For those who attended the APA Eastern meeting this year, the APA just sent out an online survey, part of which has to do with diversity issues. I’d like to suggest that those who are concerned about the lack of non-Western philosophy in the main program include mention of this at the end of the survey. They seem to view diversity mainly with regard to people, but I think it should be extended to include fields.
Just a thought.
The Department of East Asian Studies at Princeton University hosts:
“Philosophy of the Past: Early Chinese Philosophy in Context”
A One-day Workshop With:
CARINE DEFOORT (K. U. Leuven)
PAUL GOLDIN (University of Pennsylvania)
MARK CSIKSZENTMIHALYI (Berkeley University)
JANE GEANEY (University of Richmond)
On: February 22 (Sat) 2014
Please see the announcement below. The workshop is open to all, but we ask for pre-registration. Please note that we cannot be responsible for meals and accommodation. If you wish to attend, please RSVP to Mercedes Valmisa at mvalmisa@princeton.edu.
As Steve and Manyul announced last month, with each new issue of Dao the blog will host a discussion of one of the issue’s articles, and the journal will make that article freely available online. Here I’m kicking off the series with a discussion of Loy Hui-chieh’s “On the Argument for Jian’ai” (Dao 12.4, available here).
Loy’s article treats the Mohists’ main argument for inclusive care (jiān ài 兼愛), focusing on the role played in it by appeals to virtues such as filial piety that are inevitably partial. Fundamental to his treatment is the view (which I share) that inclusive care did not require absolute impartiality—it did not imply that we have equal obligations to all people, or that we should treat them the same, or feel the same about them. Loy thus undermines one common sort or argument against the Mohists, that inclusive care is incompatible with the partial virtues and is therefore morally dubious. However, this does not mean that the Mohists’ own appeals to the partial virtues succeed, and Loy goes on to argue that they do not. I’ll sketch Loy’s argument, and then make critical comments on two points.
We are happy to welcome Carl Dull, a long-time blog reader and commentator, as a new contributor. Here is Carl’s self-introduction:
Carl J. Dull received a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Southern Illinois University where he studied both Chinese and Western traditions. He has taught at the Nanjing School of Foreign Language and worked for Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth in Nanjing and Hong Kong. His major interest is early Chinese thought, especially Zhuangzi. His dissertation investigates wandering and the heart in Zhuangzi, and proposes various positive ethical ideals for caring for living. His current research looks at early Chinese thought as a resource for moral psychology and therapeutic practice. His previous work includes the power of inspiration in Confucius, the practical compatibility between Confucian principles and Human Rights, and the language games of Zhuangzi and Wittgenstein. Contact: cjdull@gmail.com.
Issue 12:4 of Dao: A Journal of Comparatie Philosophy is now available on-line; see below for the Table of Contents. I’d like to call everyone’s attention to the fact that Hui-chieh Loy’s article, “On the Argument for Jian’ai,” is available for free access to everyone (just click on the “Full Text PDF” link for that article below). Next week, we will host some discussion of this article here on the blog, to be led off by an intial “featured post” on the subject by Dan Robins. Please read through Loy’s article and take part in the conversation!
Two recently published books deserve our attention:
P.J. Ivanhoe, Confucian Reflections: Ancient Wisdom for Modern Times (Routledge, 2013); this rich and concise book “…argues that the Analects is as relevant and important today as it has proven to be over the course of its more than 2000 year history, not only for the people who live in East Asian societies but for all human beings.”
Joseph Chan, Confucian Perfectionism: A Political Philosophy for Modern Times (Princeton, 2013); a long-awaited major statement of Chan’s modern Confucianism, it “…examines and reconstructs both Confucian political thought and liberal democratic institutions, blending them to form a new Confucian political philosophy.”
Tongdong Bai writes:
Thanks to your support, since it was launched in 2010, the MA and Visiting programs in Chinese philosophy (with courses taught in English) at Fudan have been extremely successful. It has been three years since these programs were launched in 2011, and 34 students have been enrolled in either the M.A. program (28 students) and the
visiting student program (6 students).
Three Pines Press proudly announces the publication of Zhuangzi: Text and Context, by Livia Kohn, to appear in January 2014. (330 pages; Paperback:$35.95; prepublication special: $28.50 plus S & H.) For details and to order, please go to http://threepinespress.com/
We are also happy to present the table of contents for the next issue of the Journal of Daoist Studies (vol. 7), to be published in February 2014. For details, please see below.
Just wanted to announce that the special issue of Contemporary Chinese Thought on Jiang Qing, edited by yours truly, has been published. Here’s the table of contents.
