Category Archives: Chinese philosophy – 中國哲學 – 中国哲学

Time-sensitive question re Confucius quote

A writer from National Geographic has contacted me with a question, and I wonder if anyone out there has a better answer than I have so far come up with. She is working on an article that uses a quote widely attributed to Confucius, and wants to confirm the attribution. It is: “By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.” One source that I found on-line suggests that this is based on Analects 16:19 (“孔子曰：「生而知之者，上也；學而知之者，次也；困而學之，又其次也。困而不學，民斯為下矣！」”; ctext here.). This is indeed a listing of three ways of acquiring understanding or wisdom, but the rest doesn’t match very well.

Does anyone have any ideas? There are tons of Confucius quotations in other texts, and maybe this is one of them? Or maybe a loose/early version of that Analects passage? The writer’s deadline is 2pm EST tomorrow! Thanks for any help, which I will pass on.

Summer Workshop (Funding Available)

I have recently learned about the “Greater China Summer Workshop Program in Chinese Studies” to be held this summer in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Beijing, organized and sponsored by the Sinological Development Charitable Foundation. Information on the Foundation and its goals, as well as about the program, are available on its website, here. The program aims to introduce Chinese Studies (focusing on Early Confucianism and the Hundred Schools; Buddhism and Daoism; and Neo-Confucianism). There are a limited number of Sponsorships (full financial support) available, plus a self-pay option. The application deadline is April 1, 2016.

Workshop on Yan Fu 嚴復 and Cross-Cultural Political Theory in Taipei

Dear colleagues,

If you happen to be in Taipei this wednesday (March 16), you are welcome to take part in the workshop on “Yan Fu and the Possibilities of Cross-Cultural Political Theory” organized by the International Center for Chinese Philosophy (Soochow University). No need to register: there will be enough seats for everyone!

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Two New Books on Modern Chinese Philosophy

Two books in Brill’s “Modern Chinese Philosophy” series have recently been published:

Xiaoqing Diana Lin, Feng Youlan and Twentieth Century China: An Intellectual Biography

http://www.brill.com/products/book/feng-youlan-and-twentieth-century-china

King Pong Chiu,  Thomé H. Fang, Tang Junyi and Huayan Thought: A Confucian Appropriation of Buddhist Ideas in Response to Scientism in Twentieth-Century China

http://www.brill.com/products/book/thome-h-fang-tang-junyi-and-huayan-thought

International Young Philosophers Roundtable at Oberlin

At its meeting this year at Oberlin College (July 13-17), the Society for Values in Higher Education will be hosting the International Young Philosophers Roundtable—an organization recently created by the School of Philosophy at Wuhan University (China). The roundtable will be composed of 4-6 Chinese scholars and 4-6 Western scholars writing on the following topics in the broader area of Public Discourse:

1. Public Discourse and Civil Society

2. Disagreement

3. Relativism

4. Pluralism

5. Culture and Public Discourse

6. Religion and Public Discourse

7. Public Discourse in Chinese Philosophy

8. Public Discourse Across Cultures

9. Public Discourse and Cultural Psychology 

Scholars chosen for this symposium will submit papers by JUNE 1, allowing other participants to read them well in advance of the meeting. At the meeting, papers will be discussed and revised in order to prepare them for possible publication in a special issue of Soundings: An Interdisciplinary Journal. All participants are responsible for travel to Oberlin and room and board (costs approximately $550-650 for room and three meals per day). The registration fee for the conference ($200+), however, will be waived.

The topics listed were chosen to fit with the theme of this year’s SVHE meeting (The Politics of Dissent: Satire, Sarcasm, and Spite in Civil Society). If you know of anyone who might be interested in this symposium, please forward this e-mail to them. Inquiries should be directed to Eric Bain-Selbo (bain-selbo@svhe.org). There is no formal application process. Interested scholars simply need to contact Eric Bain-Selbo and provide a brief abstract of the paper they would submit.

Zarrow at Neo-Confucianism Seminar Tomorrow

The next session of the Columbia University Seminar on Neo-Confucian Studies (University Seminar #567) will convene March 4, Friday, 2016 from 3:30 to 5:30pm in the Heyman Center for the Humanities at Columbia University.

Peter Zarrow will present the paper “Utopianism and Moralities of the Self: Views of Chinese Radicals, 1900-1925.” 

All are welcome to attend.   Please feel free to forward this message to interested colleagues.  Please join us after the seminar for dinner at a location to be announced.

Looking ahead to April, our April speaker will be Brook Ziporyn.  To avoid conflicting with the annual AAS conference, the April 2016 meeting will convene on April 22.

Conference of the Society for the Study of Early China

The Fourth Annual Conference of the Society for the Study of Early China will take place on Thursday, 31 March 2016, in Seattle, WA. You can find the details, including exact location and schedule, online here: As in past years, the 2016 SSEC conference will be held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Association for Asian Studies. You do not, however, need to register for the AAS event to attend the SSEC conference.

Abstracts for the SSEC 2016 conference, listed alphabetically by presenter surname:

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