Lingnan University, in Hong Kong, is seeking to hire an associate or assistant professor in Chinese philosophy. This is an excellent opportunity for a suitable candidate: Lingnan is a lively department with a group of sharp philosophers and a pleasant working environment.
Details are here. Applications are still welcome.
Details here.
Springer, the publisher of Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy and Dao Companions to Chinese Philosophy will start to shift to electronic display at Boston APA. Instead of shelves of books, there will be a line of computers. All Springer e-books, including the first volume of our Dao Companion volume, and e-journals, including Dao, are free to download at the site. So if you are going to go to Boston APA and are interested in any publications by Springer, be sure to bring your flash drive with you.
Volume 9 Number 4 is now available on SpringerLink
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Prof. BAI Tongdong would like to announce an exciting new opportunity to study Chinese philosophy, in English (though also with Chinese language courses), at Fudan University in Shanghai. Note that there is some substantial financial assistance available. There are both 2-year MA and 1-year non-degree options. Sounds terrific! Continue reading →
There will be two lecture/seminars at Columbia University this coming Friday, November 5, 2010:
Details below. Continue reading →
The current Chronicle of Higher Education has this piece, available to non-subscribers for a few days, on worries raised about academic freedom introduced by the proliferation of Confucius Institutes on university campuses.
I have been thinking about ritual lately, and wanted to try out an idea on one and all. It seems to me that one way to read certain passages from classical Confucianism is as encouraging a maximal view of ritual (roughly, what I mean by this is that ritual exhausts the norms: ritual is all there is, all that matters. Ren is a name for ritual perfection). Think of Analects 12:1. On the other hand, there are passages that encourage a more minimalist view of ritual: something that anybody, or most anybody, can do; it is significant but hardly all that one should aim at. Analects 2:3 stands out for me here. The common people can be guided, and modestly transformed (coming to have a sense of shame), by ritual. This is not the stuff of sages or perfection. Continue reading →
Last week I attended the first Nishan Forum on World Civilizations (尼山论坛). 
Nishan is the reputed birthplace of Confucius, near Qufu (in Shandong province) where the Kong family has lived for many generations. The Forum was an interesting event, heavily supported by various levels of government (notice the orchestra, playing pieces specially written for the event), and clearly designed to contribute to the increasing visibility of Confucianism, both domestically and internationally. There is a lot one could say about the event, both in terms of its content and in terms of the way it was framed (e.g., why was Robert Schuller chosen as the most prominent representative of Christianity at this “dialogue between Confucianism and Christianity”?). There is no simple conclusion, positive or negative, that one can draw from a complex event such as this, but I thought I would share some concerns that crystallized in my mind when thinking about a question that a journalist at the Forum asked me. He said, “Do you think Americans should be worried about the rise of Chinese culture?” Continue reading →
