Larry Whitney at BU recently told me about fascinating videos of the Autumnal Sacrifice to Confucius at the Confucius temple in Tainan, Taiwan. Thomas A. Wilson video recorded the sacrifice in 1998 and it’s been posted on his website here.
Here is a call for papers for a workshop on “Political Pluralism in Greater China – 大中华的政治多元化,” to be held in July 2019 at the University of Lucerne, organized by Philipp Renninger (Lucerne) and Ewan Smith (Oxford).
The “Fourth Conference on Contemporary Philosophy in East Asia (CCPEA 2018)”（第四屆當代東亞哲學會議）will take place in August, 2018, and hereby issues a Call for Papers. This is a conference open to all fields in philosophy. For more information, see here or read on.
National Chengchi University, Philosophy
NCCU Sheng Yen Postdoctoral Fellowship in Chinese Buddhist Philosophy, 2018-2019
With the generous support of the Sheng Yen Educational Foundation, the Research Group in Buddhist Philosophy at the National Chengchi University (NCCU) is pleased to invite applications for a postdoctoral research fellowship. The term of the appointment is August 1, 2018, to July 31, 2019.
University of Hawaii Press has published a collection of leading Taiwanese “New Confucian” Lee Ming-huei’s essays, translated into English: David Jones, ed., Confucianism: Its Roots and Global Significance. The Amazon link (with Table of Contents) is here.
Three positions in philosophy, one specifically on Pre-Qin Confucian Philosophy, are being advertised at National Taiwan University. Note that successful applicants must be prepared to teach in Mandarin. More more information, read on or see here.
The 師大學報 (Journal of National Taiwan Normal University) is seeking manuscripts on the topic of 域外漢學：以東亞與歐美的儒學／經學研究為核心 (Foreign Sinology: With a Focus on East Asian, North American, and European Confucian / Classical Studies Research) for an upcoming special issue. The deadline is April 15, for publication later this year. Details here.
Wan-Li Ho, Ecofamilism: Women, Religion, and Environmental Protection in Taiwan (Three Pines Press, May 2016)
Ecofamilism proposes a new analytical framework, moving beyond ecofeminism, based on Western feminism and Christian theology, to illuminate Taiwanese women’s motivations and how they understand their role in the environmental movement. Based on extensive interviews with women founders, leaders, and members of six non-governmental, often religious-based, organizations from 1990-2015, the work presents contemporary issues in Taiwan from the perspectives of social anthropology, geography, inter-religious cooperation, and global ethics. Ecofamilism offers a new way of approaching life in contemporary Asia, engaging more precisely with while authentically portraying the experiences of Taiwanese women—whose gender roles are ancillary to motivations of family, religion, and society. Its key concept of ecofamilism pairs the notions of ecology and family while drawing on Chinese religio-cultural traditions of responsibility to the family to illuminate ecologically responsible positions toward society, environment, and all living beings. More information here.
The Department of Philosophy at National Chengchi University (Taipei, Taiwan) invites applications for a position of professor, associate professor, or assistant professor. Appointments are effective from August 1, 2016
Qualifications: Ph.D. in Philosophy or related fields. Applicants should be able to offer English and Chinese taught courses.
Specialization: Western Philosophy (Kant’s philosophy or German idealism preferred) or Chinese Philosophy (neo-Confucianism preferred)
Deadline: All application materials should be postmarked no later than April 6 (Wednesday), 2016.
When I was in Taiwan last week, friends there recommended that I should look at the new book 《公民儒學》 (Civic Confucianism) by Norman Teng 鄧育仁, recently published by National Taiwan University Press. Professor Teng, who received his PhD a number of years ago from Southern Illinois University, is now a researcher at the Academia Sinica; I had a chance to meet him and talk with him at length about his book and future research projects while I was there. The book is fascinating. He proposes that in this age of democratic pluralism, a “civic philosophical 公民哲學” approach should be to seek serious dialogue among philosophical traditions, in the spirit of egalitarian democracy. In particular, he is interested in how we should think about Confucians and Confucianism in a pluralistic, democratic society like Taiwan. His book combines a number of innovative methodological approaches (e.g., paying special attention to the ways that early Confucians use narrative reflection and the reframing of premises, rather than explicit deductive logic, which techniques can then be applied in the present day as well) in order to explore a particular means of developing a form of democratic Confucianism today. He draws extensively on John Rawls in some chapters; that, plus his emphasis on a rootedness in the actual experience of Taiwan’s democratic society, suggests some very interesting comparisons between Teng’s work and that of Sungmoon Kim (whose work on modern Confucian democracy is rooted in the experience of South Korea). In any event, well worth serious attention for those of us thinking about the future of Confucianism.
