There is a nice profile of Erin Cline and her new book project, “Moral Cultivation and the Family in Early Chinese Philosophy,” on the Georgetown University website. Congratulations, Erin!
Warp, Weft, and Way
Chinese and Comparative Philosophy 中國哲學與比較哲學
Erin’s topic looks really interesting. Sam Crane and I recently discussed early Confucian views on child-rearing over at “The Useless Tree.” My basic point was that I knew of hardly any early Confucian views on child-rearing (especially: early child-rearing). Maybe Confucius thought fathers should be distant from their sons. Mencius thought fathers and sons should love each other so much that moral training had to be contracted out. But although I never shut up, I haven’t read much. What else does early Confucianism have to say about child-rearing?
Thanks for your interest. One of my goals is certainly to highlight much-neglected resources in early Chinese texts concerning this set of issues. Although I do think there are some interesting and often-overlooked resources in texts like the Analects, Mengzi, and Xunzi, there are a variety of other texts that I examine in this project. I argue that there are detailed views on moral cultivation during the early years of a child’s life (and specifically concerning the role of mothers) that merit our consideration in texts like the Guoyu, Lienuzhuan, Hanshu, and Liji. I have a forthcoming essay in Dao (“Confucian Ethics, Public Policy, and the Nurse-Family Partnership”) that presents some of my arguments, so keep an eye out for it if you’re interested in a preview of the larger project!
Thanks Erin, I’m looking forward to it.
Anybody else?