Paul D’Ambrosio of East China Normal University in Shanghai — one of the strong philosophy programs in China, which it has been my good fortune to visit a few times — writes with this news:
We are starting an English language Chinese Philosophy MA program here at ECNU. We can work with the students to get scholarships from the Chinese government that would include full tuition, housing (a single room with a bathroom, balcony, and a shared kitchen), and a 2,000rmb living expense each month. Our program will be two years, and the students are expected to take four classes each semester.
The program differentiates itself by accommodating to Western teaching styles and methods, with the majority of courses focused on comparative or Chinese philosophy. If you know any students interested please have them contact me.
Sincerely,
Paul D’Ambrosio
德安博 博士
中国上海
东川路500号
华东师范大学哲学系
邮编：200241
手机: 13061988380
Dr. Paul D’Ambrosio
Philosophy Department
East China Normal University
Shanghai, Minhang District
500 Dongchuan road
200241
Cell Phone: (86) 13061988380
Here are some more details about the program:
The Department of Philosophy at East China Normal University is a key center of the study and education of philosophy in mainland China. The distinguished faculty is comprised of 18 full professors, 17 associate professors, and a number of assistant professors. The department runs 4 Ph. D. programs (Chinese philosophy, Western philosophy, Marxist philosophy and Logic) and 9 master programs (Marxist philosophy, Chinese philosophy, Western philosophy, logic, ethics, philosophy of science and technology, history of natural science, religious studies, and philosophy of management). The department also has a Ministry of Education recognized undergraduate program for philosophy majors. Since 1995, the department’s Ph. D. and master programs have accepted students from around the globe, including the U.S.A., Switzerland, South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Taiwan.
Feng Qi, the founder of the department, was a well-known philosopher and historian of Chinese philosophy. His work has been edited into 10-volumes where Feng Qi not only provides with a systematic understanding of Chinese philosophy from the very beginning to the 20th century, but also puts forward his own philosophical system, that is, the doctrine of wisdom. Thanks to Feng and his disciples, including Yang Guorong, Gao Ruiquan and Chen Weiping, the department takes particular pride in its reputation in the study of Chinese philosophy and comparative study of Western and Chinese philosophy both in China and abroad. Its Chinese philosophy program has been twice (2001 and 2007) listed as a municipal level key discipline/area of study by the Municipality of Shanghai; it has been officially listed as a national level major area of study since 2007.
Administration Requirements
An international student, who has a bachelor degree in philosophy or other relative major, is allowed to apply for the master degree. An international student, who has a master degree in philosophy or other relative major, is allowed to apply for Ph. D. degree.
Programs in Detail
The 2-year MA program consists of 2 common courses (Chinese Language, Chinese Culture or Chinese Civilization; 7 credits), 3 required major courses (9 credits), 5 elective courses (10 credits) and a MA dissertation of 10,000-20,000 words in length. The students are required to choose 3 major elective courses in Chinese philosophy and 2 other courses given by anthropology, politics or other MA programs.
The 4-year Ph.D. program requires 15 credits course work and a Ph.D. dissertation of 40,000-50,000 words in length.
This program enlists highly qualified teachers whose focus is on the nature of philosophical problems and trains students how to utilize traditional Chinese resources to resolve contemporary philosophical problems. Through selected readings in the history of Chinese philosophy, this program’s courses helps students cultivate a specialized knowledge of Chinese philosophy and explore its significance for the overall advancement of contemporary philosophy.
Type of Course Course Name Credits Semester
Required major courses Professional Chinese for Chinese Philosophy 3
Fall or Spring
Selected Readings in Confucianism 3 Fall or Spring
Selected Readings in Daoism 3 Fall or Spring
Elective major courses (choose any 3) Neo-Taoism in the Wei Jin Period 2 Fall or Spring
Neo-Confucianism in the Song Period 2 Fall or Spring
Selected Topics in Chinese Buddhism 2 Fall or Spring
Selected Topics in Modern Chinese Philosophy 2 Fall or Spring
Metaphysics and Chinese Philosophy Tradition 2 Fall or Spring
Epistemology and Chinese Philosophy Tradition 2 Fall or Spring
Moral Philosophy and Chinese Philosophy Tradition 2 Fall or Spring
Linguistic Philosophy and Chinese Philosophy Tradition 2 Fall or Spring
Faculty
ECNU’s faculty of Chinese philosophy has accumulated a powerful reserve of scholars, and has already completed the formation of its own style of research, and has a considerable academic influence inside and outside of China. The professors possess experience in research outside of the country and professional experience in designing English speaking courses about Chinese philosophy.
Professor Yang Guorong
Prof. Yang is a Chinese philosopher and a leading figure in the study of Chinese Philosophy in China today. He is entitled as Changjiang Professorship by the Education Ministry, China; he is also the President of the International Society for Metaphysics（ISM）.
Research Areas: metaphysics, ethics, the history of Chinese philosophy, and East/West comparative philosophy.
