The Department of Politics and Public Administration, University of Hong Kong, has announced a Visiting Assistant Professor position with specialization in “Chinese political philosophy and philosophy of wellbeing.” The position is for one semester, beginning in January 2025; details are here.
Author Archives: Steve Angle
New Book: Li, The Self in the West and East Asia
Jin Li’s new book, The Self in the West and East Asia: Being or Becoming, is now available from Polity (see here). In this book, Li synthesizes philosophy with psychological research to examine how the self is conceptualized and functions in two distinct cultural systems. Please read on for more information.
De Gruyter’s Works of Philosophy and Their Reception
De Gruyter has launched an ambitious new project called “Works of Philosophy and Their Reception” (see here). It emphasizes both translation and commentary on a wide range of philosophical works. From the website:
The innovative part of the project consists in its systematic analysis of the reception of philosophical works and ideas – not only from a philosophical perspective but also in relation to other disciplines. This makes this resource interesting for students and scholars of all the fields of Humanities. Furthermore, Works of Philosophy and Their Reception focuses not only on canonical works of both Western philosophy and other philosophical traditions (Islamic philosophy, Chinese philosophy etc.), but also on less (or even not yet) explored works from different traditions (e.g., works of women philosophers). The objective of Works of Philosophy and Their Reception is to establish itself as a research platform that opens new fields of investigation and to cross bridges between different cultures and disciplines.
The site also lists planned and published works; those from the Chinese tradition include:
- The Lunheng (Evaluating Discourse) (ed. Alexus McLeod)
- The Wenzi (ed. Andrej Fech)
- The Xunzi (ed. Winnie Sung)
Approaching ancient philosophy globally at Oxford
A promising, inclusive approach to ancient philosophy is on display in the Oxford Network for Ancient Philosophy, which describes itself as follows:
The Oxford Network for Ancient Philosophy (ONAP) brings together faculty and students specializing in ancient philosophy across the University of Oxford. Oxford is an extraordinarily rich environment for the study of ancient philosophy, with leading researchers working on ancient Chinese, Greek, Indian, Roman philosophy, and more across a range of Humanities faculties. This forum seeks to support the vibrant community of staff and students working in all areas of ancient philosophy by providing up-to-date, cross-departmental resources and information geared to the study and teaching of ancient philosophy within Oxford.
The ONAP homepage is here. If you are familiar with other, similarly inclusive/boundary-crossing approaches to ancient philosophy, please share in the comments! (I know they’re out there….)
Telos-Paul Piccone Institute’s China Initiative
The Telos-Paul Piccone Institute, which is affiliated with the journal Telos, has underway a multi-pronged China Initiative that is well worth blog readers’ attention. Through this initiative, the Institute seeks “to become a key bridge for a mutually regarding, critical discussion of social and political theory between China and the West, well beyond the circles of East Asia specialists. The Telos China Initiative will include a wide variety of programs to be developed over a five-year period beginning in 2024.”
Among other things, the initiative includes an upcoming conference on “China Keywords” that is currently calling for submissions, with a deadline of September 1; see here for more details.
The initative has also been sponsoring a series of podcast conversations about key terms like tianxia, wangdao, and others. See here for more.
New Article: Angle, Methodologies and Communities in Comparative Philosophy
I am happy to report that my article “Methodologies and Communities in Comparative Philosophy” has just been published on-line in Metaphilosophy. A read-only version can be accessed here. The abstract:
There is considerable disagreement and even confusion over what forms of border-crossing philosophizing are most appropriate to our times. Are comparative, cross-cultural, intercultural, blended, and fusion philosophy all the same thing? Some critics find what they call “comparative philosophy” to be moribund or problematically colonialist; others assert that projects like “fusion philosophy” are intellectually irresponsible and colonialist in their own way. Can we nonetheless identify a distinctive project of comparative philosophy and say why it is important? Based on a broad survey of approaches, this essay offers schematic answers to these questions, clarifies some persistent confusions, and stresses the constitutive gamble that lies at the heart of all comparative philosophy. There are several different ways to do comparative philosophy well; which method to employ depends on the values that motivate and the pragmatic situation that frames one’s inquiry, and on the ways in which one or more communities receive and respond to one’s contribution.
