Author Archives: Tim Connolly

CFP for Panel on Trauma and Healing at 12th East-West Philosophers’ Conference (May 24-31, 2024)

Title of Proposed Panel: Orientation-Philosophical Explorations of Trauma and Disorientation

Organizers: Dr. Reinhard G. Mueller and Dr. Olga Faccani (on behalf of the Hodges Foundation for Philosophical Orientation)

Thomas Laqueur, writing in the London Review of Books in 2010, signaled the emergence of our age as one experienced as trauma by highlighting the verifiable surge in the term’s usage: “Having once been relatively obscure, it is now found everywhere: used in the New York Times fewer than 300 times between 1851 and 1960, it has appeared 11,000 times since.” As trauma’s omnipresence surges, not least through the Coronavirus pandemic and recent wars, the challenge arises: How do we orient ourselves in a rapidly changing world and to cascading waves of traumatic experiences? How do we cope with disorienting crises?

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New “Book Discussion” and “Roundtable” Series by the 四海為學 “Collaborative Learning” Project

The 四海為學 “Collaborative Learning” Project is proud to announce two new series: “Book Discussions” and “Roundtables“, to be held alongside our lectures and seminars.
Next week we will host our first book discussion: “Human Becomings” by Roger Ames, further information and the Zoom link can be found here.
We will also have our first roundtable: “Agency in Early Chinese Thought” next week, for details and the Zoom link click here.
On June 19th at 9pm Beijing time we will host Christine Tan for a workshop on her recently published paper “Freedom In: A Daoist Response to Isiah Berlin.” This is the Zoom link.
All our events are free and open to anyone interested. Recordings of past events can be found here.

Deborah Sommer lecture Thursday May 4th

Tomorrow, May 4th, at 9 p.m. Beijing time the 四海为学 “Collaborative Learning” Project will host Deborah Sommer. Prof. Sommer will discuss different images of Confucius, including statues and paintings, in China and the West. For more details about Prof. Sommer’s talk, including the Zoom link, please go to: https://www.sihaiweixue.org/deborah-sommer-lecture

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Upcoming 四海为学 “Collaborative Learning” Seminars and Lectures

The 四海为学 “Collaborative Learning” project, an online philosophy lecture and seminar series promoting learning across cultures, will host three seminars and four lectures in the next few months.

Our seminars include:

“The Philosophy of Guo Xiang” Led by: Paul D’Ambrosio, East China Normal University. Taking place January 9, 10, 11, 16, 17, 18, 23, 24, 25; from 22:00-23:30 Beijing Time.

“Confucianism Today” Led by: Robert A. Carleo III, East China Normal University. Taking place March 7, 9, 14, 16, 21, 23, 28, 29; from 20:30–22:30 Beijing time

“The Bad Confucius” Led by: Dimitra Amarantidou, University of Macau. Taking place May 9, 11, 16, 18, 23, 25, 29, 31; from 21:00-22:30 Beijing Time

For more information, including links to the meetings, see https://www.sihaiweixue.org/seminars

Our lectures include:

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Bin Song lecture at East Stroudsburg University

Bin Song (Washington College) will be visiting this Monday, Nov. 11, at East Stroudsburg University, for a talk on “Quiet-sitting and Contemplative Practices in Neo-Confucianism.” The lecture and discussion will take place in Stroud 424 at 11 a.m. Anyone in the area is welcome to attend. Please email me (tconnolly@esu.edu) for more details if you are interested.

Suggestions for 2nd Edition of Doing Philosophy Comparatively?

An editor at Bloomsbury contacted me about putting together a 2nd edition of my book Doing Philosophy Comparatively. In the next couple of months we’ll be gathering suggestions about what to add the new edition, which will include about 30% new material, and we’re trying to get as much feedback about the current edition as possible. If you have looked at the book and thought certain topics were missing or that parts of it could be expanded or have other suggestions for improvement, please send me an email at tconnolly@esu.edu. Many thanks!

Diversity in Philosophy Journals: A Discussion

This morning at the APA Pacific there was a wide-ranging discussion on the topic of diversity in philosophy journals. The session was chaired by Eric Schwitzgebel, who introduced it as possibly the largest panel ever at the Pacific APA, featuring 7 presenters including Manyul Im, and 15 journal editor-panelists including Franklin Perkins. The audience was also substantial. Continue reading →

Journal of World Philosophies announcement

An announcement from Monika Kirloskar-Steinbach (Universität Konstanz, Department of Philosophy):

The journal Confluence: Online Journal of World Philosophies has now moved to Indiana University Press. It will be published as an Open Access journal under the title Journal of World Philosophies. Our first issue is scheduled to appear in December 2016. (Confluence’s first four volumes are now found under: https://scholarworks.iu.edu/iupjournals/index.php/confluence/index.)

The journal’s Facebook page is to be found under: https://www.facebook.com/Journal-of-World-Philosophies-323570801356967/?ref=bookmarks. I hope to meet you there (I’m going to initiate a discussion on world philosophies after this mailing).

[Congratulations to Prof. Kirloskar-Steinbach and co-editor Jim Maffie on this new phase of their project. The Facebook page includes the table of contents for the new issue; looks very interesting! –TC]