E-Mail: yangguorongecnu@163.com
Prof. Yang has published more than 15 books and 180 papers on classical Confucianism, neo-Confucianism, Daoism, modern Chinese thought, and several comparative studies of Chinese and Western philosophy, among other subjects. His works have been introduced and positively evaluated in Encyclopedia of Chinese Philosophy (New York: Routledge, 2003). In the last decade, Yang has been developing his own philosophical system of a concrete metaphysics, mainly in his three books: A Treatise on Dao, Ethics and Being: Treatise on Moral Philosophy, and Accomplishing the Self and Accomplishing Things: The Genesis of a World of Meaning. As a critique of traditional metaphysics, Yang’s concrete metaphysics takes the doctrines of Aristotle, Kant, Hegel and even Heidegger as examples of what he calls abstract metaphysics, which, to a greater or lesser extent, attempt to establish some ultimate truth dissociated from the historical process of man’s knowing and practicing.
Professor Zong Desheng
Professor Zong obtained his Ph. D. in Philosophy in 1998 from Tulane University, New Orleans.
Research Areas: philosophy of language and meta-ethics.
E-mail: dszong@philo.ecnu.edu.cn
Before joining ECNU Professor Zong taught at several universities in the US, including American University in Washington D. C. and Central Michigan University in Michigan.
Select Publications:
“Retention of Indexical Belief and the Notion of Psychological Continuity”, the Philosophical Quarterly 61:244 (July 2011)
“A New Framework for Comparative Study of Philosophy”, Dao: a Journal of Comparative Philosophy 13:4 (winter 2010)
“Three Language-Related Methods in Chinese Zen Buddhism”, Philosophy East and West 55:4 (October 2005)
“Agent-Neutrality is the Exclusive Feature of Consequentialism”, Southern Journal of Philosophy 38:4 (Winter 2000)
“Studies of Intensional Contexts in Mohist Writings”，Philosophy East and West, Vol. 50, No. 2 (Apr., 2000)
Professor Yu Zhenhua
Professor Yu obtained one Ph.D. from East China Normal University and another from University of Bergen. He is now Chairman of the Department of Philosophy, ECNU. He is also a professor of Chinese philosophy at New York University Shanghai.
Research Areas: metaphysics, epistemology and comparative philosophy
E-mail: ecnuyu@hotmail.com, zhyu@philo.ecnu.edu.cn
Yu’s Chinese publications include more than 50 articles in various academic journals and two books: 1) How is Metaphysical Wisdom Possible? (Shanghai: East China Normal University Press, 2000); 2) The Tacit Dimension of Human Knowledge (Beijing: Beijing University Press, 2012). He has also published more than 10 English articles in journals such as International Philosophical Quarterly, Philosophy Today, Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy, and Tradition and Discovery, etc.
Professor Fang Xudong
Prof. Fang obtained his Ph.D. at Beijing University in 2001. He is now a professor and doctoral supervisor at the Department of Philosophy, ECNU.
Research Areas: Neo-Confucianism, Confucian Ethics, Interpretation of classics.
Ｅ-mail: xdfang@philo.ecnu.edu.cn
Prof. Fang has taught at Harvard University and Oxford University as a visiting professor. He has published many books and articles, including “Honoring the Virtuous Nature” and “Following the Knowledge”: Research on the Philosophical Thought of Wu Cheng ( Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 2005) , The Painting Comes After the Plain Groundwork: The Interpretations and Philosophical Studies of the Classics (Beijing: Beijing University Press, 2012), Papers on Confucian Ethics (Shanghai: East China Normal University Press, 2015).
Dr. Paul Joseph D’Ambrosio
An American citizen, Dr. D’Ambrosio is a post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Philosophy, ECNU. He holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from the National University of Ireland, and has taught Chinese philosophy at the National University of Ireland in Ireland, Merrimack College in the USA and Fudan University in China, and ECNU. Dr. D’Ambrosio has published over ten articles on Confucian ethics and Daoism, and translated a number of philosophy books from Chinese to English.
Research areas: Chinese philosophy, comparative philosophy, ethics, Wei-Jin philosophy
E-mail: pauljdambrosio@hotmail.com
Mr. Chad Austin Meyers
Mr. Meyers is an American citizen. After graduating from Kent State University with a B. A. in philosophy, he pursued his interest in Chinese at Miami University. Through the Confucian Institute of Miami University, Meyers won a scholarship to study Chinese philosophy at ECNU. Meyers completed his 3 years Master’s program in the department of philosophy at ECNU, and won another scholarship to pursue his research in Chinese philosophy. He is currently a doctoral candidate under the supervision of Prof. Yang Guorong in the Department of Philosophy, ECNU. He is the translator of the special issue of “Yang Guorong’s Concrete Metaphysics,” published in the journal Contemporary Chinese Thought (vol. 43, no. 4, Summer 2012). His translation of Yang’s book The Reciprocal Accomplishment of Self and Things: A Contemporary Chinese Philosophy of the Meaning of Being has been accepted by the Indiana University Press.
Research areas: Chinese philosophy, comparative study of Chinese and Western philosophy
E-mail: technocratopia@gmail.com
Dear Professor D’Ambrosio, I would like to discuss with you the program in greater detail. Would you please provide an email on this page by which I can reach you? Thanks.
It’s right there at the end of his mini-bio.
This is a lot of Pauls…
Any one interested Email me at pauljdambrosio@hotmail.com
The Chinese government scholarship monthly stipend for MA students just got bumped up to 3,000rmb a month (from 1,700 or 1,800). .
http://jkw.mof.gov.cn/zhengwuxinxi/zhengcefabu/201501/t20150121_1182625.html?from=groupmessage