Both classical Chinese and Graeco-Roman cultures were marked by an intense focus on didactics; in other words, many of the foundational texts of these two traditions were centrally concerned with the instruction of their readers, especially in the moral virtues. This year, the Janus Project is bringing the comparative and connected didactic features of the classical Chinese and Graeco-Roman traditions to the fore, with a particular emphasis on early modern Latin written in or about East Asia. For example: the original Analects (論語) of Confucius aim to teach certain virtues; the Jesuit translation of the Analects in the Confucius Sinarum Philosophus (1687) aims not only to impart these virtues but also thereby to teach a European audience about Chinese philosophy and to strengthen the practice of European-Christian morals. Both the original ancient texts and the early modern Latin corpus generated from them were thus products of cultures deeply invested in moral education. How can wisdom be taught, found, or acquired? What must one do to be or become a virtuous person? What are the necessary ingredients for a happy life or society? How do texts address these questions through their literary form? And, from a modern scholar’s perspective, how easily do these questions and the answers given to them cross cultural and linguistic boundaries? The 2025 Janus Project Conference encourages scholars from a wide-range of specialisms, including but not limited to history, classics, philosophy, comparative literature, and East Asian studies, to join us in exploring these questions. Continue reading →
We’re delighted to share the Sino-Hellenic Network Easter Term programme. Seminars take place in the Faculty of Classics in Cambridge and online, unless otherwise noted. All welcome.
Thursday 8 May, 11am – 12.30pm (Room 1.11, refreshments at 10.30am). Sign up for Zoom here
Cynthia Liu (University of Oxford): Greco-Roman and Chinese ‘Cosmopoetics’: Compared and Received
Chair: Tim Whitmarsh (University of Cambridge)
Wednesday 21 May, 3.30pm – 5.00pm. Online only, sign up here
Eric Hutton (The University of Utah): To China and Back: The Roundtrip Voyage of a Platonic Notion
Chair: Jingyi Jenny Zhao (Needham Research Institute/ University of Cambridge)
Thursday 5 June, 3.30pm – 5.00pm (Room R.01, refreshments at 3pm). Sign up for Zoom here
Jeremy Tanner (UCL): Style and the Development of Art Theory in Ancient Greece and Early Imperial China
Chair: Hajni Elias (University of Cambridge)
Tuesday 17 June, 11am – 12.30pm (Room 1.11, refreshments at 10.30am). Sign up for Zoom here
Beth Harper (The University of Hong Kong): Rocking the Lyric: Mountains, Crags and Divine Inspiration in Classical Chinese and Greco-Roman Poetics
Chair: Emily Gowers (University of Cambridge)
We are grateful to the Faculty of Classics at Cambridge for generously supporting the events. If you would like to be kept up to date with Network news, please sign up here. We look forward to seeing many of you, either in person or or online!
The on-line “Works of Philosophy and their Reception — Workshop on Xunzi” brings together some of the contributors to an edited volume in preparation for the Works of Philosophy and Their Reception series.
The dates of the workshop are 15 May, 16 May, and 23 May.
The schedule of the workshop and abstracts of presentations are available here. Please register here in advance to participate.
The Handbook of Chinese Philosophy has recently been released online by Oxford University Press, with paper copies set to release in August. The handbook collects new work on important texts and figures in the history of Chinese thought. The chapters cover both well-known texts such as the Analects and the Zhuangzi and many of the lesser-known thinkers in the classical and postclassical Chinese tradition. Most of the chapters focus on thinkers or texts in one of three important historical movements. These include classical (“pre-Qin”) Chinese philosophy, Chinese Buddhism, and the Confucian response to Buddhism (“neo-Confucianism” broadly construed). Each chapter presents cutting-edge work on important topics in the Chinese tradition and yet is written for a general philosophical audience. For more information, please see this site, and the Table of Contents follows.Please see the Bryn Mawr Classical Review site here for Matylda Amat Obryk’s review of Jingyi Jenny Zhao, Aristotle and Xunzi on shame, moral education, and the good life. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2024).
The Rutgers University Department of Philosophy has produced summaries of the presentations and discussion from the 7th Rutgers Workshop on Chinese Philosophy (RWCP), “An International Conference on Moral Conflict in Early Chinese Philosophy.” The summaries were produced by the workshop’s rapporteurs, Frederick Choo and Esther Goh, who are doctoral candidates at Rutgers University Department of Philosophy. Please find the summaries in this document.
We are pleased to inform you that the International Society of East Asian Philosophy (ISEAP) will have its fifth international conference, titled Progressive East Asian Philosophy, on August 28-29, 2025 at the National Chengchi University, Taiwan. The conference poster is here.
Keynote Speakers
Professor Heisook Kim (Ewha Womans University)
Professor Stephen C. Angle (Wesleyan University)
What does it mean to pursue progress from within East Asian philosophical traditions? And how might they offer insight into ongoing global conversations around social reform, ethical responsibility, political transformation, and justice? This year’s gathering focuses on how these traditions both classical and contemporary can contribute to our understanding of progress in practical philosophy.
Abstracts for individual papers and organized panels should be submitted by June 1, 2025 (Japan Time). Please check our website for more details: ISEAP 2025 Conference
You can also connect with us on our website and social media.
Website: https://iseap.jp/
Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/iseapjp
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InternationalSocietyofEastAsianPhilosophy/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@iseap
Sincerely yours,
Fion Wu
On behalf of ISEAP
The ISCP (International Society for Chinese Philosophy) invites proposals for an edited volume that explores the history, influence, and contemporary practice of process philosophy as a framework for comparative philosophy. This volume, Weaving Together: Comparative Approaches to Process Philosophy, aims to illuminate how process thought can serve as subject, method, or application in engaging philosophical traditions across cultures. While the primary focus is on the process tradition developed by Alfred North Whitehead and his intellectual heirs, contributions that engage other process-oriented figures and traditions are also encouraged. These may include figures such as G.W.F. Hegel, Henri Bergson, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, and Gilles Deleuze, as well as philosophical currents from Indian, Daoist, Confucian, Buddhist, and Indigenous thought. Proposals that employ process philosophy as a methodological or conceptual tool in comparative contexts, or that highlight how process thought contributes to broader conversations across metaphysical, ethical, aesthetic, and socio-political domains are especially welcomed.
Please read more for more details of the volume and the submission guidelines.
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