An International Workshop on the “Foundations of Justice: Chinese and Western Perspectives on Law, Ethics and Governance” will be held on 24-25 July at the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice; please see this poster and this program for more information.
Episode 22 of “This Is the Way”: The Good Life in the Analects
What sort of vision of the good life does Confucius recommend? In this episode, we explore one of the most intriguing passages in the Analects (11.26), where Confucius asks four disciples about their deepest aspirations. Three students offer increasingly modest political goals—from Zilu’s grand vision of governing a besieged state to Zihua’s humble wish to serve as a minor functionary in ritual ceremonies. But a fourth student, the musical Zengxi, describes something completely different: a spring day spent with friends and younger students, bathing in the Yi River, enjoying the breeze at the Rain Dance Altar, and returning home singing.
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CFP: 29th Meeting of the Southeast Early China Roundtable
The Southeast Early China Roundtable is now accepting submissions of paper abstracts for its 29th annual conference. This year’s meeting will held at the Elling O. Eide Center in Sarasota, Florida, from October 31 to November 2, 2025. The keynote speaker will be Professor Cai Liang of the University of Notre Dame.
Papers on pre-Song China from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, including anthropology, archaeology, art history, history, literature, philosophy, and religious studies are welcomed. Please send abstracts of individual papers (200 words) to Keith Knapp (knappk@citadel.edu) by September 1, 2025.
The sponsoring institution will provide free room and board to paper-presenters. Participants will be responsible for their travel expenses.
2025 Post-Conference Report (ISCP-Ljubljana International Conference)
The International Society for Chinese Philosophy (ISCP) recently held its 24th biennial ISCP international conference at the University of Ljubljana (June 20-23, 2025) on the theme “Addressing Global Crises and Reimagining Solutions Through Chinese Philosophy.” Please find the report of the conference here.
Workshop zu Kai Marchals Im Spiegel der All-Einheit
There will be a workshop (in German) on Kai Marchal’s new book on Zhu Xi, Im Spiegel der All-Einheit (details on book here). The Workshop is co-organized by Philippe Brunozzi (TU Dortmund) and Dominik Perler (Humboldt University Berlin). In-person or on-line attendance is encouraged; contact Philippe Brunozzi, philippe.brunozzi@tu-dortmund.de for details. The flyer with more information is here.
Song Reviews Xin, Lure of the Supreme Joy
In the latest issue of the Journal of Chinese Studies, Bin Song has published a review of Xin Conan-Wu’s intriguing 2024 book, Lure of the Supreme Joy: Pedagogy and Environment in the Neo-Confucian Academies of Zhu Xi. For more on the book itself, see the publisher’s site here; for Song’s review, see here.
New Book: Stamatov, Dialogues with Classical Chinese Philosophy
Routledge has recently published Dialogues with Classical Chinese Philosophy by Aleksandar Stamatov. Read more for description of the book and see here to access the full book. Continue reading →
New Book: Yong LI, Confucian Comparative Political Philosophy
Routledge has just published Yong LI’s new book, Confucian Comparative Political Philosophy; see here for the publisher’s webpage. Here’s its description and Table of Contents:
Invitation to attend: “Discursive and Non-Discursive Reasoning in Chinese Philosophy,” University of Zurich, 11–13 July 2025
This international workshop explores how processes of thinking and reasoning are understood in Chinese philosophy, including modes that are not easily captured by formal or discursive logic. Topics include vision, cognition, and intuition in Chinese philosophical traditions, Buddhist approaches to reasoning and the limits of thought, mathematical reasoning and patterns of knowledge, as well as the aesthetic and affective dimensions of understanding.
Speakers include Stephen Angle, Andrea Bréard, Hans-Rudolf Kantor, Michael Lackner, Chen-kuo Lin, Kai Marchal, and many others.
Open to all, with online participation possible.
Please note: all times in the program are given in Central European Time (CET/CEST).
➡️ Program & registration: https://www.aoi.uzh.ch/en/institut/events/conferences/reasoning.html
Episode 21 of “This Is the Way”: Xunzi’s Way—Discovered or Invented?
This episode is our first on the classical Confucian philosopher Xunzi 荀子 (3rd century BCE), who was famous for arguing that human nature is bad and for casting doubt on the more supernatural or superstitious justifications for traditional Confucian rituals, among many other things. Since this is the first episode on an important philosopher, we spend some time in part I discussing his “big picture” philosophical worldview. In part II, we turn to the following question: does Xunzi think of the Confucian Way as something that sages discover or invent? A little reflection on this question shows that it has major implications for how we think about ethics and its foundations, and how much ethical values depend on human convention. Continue reading →
