Category Archives: Graduate study

Chinese philosophy in the 2021-2022 Philosophical Gourmet Report

Once every few years, the Philosophical Gourmet Report publishes rankings of PhD programs in philosophy in the English-speaking world. It ranks programs “overall” and by areas of specialization. As one would hope for a report that aspires to be comprehensive and describe the current state of the field, one of those areas of specialization is Chinese philosophy.

You can find a general description of the methodology of the report here. As the member of the advisory board who took the lead in managing the Chinese philosophy area, and who wrote to the other assessors of Chinese philosophy to convene some joint deliberations about the process, I wanted to say a bit more about how we handled the Chinese philosophy section. Continue reading →

English-language MA in Chinese Philosophy, Religion, and Culture at Renmin University

The School of Philosophy at Renmin University of China has for several years offered a two-year M.A. program in Chinese Philosophy, Religion, and Culture (CPRC). All courses for this program (except Chinese language) are taught in English. It offers overseas students who are not proficient in Mandarin a valuable opportunity to study Chinese philosophy, religion, and culture whilst living in China. It also provides opportunities to study Chinese and experience intercultural communication with professors and classmates of diverse cultural backgrounds and experiences.

For more information, see the programs summary poster here, further information here, and the official website here.

For a list of specialists affiliated with the program, read on.

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East China Normal University’s Skills-Based Approach to Chinese Philosophy

Paul J. D’Ambrosio, Dean of the Center for Intercultural Research and Associate Professor in Chinese Philosophy at East China Normal University, writes with some information on ECNU’s English-language graduate programs:

For almost a decade East China Normal University has run a highly successful graduate (M.A. and Ph.D.) program in Chinese philosophy taught in English. In recent years we have begun to implement a method of teaching Chinese philosophy that centers on the practice, or gongfu (“kung-fu”), of doing philosophy with classical texts. The gongfu or “skills-based” approach focuses on developing skills of close reading and interpretation in the original Chinese. We work together to understand, unpack, and explore the interpretive possibilities of specific passages within the context of the traditional works themselves. The core courses ask students to read aloud passages from the Analects, Laozi, Mencius, and Zhuangzi in Chinese and then themselves lead investigative discussions of what those passages can mean. The professors guide discussion, helping correct misreadings and drawing on traditional and modern commentaries to elucidate which interpretations have historically proven most influential and (perhaps) why. While aiming to familiarize and inform, the emphasis in class lies on cultivating the skills essential to soundly analyzing the traditional texts.

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PhD Position in ‘Confucianism and Ethics of Technology’

This PhD project, part of the Ethics of Socially Disruptive Technologies programme at Delft University of Technology, investigates the technological challenge for Confucian political theory on the one hand, and the contribution that Confucian political theory can make to debates on the ethics of technology on the other. Confucianism can be especially illuminating for the ethical studies on digital technologies because of its focus on social relationships as opposed to more-individualistic approaches to the ethics of technologies

To learn more about the position click here.

An Update from Edward Slingerland

Edward Slingerland writes:

” I’ve moved to the Philosophy department at UBC and am hoping to introduce a course on virtue ethics, I’d like to read all the standard Western theory (Murdoch, MacIntyre, etc.), do a little Aristotle, but also spend time on the early China Confucians. Does anyone teach anything like this? Looking to steal some ideas from other peoples’ syllabi… If so, please email me at edward.slingerland@gmail.com.”

CFP: East-West Center International Graduate Student Conference

A message from the organizers of the East-West Center International Graduate Student Conference (ISGC):

We are excited to send out our third call for abstracts for the East-West Center’s student-led 20th annual International Graduate Student Conference, to be held in February 2021! The conference theme is Lei of Knowledge: Communicating Knowledge across Communities and Disciplines, and the geographic focus is the Asia-Pacific region. The deadline to submit an abstract and a non-technical summary for your paper presentation, poster talk, or any other format of presentation is October 9, 2020.

We look forward to connecting our many communities, in academia and beyond, through this year’s conference. Please circulate our call for abstracts to your contacts in as many offices and fields as possible!

Conference Information:

  • Venue: Hawai‘i Imin International Conference Center
  • Location: Honolulu, Hawai‘i, USA
  • Dates: Thursday, February 11, through Saturday, February 13, 2021
  • Abstract Submission Deadline: October 9, 2020, 11:59 PM Hawai‘i Standard Time
  • Abstract Criteria: 350-word abstract (for review) and a non-technical summary (to be printed in the booklet) submitted to Submittable
  • Website: International Graduate Student Conference / Facebook / Instagram / Twitter
  • Contact Email: igscewc@gmail.com

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Call for applications: “Text and Image in the Ancient World” Renmin University, Beijing, June 8-12

Sixth Biannual Ph.D. Student and Young Scholar Workshop

“Text and Image in the Ancient World”

Venue: International Center for the Study of Ancient Text Cultures Renmin University of China Beijing,

Time: June 8–12, 2020

The International Center for the Study of Ancient Text Cultures (ICSATC), hosted at Renmin University of China, holds its sixth Ph.D. Student and Young Scholar Workshop on June 8-12, 2020. Four renowned scholars from the fields of Ancient Chinese, Japanese, Egyptian, and Mesopotamian Civilization will present lectures and seminars on specific topics. There also will be student research activities to complement the lectures and seminars. The principal language of instruction and interaction will be English.

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