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

New Book on Daoism

Three Pines Press proudly announces the second volume in our new series
Contemporary Chinese Scholarship in Daoist Studies

Rediscovering the Roots of Chinese Thought: Laozi’s Philosophy
by CHEN Guying, translated by Paul D’Ambrosio
ISBN 978-1-931483-61-2
paperback, 150 pages, bibliography, index
available January 1, 2015
US $27.95
prepublication special: US $22.50
ORDER NOW: www.threepinespress.com<http://www.threepinespress.com/>

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Jobs at NTU

Two Openings in Nanyang Technological University (Singapore)

The Philosophy Program of Nanyang Technological University is searching for an associate professor (with tenure) in Chinese and Comparative Philosophy and a tenure-track assistant professor of philosophy (AOS open), to begin in July 2015. The due day for application is 28 December 2014. For more information, please go to http://www.hss.ntu.edu.sg/Programmes/philosophy/Pages/Faculty-Positions.aspx

NDPR Review: Franklin Perkins, Heaven and Earth Are Not Humane

Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

2014.11.23  View this Review at NDPR   View Other NDPR Reviews

Franklin Perkins, Heaven and Earth Are Not Humane: The Problem of Evil in Classical Chinese Philosophy, Indiana University Press, 2014, 295pp., $35.00 (pbk), ISBN 9780253011725.

Reviewed by Youngsun Back, City University of Hong Kong

The intriguing title, Heaven and Earth Are Not Humane, a line that originally appears in the Daodejing of Laozi, draws the reader into early Chinese philosophy. By exploring the problem of evil, Franklin Perkins opens new doors into this ancient tradition. The problem of evil in this book specifically refers to the fact that bad things happen to good people. Perkins examines the multiplicity of ways that philosophers of the Warring States period dealt with the problem of evil. His study focuses on six major texts, the Lunyu, Mozi, Daodejing, Mengzi, Zhuangzi, and Xunzi, but he incorporates a variety of recently excavated texts such as Xing zi ming chu, Taiyi sheng shui, and Qiong da yi shi into his study as well.

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Tim Connolly – Columbia Society for Comparative Philosophy Lecture: “Virtue Ethics, Role Ethics, and the Early Confucian Self”, Dec. 5 @5:30pm

THE COLUMBIA SOCIETY FOR COMPARATIVE PHILOSOPHY

Welcomes: TIM CONNOLLY (East Stroudsburg University)
With responses from: SCOTT R. STROUD (University of Texas at Austin)

Please join at Columbia University’s Religion Department on FRIDAY, DECEMBER 5 at 5:30PM for his lecture entitled:

“Virtue Ethics, Role Ethics, and the Early Confucian Self”

ABSTRACT: Confucian Role Ethics takes its point of departure from “a specific vision of human beings as relational persons constituted by the roles they live rather than as individual selves” (Ames and Rosemont, “Were the Early Confucians Virtuous?”). It is this vision, its proponents maintain, that makes it distinct not only from Western ethical theories such as deontology and utilitarianism, but also from Aristotelian and other forms of virtue ethics. But does CRE mean by contrasting “relational persons” with “individual selves”? In this paper, I examine three different versions of the contrast defended by CRE: the metaphysical thesis that for Confucius there is no “substantial self” left over once we take away a person’s social relations; the psychological thesis that there is no steadfast distinction between “inner” and “outer” in theAnalects; and the moral developmental thesis that Confucian self-cultivation always takes place within the context of roles. I argue that in each of these areas CRE can gain from a greater engagement with Aristotelian virtue ethics.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 5
5:30-7:30 pm
Rm. 101, 80 Claremont Ave, Columbia University
http://goo.gl/maps/zfUKH