The article from the current issue of Dao that we have chosen for discussion is Michael Slote’s “The Philosophical Reset Button: A Manifesto,” available via open-access here. This time around, we offer opening comments from both BAI Tongdong of Fudan University, and myself (Steve Angle). Those comments follow here, and let the discussion begin!
Category Archives: China
New Book: Ethics in Public Life in Asia
Kenneth Winston of Harvard’s Kennedy School writes:
I am pleased to announce the publication of my book “Ethics in Public Life: Good Practitioners in a Rising Asia” from Palgrave Macmillan. The book is a set of five case studies of practitioners in different Asian countries making life-defining decisions in their work. They include a doctor in Singapore, a political activist in India, a mid-level bureaucrat in central Asia, a religious missionary in China, and a journalist in Cambodia—each struggling with ethical challenges that shed light on what it takes to act effectively and well in public life.
Weingarten review of Dissertation on Motherhood in Early China
Oliver Weingarten’s review of Smadar Winter’s University of Chicago Ph.D. dissertation, “Motherhood in Early China,” is available online. A couple highlights (from the review, not the dissertation itself):
- “…An example of her disagreement with earlier scholarship is her response to attempts by Catherine Despeux and Livia Kohn to highlight the “prominence of motherhood” in the Laozi 老子. Winter counters this claim with a well-conceived alternative reading that argues for the secondary importance of motherhood in the text.”
- “…In her conclusion, Winter revisits debates about two paradigms in the gender history of early China: “woman as victim” and “woman as agent.” While she acknowledges the importance of the latter, she reminds her readers that “women’s agency was always defined in the service of male interests.” (p. 215) To acknowledge this is crucial so as to not to forget the “forms of oppression from which early Chinese women have suffered.” Consequently, Winter argues against “a neutral-to-positive tone which seems to be saying: Yes, there was oppression, but women were still able to lead meaningful lives and fulfill their humanity in the roles that subordinated them.” (p. 216)”
Confucian Political Philosophy a Hot Topic in 2014
According to the Guangming Daily, “the interpretation of Confucian political philosophy” was one of the ten “hot” areas within Chinese academia in 2014. According to the newspaper’s staff, one of the key questions that scholars sought to answer was “What conceptual resources does the Confucian tradition have that can assist with the design of institutions in today’s China 儒家传统对今日中国之制度设计有哪些可资借鉴的思想资源？” For those with Chinese, some more details, and the other nine hot areas, are below. (It is item 3 on the list.)
Pang Pu Passes Away
The eminent scholar of early Chinese thought Pang Pu 庞朴 has passed away; for a nice appreciation of his life and work, see here.
New “Traditional Culture” Textbooks in China
China Daily reports: “A series of textbooks featuring gems of traditional Chinese culture, including Analects of Confucius and The Art of War, will be used by primary and middle school students across China, reported Beijing Daily. The new textbooks, compiled by China Center of Traditional Culture, aim to cultivate youngsters’ values and characters by teaching them Confucian classics, poems, Chinese medicine and the like….”
See: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2015-01/07/content_19262804.htm
ECNU in Shanghai starting Chinese Phil MA Program
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.
Know the Analects?
Get a free tour of Qufu!
New articles on Democracy and on Confucianism
Two new articles in the latest China: An International Journal may be of interest, one on “Chinese democracy” and one on “Confucianism” and Chinese labor activism.
New book on Confucian revival
A promising-looking new collection of essays on the multi-faceted revival of Confucianism in contemporary China, to be released in February by SUNY Press:
The Sage Returns: Confucian Revival in Contemporary China
Summary
Until its rejection by reformers and revolutionaries in the twentieth century, Confucianism had been central to Chinese culture, identity, and thought for centuries. Confucianism was rejected by both Nationalists under Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong’s Communist Party, which characterized it as an ideology of reaction and repression. Yet the sage has returned: today, Chinese people from all walks of life and every level of authority are embracing Confucianism. As China turned away from the excesses of the Cultural Revolution and experienced the adoption and challenges of market practices, alternatives were sought to the prevailing socialist morality. Beginning in the 1980s and continuing through the years, ideas, images, behaviors, and attitudes associated with Confucianism have come back into public and private life. In this volume, scholars from a wide range of disciplines explore the contemporary Confucian revival in China, looking at Confucianism and the state, intellectual life, and popular culture. Contributors note how the revival of Confucianism plays out in a variety of ways, from China’s relationship with the rest of the world, to views of capitalism and science, to blockbuster movies and teenage fashion.
