Call for Submissions: 2027 Midwest Conference on Chinese Thought

The Midwest Conference on Chinese Thought was created to foster dialogue and interaction between scholars and students working on Chinese thought across different disciplines and through a variety of approaches. We invite submissions on any aspect of Chinese thought, as well as comparative work that engages Chinese perspectives, from scholars at any stage of their career.

The 2027 conference will take place in person at the University of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois on April 7-9, 2027. Conference participants will be provided with two days and nights of hotel accommodations and meals.

For consideration, please submit a 1-page abstract formatted for blind review (as a Word document) to Brook Ziporyn at ziporyn@uchicago.edu with the subject line “MCCT 2027 Abstract Submission” by January 2, 2027. Please also attach a separate document containing your name, the title of your proposed presentation as it appears on the abstract, your institutional affiliation, and your contact email address. For more information, visit the conference website at https://chinesethought.iu.edu/home.php. For questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to graduate student organizers Tyler Neenan (tjneenan@uchicago.edu) and Danica Cao (ddcao@uchicago.edu).

Our keynote speaker will be Tao Jiang, Professor of Religion and Philosophy at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, with a joint appointment in the Department of Religion and the Department of Philosophy. His areas of specializations include classical Chinese philosophy, Mahāyāna Buddhist philosophy, and cross-cultural philosophy. He is the author of Origins of Moral-Political Philosophy in Early China which received the Honorable Mention of 2023 Joseph Levenson Prize from the Association for Asian Studies, and Contexts and Dialogue: Yogācāra Buddhism and Modern Psychology on the Subliminal Mind. He is the co-editor of The Reception and Rendition of Freud in China. Jiang directs Rutgers Center for Chinese Studies and co-chairs the Neo-Confucian Studies Seminar at Columbia University.

MCCT 2027 CFA

New Book – Jing Liu: Ziran in Early Daoist Thinking

Ziran in Early Daoist Thinking: Spontaneous Nature – 1st Edition
By Jing Liu. Copyright 2027. 166 Pages, 7 B/W Illustrations. by Routledge. Also available as eBook on Taylor & Francis eBooks (Institutional Purchase).

From the publisher: This book offers a different understanding of nature by investigating the concept of ziran 自然 in the early Daoist texts, aiming to lay a metaphysical foundation for Daoism, Daoist environmentalism, and ecofeminism. Continue reading →

Liu Reviews Kim, A Confucian Theory of Power

Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

Sungmoon Kim, A Confucian Theory of Power, Manchester University Press, 2026, 232pp, $130.00 (hbk) ISBN 9781526182661.

Reviewed by Antong Liu, Singapore Management University

The main body of this book is an extensive essay by Sungmoon Kim on the concept of power and its evolution in Confucian political thought. While arguably underlying any attempt to theorize politics, power “remains one of the least examined concepts” in the Confucian tradition (7). This lack of attention to power, as Kim claims, correlates with scholars’ overemphasis on Confucian moral virtue (3) but weakens the potential for Confucianism to thrive as a robust political theory in contemporary East Asia (8). To mitigate it, Kim begins by interpreting several moments in the ancient history of Confucian political thought in…

Upcoming 四海为学 Collaborative Learning Events

Dear Colleagues,

Next week the 四海为学 Collaborative Learning Project will host two events:

November 2nd at 17:30 Beijing time Derek Hird will give a lecture titled “Strictness, Kindness, and the Way of the Father”

November 3rd at 19:00 Beijing time we will host a book discussion of Li Yong’s Confucian Comparative Political Philosophy.

Please feel free to advertise these events or share them with anyone. All our events are free and open to everyone. Note that no pre-registration or passcode is required for any 四海为学 events.

For a list of upcoming events see our calendar here.

Sincerely,

Paul J. D’Ambrosio

Reflective Equanimity in Confucius

The latest article in our series on the philosophy of Confucius drawing from the Dialogues of Confucius is now out!

Reflective equanimity and Tian 天 in the philosophy of Confucius: Insights from the Dialogues of Confucius

If you have trouble accessing the full article, just let me know, and I’ll be happy to send you a pdf.

Abstract: Kwong-loi Shun offers a Confucian account of reflective equanimity that stems largely from the work of Mencius and Zhu Xi. Although Shun labels it as ‘spiritual’, his account tends toward the naturalistic. In this article, we offer an account of reflective equanimity according to Confucius that takes seriously the spiritual aspect, by tying it to Confucius’ notion of tian. We describe three aspects of tian from the Dialogues of Confucius that are consistent with Shun’s view and, we believe, extend his view, while simultaneously preserving and reconciling the competing ‘personal’ and ‘cosmic’ aspects of Confucius’ view of tian.