Yin 陰, Yang 陽, and Qi 氣 before Yinyang Theory: The Role of Metaphor in the Formation of a Correlative System
Colloquium: Center for Chinese Studies | February 26 | 5-6:30 p.m. | Online – Zoom Webinar
Speaker: Sarah Allan, Professor of Asian Studies, Asian and Middle Eastern Languages and Literatures, Dartmouth College
Panelist/Discussant: Mark Csikszentmihalyi, Professor and Eliaser Chair of International Studies, EALC, UC Berkeley
Sponsor: Center for Chinese Studies (CCS)
THE COLUMBIA SOCIETY FOR COMPARATIVE PHILOSOPHY
Presents: A Passage from Wang Yangming’s “Questions on the Great Learning”
Presenter: Harvey Lederman (Princeton University)
Discussants: Stephen Angle (Wesleyan University), Warren Frisina (Hofstra University), Xiaomei Yang (Southern Connecticut State University)
ABSTRACT: This session will follow the organization of those we had on Zhuangzi and Śāntideva from Fall 2020. A lead presenter will give some background on the text from which the passage below is derived–namely, Wang Yangming’s “Questions on the Great Learning” (大學問)–and introduce Wang’s notion of liangzhi (良知). The presentation will then discuss Wang’s understanding of “the extension of knowledge” (致知) and “making inclinations wholehearted” (誠意) from the Great Learning (大學) before giving a focused reading of the passage itself. According to this reading, a person has extended their knowledge if and only if they have made their inclinations wholehearted. Each of the discussants will then follow with some brief comments and questions before we open things up for Q&A.
DATE: March 12, 2021
TIME: 7:00-8:30 pm
Here is the passage:
Bin Song will be giving a zoom talk about Confucianism as religion in light of Indonesia on June 20 at 8:00am EDT; for more information, please see this poster (which includes a QR code that can be scanned to register.
THE COLUMBIA SOCIETY FOR COMPARATIVE PHILOSOPHY
Welcomes: AARON STALNAKER (Indiana University)
With responses from: TIMOTHY CONNOLLY (East Stroudsburg University)
Please join on January 24, 2020 at 5:30 for his lecture entitled,
Dependence, Autonomy, and the Varieties of Relationship
ABSTRACT: This talk places master-student relations in the context of Confucian social theory, focusing on issues of obedience, remonstration, and respect for different sorts of authorities. I survey early Confucian accounts of the good society centered on role relations, personal development, and flourishing, both individual and communal. I then examine the question of autonomy within these relationships, looking closely at remonstration, obedience, and disobedience. The talk concludes with a broader discussion of human dependence, placing Confucian conceptions in dialogue with Eva Feder Kittay, Martha Fineman, and Alasdair MacIntyre. All three, like the Confucians, see dependency relations as central to human life and the problems of politics, in sharp contrast to most liberal views that imagine a social contract between autonomous, free, and equal individuals. Confucians view extreme dependence as a special case of the pervasive interdependence of all human beings on each other, with family relations serving in many respects as the model for other relations. Continue reading →
Dates have been announced for two series of events held this spring at Columbia University.
The Comparative Philosophy seminar:
The Neo-Confucianism seminar:
THE COLUMBIA SOCIETY FOR COMPARATIVE PHILOSOPHY
Welcomes: PAUL GOLDIN (University of Pennsylvania)
With responses from: SANDRA SHAPSHAY (Hunter College, CUNY)
Please join on December 6, 2019 at 5:30 for his lecture entitled:
The Immortal Spirit in Classical Chinese Aesthetics
ABSTRACT: This will be the third (and, time permitting, some material from the fourth) of a series of lectures that I aim to write up formally as a book. We will begin with a brief review of the most familiar theory of Chinese aesthetics: works of art are the products of sensitive human beings who cannot suppress their sincere responses to emotional stimuli. If art is understood as a sincere statement of this kind by a great genius, it stands to reason that, by correctly interpreting the work, one can communicate with that genius’s mind (xin 心) even after his or her death–and, likewise, that an artist today can communicate with audiences yet unborn. Continue reading →
THE COLUMBIA SOCIETY FOR COMPARATIVE PHILOSOPHY
Welcomes: KIM SUNGMOON (City University of Hong Kong)
With responses from: OMAR DAHBOUR (Hunter College & Graduate Center, CUNY)
Please join on November 8, 2019 at 5:30 for his lecture entitled,
BEYOND THE PLURALISM DILEMMA — A CONSTITUTIONAL RECONSTRUCTION OF CONFUCIAN DEMOCRACY
Recently, a group of scholars has challenged the moral legitimacy of Confucian democracy from a liberal philosophical standpoint. Continue reading →
THE COLUMBIA SOCIETY FOR COMPARATIVE PHILOSOPHY
Welcomes: RICHARD KIM (Loyola University Chicago)
With responses from: CHRISTOPHER GOWANS (Fordham University)
Please join on October 11, 2019 at 5:30 for his lecture entitled,
THE ROLE OF NEGATIVE EMOTIONS IN THE GOOD LIFE: REFLECTIONS FROM THE ZHUANGZI
ABSTRACT: The philosophical and psychological literature on well-being tend to focus on the prudential value of positive emotions such as pleasure, joy, or gratitude. But how do the negative emotions such as grief fit into our understanding of well-being? It is often assumed that negative emotions are intrinsically bad far us and that we should work toward eliminating them, especially from the perspective of our own well-being. Continue reading →
Justin Tiwald (San Francisco State University) will be giving a public lecture on “Moral Expertise: Confucian Philosophers on Deference and Deliberative Autonomy” during his visit to Washington College on Oct. 16, from 6:30-8:00pm. More information can be found on the flyer here.
