Hello all,
I will be giving a talk on the future of Confucianism in America at the San Francisco City Library on Sunday, September 29. It will be on the third floor at 1:30pm. All are welcome.
Category Archives: Contemporary Confucianism
Vol 32 of The Journal of Confucian Philosophy and Culture (JCPC)
The editors are delighted to announce the publication of Volume 32 of The Journal of Confucian Philosophy and Culture (JCPC), the inaugural issue of the revised format of the journal. JCPC is published biannually (in February and August) and welcomes contributions of both articles and book reviews by qualified authors from around the world. This attached file contains the front matter, including a complete table of contents, of Volume 32. The complete volume will be available on line, within the week at our web site: http://jcpc.skku.edu/.
New Book: O’Dwyer, Confucianism’s Prospects
SUNY Press has published Shaun O’Dwyer, Confucianism’s Prospects: A Reassessment. SUNY’s website is here.
The publisher’s blurb: In Confucianism’s Prospects, Shaun O’Dwyer offers a rare critical engagement with English-language scholarship on Confucianism. Against the background of historical and sociological research into the rapid modernization of East Asian societies, O’Dwyer reviews several key Confucian ethical ideas and proposals for East Asian alternatives to liberal democracy that have emerged from this scholarship. He also puts the following question to Confucian scholars: what prospects do those ideas and proposals have in East Asian societies in which liberal democracy and pluralism are well established, and individualization and declining fertility are impacting deeply upon family life? In making his case, O’Dwyer draws upon the neglected work of Japanese philosophers and intellectuals who were witnesses to Japan’s pioneering East Asian modernization and protagonists in the rise and disastrous wartime fall of its own modernized Confucianism. He contests a sometimes Sinocentric and ahistorical conception of East Asian societies as “Confucian societies,” while also recognizing that Confucian traditions can contribute importantly to global philosophical dialogue and to civic and religious life.
Crane on Confucianism in America
Sam Crane has just published “Prolegomenon to a Theory of Philosophical Transposition, with Reference to Confucianism in America” in Metaphilosophy 50:4. I’ve pasted the abstract below.
SCMP: China runs Confucian culture courses for religious leaders in bid to boost control
A brief article from the South China Morning Post that is relevant for anyone interested in the uses and abuses of Confucianism in the modern world: “China runs Confucian culture courses for religious leaders in bid to boost control.”
Dessein Reviews Ames and Hershock, Confucianisms for a Changing World Cultural Order
New Issue of CCT: The Adolescence of Mainland New Confucianism
The latest issue of Contemporary Chinese Thought (49:2) has just been published: an issue that I guest edited called “The Adolescence of Mainland New Confucianism.” The Table of Contents for the issue is here, and I believe you can freely download my introduction (also called “The Adolescence of Mainland New Confucianism”). The essays translated in the issue are:
- Li Minghui, I Disapprove of the Phrase “Mainland New Confucianism”
- Zeng Yi & Fang Xudong, Hong Kong/Taiwan New Confucianism Affirms Too Little of Traditional Chinese Politics (Parts 1 and 2)
- Chen Ming, Mainland New Confucianism’s Problematique, Discourse Paradigm, and Intellectual Pedigree Have Already Taken Shape
- Tang Wenming, Welcoming a New Stage of Confucian Revival
- Chen Yun, The Mainland Confucian Revival and Its Problems as Seen from the Perspective of “Civilizational Theory”
- Huang Yushun, Confucian Liberalism’s Judgment of “New Confucian Religion”
- Guo Qiyong, How to Properly View the New Developments of Mainland Confucianism
For the abstract of my Introduction, read on!
Successful Conference on Women in the Ru Tradition
The first conference on Confucianism that I have attended in which men were in the minority: last weekend’s “Women as Exemplary Persons in The Ru (Confucian) Tradition”; program here.
CFP: Taiwanese Philosophy and the Preservation of Confucian Tradition
Call for papers: Taiwanese Philosophy and the Preservation of Confucian Tradition
International Conference organized by University of Ljubljana, EARL Ljubljana, and TRCCS (Taiwan Research Center for Chinese Studies) in Taipei
10-12 October 2019
Description:
Although the philosophical currents in modern and contemporary Taiwan belong to the most influential and important streams of thought in contemporary East Asian theory, they are still unrecognized as specifically Taiwanese. The main reasons for the immense importance of Taiwanese philosophy for East Asia and the contemporary world are twofold. First, they can be found in its contributions to the preservation of traditional Chinese, especially Confucian thought. Secondly, its development of specific innovative philosophical approaches and systems profoundly influenced the theoretical discourses in the entire East Asian region. The philosophical currents in modern Taiwan were mainly developed during the second half of 20th century, in which the philosophical theory in mainland China was largely limited to the Sinization of Marxist thought. Hence, for many decades, Taiwanese philosophy represented the only driving force of developing, modernizing and upgrading traditional Chinese thought and its syntheses with Western thought. Hence, they soon also gained a wide spread popularity in most of the other East Asian societies that were traditionally influenced by classical Confucian thought, as for example Japan and South Korea.
The Progressive Confucian Web
I’m happy to announce that a project I have been working on for some time has now reached a level of maturity that I feel comfortable sharing it publicly. Jinburuxue.com is a mainly Chinese-language website that aims to share Chinese versions of writings about progressive approaches to Confucianism. (Jinbu ruxue or 进步儒学 means progressive Confucianism.) Some of the material originally appeared in Chinese, and some of it was originally in English and has been translated specifically for this project. (All work appears with permission.) The site also has an English-language version, although the underlying essays and other materials are still in Chinese.
The contributors to this website have many differences, but share a common understanding of Confucianism as a living tradition, a still-developing tradition. In addition, we believe that as Confucianism develops in the contemporary world, it must be inclusive, supporting the ability of all people to improve ethically. In the essays and other materials collected on the site, we argue that the values of the Confucian tradition should be expressed in new ways in the 21st century. This is what the Book of Changes calls “changing with the times 与时偕行,” the Greater Learning calls “daily renewal 日新,” and the Analects calls “reviewing the old to know the new 温故而知新.” We call this contemporary, developing form of Confucianism “Progressive Confucianism.”
The site focuses on Chinese-language versions of our material because in the first instance, our goal is to have an impact on Chinese-language discussions of what Confucianism is and can be. Any thoughts on this project or suggestions for changes or future development are welcome!