Call for Festschrift: Celebrating Chung-ying Cheng’s Contributions and Life (1935-2024)
Chung-ying Cheng, Ph.D. in Philosophy (Harvard University), Professor (since 1963) and Professor Emeritus (since June 1, 2024) of Department of Philosophy, University of Hawaii at Manoa, USA, Founding Editor and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Chinese Philosophy (in English language) (since 1973), Founding President of the International Society of Chinese Philosophy (since 1975), Founding President of the International Society of the Yijing《易經》(since 1979), Founding President of the International Society of Hermeneutics (since 1980), honoris causa of the International Institute for Hermeneutics Agora Hermeneutica (since 2021), had departed from his contributive journey on this world (and headed to another magnificent march as he always was a tireless soldier), at Kaiser Moanalua Hospital, Honolulu, on July 2, 2024, US Time.
To celebrate Professor Chung-ying Cheng’s life-time service and prolific achievements, the Journal of Chinese Philosophy calls for full articles to be peer-reviewed, under a tentative theme: Festschrift: Celebrating Chung-ying Cheng’s Contributions and Life (1935-2024). All topics of leading scholarship in high quality American English are welcome and submissions are immediately available. For Guidelines, please contact Dr. Andrew Fuyarchuk.
Chung-Ying Cheng, 1935-2024
Dear friends and members of the International Society for Chinese Philosophy (ISCP),
It is with a heavy heart and grave sadness that I write to formally inform you that Professor Cheng, the founding director of ISCP and the founding editor and editor-in-chief of the Journal of Chinese Philosophy, has passed away on July 2 (US time) at the Kaiser Moanalua Hospital, Honolulu, Hawaii, at the age of 89.
As many of you know, Professor Cheng has been a tireless mover in promoting Chinese philosophy on the world stage for over 50 years. Moreover, he has been a true inspiration as a senior prominent scholar who never missed a session in the conferences that he attended, always listening intently, asking questions, and engaging in conversation with the presenters. He has made major contributions to the study of the Philosophy of Yijing and pioneered onto-hermeneutics with numerous publications.
In the upcoming World Congress of Philosophy in Rome in early August, we will hold an invited session in honor and in memory of him, a round table on the contributions of Chinese philosophy to the world philosophy organized initially by him, as well as three ISCP society sessions. If you are attending the WCP, please come to these sessions to honor him and in memory of him.
In consultation with Dr. Linyu Gu (the surviving spouse Dr. Chung-Ying Cheng), the best and the most meaningful way that we can remember him is to carry on the work of the ISCP and JCP that Professor Cheng had been so passionate about and devoted lifelong energy to. A call-for-paper for a festschrift in memory of him will be distributed under a separate cover with the subject title, “Call for Festschrift: Celebrating Chung-ying Cheng’s Contributions and Life (1935-2024).”
In addition, the Philosophy Department at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa, where Dr. Cheng has taught since 1963, has posted an article written by Professor Tamara Albertini, chair of the department and created a webpage in memory of him. The article includes a link to a poster featuring the last lecture delivered by Professor Chung-Ying Cheng on April 19 and a second link to photos from the time when he was a young scholar to his recent retirement celebration. Readers can leave comments in the comment field as a tribute to him. The Cheng family will be able to read these messages. Here is the article and webpage: https://hawaii.edu/phil/chung-ying-cheng-1935-2024-a-life-dedicated-to-east-west-scholarship/
Sincerely,
Ann A. Pang-White
Executive Director of ISCP
Winner of 2023 Dao Annual Best Essay Award
Dao has established “The Annual Best Essay Award” since 2007. In addition to a certificate of achievement, the award comes along with a prize of US$1,000. The award winners will be noted in the website of the journal as well as the website of Springer, the publisher of the journal. The award ceremony is held each year at the American Philosophical Association Annual Meeting (Eastern Division) in early January, where a special panel on the theme of the award-winning essay is held. The critical comments and the author’s responses to them presented at the panel, after review and revision, will be published in the last issue of Dao each year.
Book of Interest: Cairns and Virág, eds., In the Mind, in the Body, in the World
Oxford University Press has recently published Douglas Cairns and Curie Virág, eds., In the Mind, in the Body, in the World: Emotions in Early China and Ancient Greece. The Oxford Scholarship Online version (with links to all the abstracts, and full text for those with institutional subscriptions) is here:
https://academic.oup.com/book/56286
And the print version is here:
