Journal of Chinese Philosophy 38:2 TOC
Category Archives: Chinese philosophy – 中國哲學 – 中国哲学
2011 Is A Year of Interpretation!
It looks like 2011 will be remembered as a year of interpretation. As far as I know, there will be three international conferences on this very theme in June (so June will be the month of interpretation!):
1. There is the annual ISCWP Beijing Roundtable on Contemporary Philosophy, “Classical Texts and Philosophical Interpretation: In View of Studies of Chinese Philosophy and Development of Contemporary Philosophy” at Capital Normal University, Beijing, 3 June, 2011.
2. There is the international conference co-organized by Shandong University and SUNY Buffalo: “Interpretation East and West: An International Conference” at Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, 2-6 June, 2011.Here is the program of the conference:
http://www.sps.sdu.edu.cn/sps60/cms/attachment/110523175814.doc
3. Finally, there is the international symposium “Reading Matters: Chinese and Western Traditions of Interpreting the Classics” at Leiden University, the Netherlands, 10-11 June, 2011.
http://www.hum.leiden.edu/news-agenda/iias-reading-matters.html
It is my impression that the organizers of these conferences have come up with the theme independently. I think there is something in the air!
I’ve always been interested in the fundamental question about interpretation, which is “How should we interpret and read texts today?.” Some might try to offer a general theory of interpretation as an answer to the question. Others might try to offer a radical “anti-theory” view, which is that one cannot (and should not) try to come up with any general theory of interpretation that is applicable to any text and any reader. Continue reading →
Angle in Taipei for 2 Weeks
I have just arrived in Taiwan; I’ll be staying at Soochow University for two weeks, teaching a mini-class and participating in a conference. If any blog readers happen to be in Taiwan and want to get together, please send me an email!
Call For Papers
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS
AT SAN ANTONIO
2012 PHILOSOPHY SYMPOSIUM
Keynote Speaker: Chung-Ying Cheng, PhD
Professor of Philosophy
Department of Philosophy
University of Hawaii
CALL FOR PAPERS
The University of Texas at San Antonio announces a call for papers in any area of philosophy. Submissions are not to exceed 12 pages (20 minutes reading time). Papers of comparative studies of Eastern and western philosophies are particularly welcome. All manuscripts must be submitted as e-mail attachments to xun.chen@utsa.edu or in two hardcopies to:
The Heart of Deference
Section 2A/6 of the Mencius tells us that the heart of deference (辭讓) is the starting point of ritual. I’ll try to convince you that this is a puzzling claim, and then suggest a solution to the puzzle.
The puzzle is that ritual obviously mobilises motives other than deference, and calls for behaviour that is not simply deferential. Think of the way that grief takes on ritualised shape in funerals: this is not just an extension of deference. So, why did it make sense to the author or authors of Mencius 2A/6 to say that deference is the starting-point of ritual?
Call for Ideas on Confucian Business Ethics
We are exploring about the feasibility of a large project on Confucian Applied Ethics, which includes a section of Confucian Business Ethics. What we would like to have is the Confucian perspective on some standard issues of business ethics, such as justification (or the lack thereof) market economy, justice of economic (re)distribution, corporate agency, employee rights, consumer rights, whistle-blowing, advertisement, business and environment, international business…. However, we are not experts in business ethics (to say nothing of Confucian business ethics), and while our knowledge of the field is limited, we have found that very little is done in Confucian Business Ethics. So we would like to send this public call for ideas before we decide whether to pursue this project. We will greatly appreciate it if those of you who have done work in this area either in your teaching or research let us know whether you think this is a feasible project, and if so, what kind of contribution you (or persons you know of) can and are willing to make (for example on which particular topic you think you are able and willing to write an original essay).
Please direct your response to:
Ruiping Fan, City University of Hong Kong at: safan@cityu.edu.hk
and/or
Yong Huang, Kutztown University of Pennsylvania at: yhuang@kutztown.edu
2011 ISCWP Beijing Roundtable on Contemporary Philosophy
All are welcome to the…
2011 Term of Beijing Roundtable on Contemporary Philosophy
2011年北京“當代哲學”國際圓桌學術研討會
Theme / 討論主題:
“Classical Texts and Philosophical Interpretation:
In View of Studies of Chinese Philosophy and Development of Contemporary Philosophy”
“經典文本與哲學解釋: 中國哲學研究與當代哲學發展”
Time: 3rd June 2011, Friday, 08:30-18:00
時間: 2011年6月3日, 早8點半至晚6點
ISCP Announces Fu Essay Prize Winners
The Committee for the 2011 Charles Fu Best Essay in Asian Philosophy Competition is pleased to announce this year’s three winners:
- Senior Scholar Best Essay Winner: Jing Haifeng, “The Confucian Idea of Edification from a Hermeneutic Perspective”
- Junior Scholar Best Essay Winner: Chou Wanling, “Responding to the Challenge of Neuroscience to Moral Obligation: From a Confucian Ethical Perspective”
- Junior Scholar Best Essay Winner: Yao Fuchuan, “An Analysis of the Predicament of the Development of Buddhism”
Congratulations! Continue reading →
Logic in the service of rudeness and insult
Hopefully, a more lighthearted one. In the Yanzi Chunqiu 《晏子春秋》 (ca. 3rd Century B.C.) we find the following anecdote:
晏子使楚，以晏子短，楚人為小門于大門之側而延晏子。晏子不入，曰：「使狗國者，從狗門入；今臣使楚，不當從此門入。」儐者更道從大門入，見楚王。王曰： 「齊無人耶？」晏子對曰：「臨淄三百閭，張袂成陰，揮汗成雨，比肩繼踵而在，何為無人？」王曰：「然則子何為使乎？」晏子對曰：「齊命使，各有所主，其賢 者使使賢王，不肖者使使不肖王。嬰最不肖，故直使楚矣。」
And here is my translation-paraphrase, with some liberties taken along the way:
Yanzi was sent as an envoy to Chu. The King of Chu, seeing that he is short of stature, had a small gate made beside the main entrance to the capital city and invited Yanzi to enter from there.
Yanzi refused, saying: “He who is sent as an envoy to a doggy-town enter by way of a doggy-gate. Now since I have been sent as an envoy to Chu, it is not appropriate that should I enter through such a gate.”
Stumped, Chu’s diplomatic corps led Yanzi to enter by way of the main gate, and brought him to the king.
Upon receiving Yanzi, the King said: “Are there no people in Qi, that it should send you as the envoy?”
Yanzi replied: “Qi’s capital city Linzi has some 300 boroughs. If all the inhabitants were to wave their shirtsleeves it would be enough to cover the sun, and if they were all to wipe sweat off their brows it would be enough to make rain. It’s so crowded that people walk cheek by jowl–how should there be no people?”
The King said: “If that is so why then send you?”
Yanzi replied: “There is method to the way Qi assigns envoys to foreign countries. The talented ones are sent to talented kings while the unworthy ones are sent to unworthy kings. I am the most unworthy, ergo, they sent me straight here…”
Logic “in the service of rudeness and insult” was how Christoph Harbsmeier introduced the above in his contribution to Joseph Needham’s Science and Civilisation in China, Vol 7.1–“Language and Logic”.
"Moderation in Burials," 21st Century Version
The Mohist doctrine of “Moderation in Burial” seems to be winning converts among officials in China these days.
The New York Times reports that “After a quarter of a century in which the gap between rich and poor has steadily widened, the wretched excesses of the affluent are increasingly a Chinese government concern.”
“Ostentatious tombs are particularly irksome…because many Chinese find even a simple grave marker beyond their means. In a coinage that captures the widespread frustration, someone struggling to afford burial costs is called a ‘grave slave.'” Continue reading →
