See here for a job opening in Sinology (ancient China focus) at the University of Geneva. Philosophy is listed as one of the potential fields. Note that strong French language skills are required!
Author Archives: Steve Angle
Post-Doc in Chinese Buddhist Philosophy
The Institute for the Cultural and Intellectual History of Asia (IKGA) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (OeAW), Austria’s leading non-university research and science institution, is offering a POSTDOC POSITION (F/M/X) (part-time, 36 hours per week) in the European Research Council project “The Ethics of Empty Beliefs: Chinese Buddhist Philosophy in the ‘Period of Disunity’” (CHINBUDDHPHIL) (ERC-2022-StG-101077136).
The successful candidate will contribute to the project, principally by conducting research on the philosophy of the Sanlun 三論 school of Chinese Buddhism in relation to Western philosophy.
Loy Reviews Kim, Confucian Constitutionalism
Sungmoon Kim, Confucian Constitutionalism: Dignity, Rights, and Democracy, Oxford University Press, 2023, 296pp., $83.00 (hbk), ISBN 9780197630617.
Reviewed by Hui-chieh Loy, National University of Singapore
Sungmoon Kim’s book continues his long-standing project of bringing together insights from Confucianism and a political theorizing meant to be fit for the modern world. Like his earlier works, the new book combines interesting discussions of pre-modern texts and thoughtful applications of ancient ideas to modern concerns. The ambition of the book, as stated early on, is to articulate a “democratic theory of Confucian constitutionalism” (1). This ambition situates Kim’s book within the ongoing debate between the two main competing strands of modern Confucian political theorizing: Confucian political meritocracy and Confucian democracy. Kim advocates for the latter, putting his proposals…
Updates to Graduate Program listing
Here at the blog we do our best to keep the page dedicated to Graduate Programs in Chinese Philosophy up-to-date, including listing recent changes near the top of that page. Significant recent updates include noting Chris Fraser’s move to the University of Hong Kong, adding the University of Warwick (and Curie Virág), and noting Chenyang Li’s retirement from Nanyang Technological University. Please leave a comment or email me directly with any suggestions or updates!
Job Opening: NYU one-year post in East Asian Cultures
Liberal Studies at New York University invites applications for a one year Visiting Clinical Assistant Professor position in East Asian Cultures to begin September 1, 2025, pending administrative and budgetary approval. Please see here for more details (the application deadline is Nov. 1 2024).
Visiting Assistant Professor, HKU
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.
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.