I recently received a letter from the editors of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP), suggesting that those who have benefitted from the NEH’s support for SEP might tell the nEH this, as part of the 50th anniversary of the NEH. Given SEP’s openness to non-Western philosophy, I thought this idea was a good one, and wanted to share the letter here, and encourage others to write to NEH as well!
Category Archives: Profession
New Blog on Being an Asian in Philosophy
Readers may be interested in this new blog:
This blog contains narratives of personal experiences, submitted by readers, of life in philosophy as a person of color. Some of these stories will undoubtedly be accounts of racial bias, whether explicit, unconscious, or institutional. However, other posts will be accounts of progress being undertaken or achieved.
This is a project of several philosophers of all colors, moderated by a group of philosophy faculty from a variety of institutions. It is partly inspired by the thoughtful conversations that grew up around the blog What is it Like to be a Woman in Philosophy.
We invite everyone to contribute. Many posts will be written by people of color in philosophy. But we hope that not all will be.
We plan to post a new story every day or as they are submitted. Please click on the ‘Send a Story’ link to submit a story anonymously.
U of C closing its Confucius Institute
Commentary and relevant links here.
Schwitzgebel’s Post about non-Western Philosophy and Mainstream Neglect
Over on his blog, The Splintered Mind, Eric Schwitzgebel wonders:
Why Don’t We* Know Our Chinese Philosophy?
(* “we” U.S.-based philosophy professors)
In 2001, I published a piece in the American Philosophical Association’s Newsletter on the Status of Asian & Asian-American Philosophers & Philosophies. In light of my recent reflections about the visibility of non-Western philosophy and philosophers, and especially this remarkable piece from an Asian-American who left philosophy, I thought I’d reproduce a revised version of the essay here. I’ve appended two new substantive notes at the end.
[Read his full post over on Splintered Mind. Discussion comments are welcome there or here.]
Postdoc in Chinese or Asian Phil at NTU
The Philosophy Program at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore is searching for a postdoctoral fellow in a broadly defined field of “Culture and Society: The Value of Traditional Culture in Contemporary Society.” We are looking for a young scholar in Chinese or Asian philosophy who reflects on the contemporary relevance of classic thoughts. Applications are due by July 15, 2014 (11:59pm Singapore Time). Start time negotiable. More information can be found at http://www.hss.ntu.edu.sg/AboutHSS/Pages/Research.aspx or by contacting Li Chenyang at cyli@ntu.edu.sg.
Reflections on Middle Period China Conference
A major, three-day conference on China’s “Middle Period” (800-1400) just concluded at Harvard. It featured an unusual format, designed to spur more cross-disciplinary conversation than is usual, as well as to handle the large number of papers and participants who were present. I believe there were something approaching 200 folks there, from graduate students to senior scholars. The titles, abstracts, and a range of on-line comments are all available here: http://www.middleperiodchina2014.org.
Add Syllabi to AAS Repository
The APA Committee on Inclusiveness in the Profession is collecting syllabi related to underrepresented areas of our profession. One such area is “Asian and Asian American Philosophy.” Read on to see how you can contribute to making the philosophy profession–or at least our teaching–more diverse.
Listing of Women Studying Asian Philosophy
Amy Olberding suggested that I call attention to this site: http://www.womenofphilosophy.com/specialization/traditions/asian-philosophy/
It’s an effort to create a listing of women in philosophy but the section listing Asian seems very underdeveloped, so I’m guessing lots of folks may be unaware of the list. Scholars can list themselves by hitting the “submit” tab.
Kwong-loi Shun returns to Berkeley
Prof. Kwong-loi Shun, who taught at U.C. Berkeley from 1986-2003, has returned there after most recently serving as the Head of New Asia College at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He will be teaching one course per term, starting this spring. If anyone knows what his plans may be about accepting graduate students, please let us know.
New Articles Coming at SEP
Karyn Lai and Sor-hoon Tan have recently joined the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy as new editors in the Chinese philosophy area, and are undertaking an ambitious program to increase the number of articles on Chinese philosophy from the current dozen up to nearly 40. The SEP’s lack of content in Chinese philosophy has been a topic of discussion here in the past, so this is exciting news. Articles anticipated to come out over the next year include: Chinese Philosophy: Social and Political Thought, Chinese Epistemology, Chinese Metaphysics, Chinese Logic, Chinese Philosophy of War and Peace, Legalism in Ancient China, Tiantai Buddhism, Chan Buddhism, Han Dynasty Syncretism, Song-Ming Confucianism, Qing dynasty philosophy, Contemporary Chinese Philosophy.
