Book Talk: The Objectionable Li Zhi

Please join the Center for East Asian Studies at the University of Chicago (CEAS) for their East Asia by the Book! CEAS Author Talks featuring Professors Rivi Handler-Spitz, Associate Professor of Asian Language & Cultures at Macalester College, Pauline C. Lee, Associate Professor of Chinese Religions & Cultures at Saint Louis University, and Haun Saussy, Professor of Comparative Literature, Social Thought, and East Asian Languages & Civilzations at the University of Chicago, on Tuesday, May 4, at 5:00 p.m. (Central Daylight Time).

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ToC: Frontiers Of Philosophy In China Mar. 2021, Volume 16 Issue 1

  • Introduction to the Special Theme “Centennial of Publication of the Tractatus ”
    • By JIANG Yi
  • The Chinese Understanding of Wittgenstein’s Mysticism in the Tractatus 
    • By JIANG Yi
  • Construction of the World: Ontology in the Tractatus 
    • By HUANG Min
  • Truth and Nonsense: A Unified Reading of the Tractatus 

    • By DAI Haiqiang

  • Wittgenstein on Reading
    • By Francis Yunqing LIN
  • The Inverted Spectrum, Qualia, and Wittgenstein’s Grammatical Analysis
    • By MA Fangfang
  • Accidentally True Beliefs and the Williamsonian Mental State of Knowing
    • By LI Qilin
  • Perception & Epistemic Entitlement
    • By LIU Chuang
  • Ming-Huei Lee, Confucianism: Its Roots and Global Significance (reviewed by Kirill O. Thompson)
    • By Kirill O. Thompson
  • Rainer Schulzer, Inoue Enryō: A Philosophical Portrait (reviewed by Dennis Prooi)
    • By Dennis Prooi

Online lecture: A Chinese Reading of Epictetus

Colleagues,

I’m taking the liberty of posting this link for my upcoming online lecture, “A Chinese Reading of Epictetus” (May 1, 9:30 A.M., Singapore time, which is April 30, 9:30 P.M., EDT).  The time will be inconvenient for colleagues in Europe, alas.

The redoubtable Li Chenyang will be the commentator.

南大中华文学与文化 – 线上系列讲座（四）

You can register by clicking on https://wis.ntu.edu.sg/pls/webexe88/REGISTER_NTU.REGISTER?EVENT_ID=OA21040819554770 or scanning the QR code in the poster above (which also contains an abstract).

Hope to see some of you there!

 

A talk on Yogācāra Buddhist Philosophy at Rutgers tonight (April 21, 7-8:30pm EDT)

It’s a bit last minute, but readers of this blog might be interested in the following talk tonight:

“Can Ultimate Reality Change? Controversies Regarding the Yogic Practice School’s Path to Awakening” (John Powers, Deakin University, Australia)

Abstract:

The Yogic Practice School (Yogācāra) is one of the two main traditions of Indian Buddhist philosophy. Its luminaries made significant contributions to epistemology and logic, and they developed a sophisticated vision of the path to awakening aimed at transforming pathological mental patterns and developing attitudes conducive to more skillful engagement with other beings and the world. One of the most important Yogācāra doctrines is the “three natures”: the imputational, the other dependent, and the ultimately real. The first refers to false notions imputed to the phenomena of experience; the second involves viewing phenomena as arising in dependence on causes and conditions, which is correct on the conventional level but mistaken from an ultimate perspective. The ultimately real nature is how sages view things: without the false overlay of the imputational and free from subject-object dichotomy. I will begin with an overview of the three natures and how they function within the Yogācāra soteriological system, and will then discuss how the third—the ultimately real—has largely been mistranslated and misconstrued by contemporary scholars who work on the tradition. This is more than just termininological quibbling because correct understanding of the ultimately real is crucial to the entire Yogācāra project, and it has ramifications for Buddhist practice more generally.

Bio:

John Powers is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Humanities and Professor of Religion at Deakin University in Australia. He is the author of 18 books and more than 100 articles and book chapters, mainly on Buddhist philosophy and history of ideas, as well as environmental history, human rights, and gender, and propaganda. His books include A Bull of A Man: Images of Masculinity, Sex, and the Body in Indian Buddhism (Harvard, 2009) and Dignāga’s Investigation of the Percept and Its Philosophical Legacy (with Douglas Duckworth, David Eckel, Jay Garfield, Sonam Thakchoe, and Yeshes Thabkhas. Oxford, 2017).

Here’s the link to register: bit.ly/3sCe2JH

The Analects of Confucius – Seminar Series (Oxford)

Philiminality Oxford is delighted to announce an upcoming series of talks (online) on the Analects of Confucius. The ideas to be found in the Analects have been so influential that they are often seen as the cornerstone of Confucianism. In this seminar series, we will be hosting three talks on the Analects by leading experts in Confucian thought, covering topics in ethics and political thought.
  • Prof. Stephen Angle (Wesleyan University), “The Analects and Modern Moral Philosophy” (Monday 3 May, 3-4.30pm BST)
  • Prof. LI Chenyang (Nanyang Technological University), “Li as Cultural Grammar: On the Relation Between Li and Ren in Confucius’ Analects” (Monday 17 May, 10-11.30am BST)
  • Prof. TAN Sor-Hoon (Singapore Management University), “Confucian Democracy and the Analects” (Monday 31 May, 10-11.30am BST)
REGISTRATION:

To register and receive Zoom details, please register here: https://forms.gle/KnQuzkgW2r9j8zYx6

If you have any questions, feel free to email us at:  philiminality.ox[at]gmail.com.

Organisers: Heeyoung Tae, Lea Cantor, Sihao Chew, and Flaminia Pischedda

Abstracts of all three talks follow.

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