a “Learning of Living” (生命的学 问), and doing philosophy is to practice a way of life that one chooses and to cultivate and transform character. The central question of Chinese philosophy is “what is the Dao?” and dao (literally, road or way) is the way in which human beings should lead their lives. This conception of philosophy differs from the prevailing modern university conception of philosophy, according to which philosophy is mainly a theoretical discipline and philosophical reflection is peripheral to life.
The conception of philosophy is worth studying, keeping alive, and reviving as an alternative way of doing philosophy. It is similar to the idea that philosophy is the “art of living,” which was prominent in ancient Greek/Roman philosophy, especially in the spirit of Socrates. His motto that “the unexamined life is not worth living” clearly shows that what is examined is “life” rather than “knowledge” or “proposition.” The Jewish tradition is also characteristic of the idea that letter and spirit, idea and life, are inseparable. In the West this conception has been marginalized in modern times, but seems to have experienced a sort of renaissance, as can be seen in the works of (to name only a few) P. Hadot, A. Nehamas, M. Nussbaum, and others.
The Buffalo conference is to explore in details and in depth Chinese conception of philosophy as a learning of living. It seeks not only to deepen our understanding of the nature of Chinese philosophy, but also, through a cross-cultural comparative approach, to enrich the conception of philosophy as a way of living and contribute its revival in contemporary philosophy.
Sub-themes of the conference include but are not limited to:
1. Chinese philosophy as a learning of living
2. Philosophical discourses and philosophical practicality
3. Justifying a way of living: metaphysics, aesthetics, and rhetoric
4. Practical wisdom
5. Moral psychology
6. Formation of self, character, and virtue
7. Happiness, death and suicide
8. Politics and the way of living
9. Philosophical therapy and spiritual practice
10. The Art of Living: Chinese and Greek
11. The Art of living: Chinese and Jewish
12. Methodology of comparative study
Platform Sutra Workshop led by Peter Gregory
Woodenfish Project: Platform Sutra Workshop led by Peter Gregory
Date: Dec. 28 to Jan. 6th, 2013
Venue: Guangzhou, South of China
Eligibility: faculty, graduate level and advanced undergraduate students
Application Deadline: Nov. 10, 2012
Cost: covered by scholarship (except for airfare to Guangzhou)
Introduction:
The Platform Sutra Workshop will begin with a five day intensive workshop on the Platform Sutra led by the Eminent Buddhist Scholar, Professor Peter N. Gregory, followed by a three day tour to the temples related to the Sixth Patriarch Huineng. The five day intensive will include a monastic life practicum consisting of daily meditation. Nanhua temple where Huineng’s full body relic has been enshrined will be a part of the tour as well as Guangxiao, Baoguang, Liurong and Liuzu Temple. The Workshop is coordinated with Professor Gong Jun from Zhongshan University in Guangzhou and sponsored by Chan Base Association in Guangzhou. Continue reading →
