Approaching ancient philosophy globally at Oxford

A promising, inclusive approach to ancient philosophy is on display in the Oxford Network for Ancient Philosophy, which describes itself as follows:

The Oxford Network for Ancient Philosophy (ONAP) brings together faculty and students specializing in ancient philosophy across the University of Oxford. Oxford is an extraordinarily rich environment for the study of ancient philosophy, with leading researchers working on ancient Chinese, Greek, Indian, Roman philosophy, and more across a range of Humanities faculties. This forum seeks to support the vibrant community of staff and students working in all areas of ancient philosophy by providing up-to-date, cross-departmental resources and information geared to the study and teaching of ancient philosophy within Oxford.

The ONAP homepage is here. If you are familiar with other, similarly inclusive/boundary-crossing approaches to ancient philosophy, please share in the comments! (I know they’re out there….)

Luce/ACLS Program in China Studies: 2024-25 Fellowship and Grant Competitions

The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) invites scholars seeking funds for research and writing to apply for Luce/ACLS Program in China Studies fellowships and grants. The following three fellowships are offered: flexible, short-term fellowships, long-term research fellowships, and travel grants.

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Episode 7 of “This Is the Way”: The Butcher

Certain allegories and myths offer profound philosophical insights. In the West, Plato’s Allegory of the Cave occupies a key role in the history of philosophy with its marvelous representation of the quest for knowledge and the distinction between illusion and reality. In East Asia, Zhuangzi’s story of the butcher, “Cook Ding” has for over two millennia served as one of the memorable and stunning illustrations of the Daoist conception of the Way.

In this episode we are delighted to be joined by Professor Karyn Lai to discuss this remarkable passage from the Zhuangzi. Continue reading →

Telos-Paul Piccone Institute’s China Initiative

The Telos-Paul Piccone Institute, which is affiliated with the journal Telos, has underway a multi-pronged China Initiative that is well worth blog readers’ attention. Through this initiative, the Institute seeks “to become a key bridge for a mutually regarding, critical discussion of social and political theory between China and the West, well beyond the circles of East Asia specialists. The Telos China Initiative will include a wide variety of programs to be developed over a five-year period beginning in 2024.”

Among other things, the initiative includes an upcoming conference on “China Keywords” that is currently calling for submissions, with a deadline of September 1; see here for more details.

The initative has also been sponsoring a series of podcast conversations about key terms like tianxia, wangdao, and others. See here for more.

CFP: The 28th annual meeting of the Southeast Early China Roundtable

The twenty-eighth annual meeting of the Southeast Early China Roundtable will be held and sponsored by the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill from Friday October 25 to Sunday, October 27. The room and board of participants will be entirely covered by the sponsoring institution. If interested to participate, please contact Uffe Bergeton (bergeton@email.unc.edu) an abstract of your paper by September 15.

CFP: International Society of East Asian Philosophy (ISEAP)

The International Society of East Asian Philosophy (ISEAP) will have its fourth international conference on December 14-15, which will be held at the Fukuoka University, Japan.

Abstracts for individual papers and organized panels in English(preferably), Chinese and Korean are welcomed. Presented papers will be invited to submit to a special issue of The Journal of East Asian Philosophy (published by Springer, peer-reviewed, all in English).

The submission deadline is September 1, 2024 (Japan Time). Please check the ISEAP website for more details regarding the conference and submission details.

New Article: Angle, Methodologies and Communities in Comparative Philosophy

I am happy to report that my article “Methodologies and Communities in Comparative Philosophy” has just been published on-line in Metaphilosophy. A read-only version can be accessed here. The abstract:

There is considerable disagreement and even confusion over what forms of border-crossing philosophizing are most appropriate to our times. Are comparative, cross-cultural, intercultural, blended, and fusion philosophy all the same thing? Some critics find what they call “comparative philosophy” to be moribund or problematically colonialist; others assert that projects like “fusion philosophy” are intellectually irresponsible and colonialist in their own way. Can we nonetheless identify a distinctive project of comparative philosophy and say why it is important? Based on a broad survey of approaches, this essay offers schematic answers to these questions, clarifies some persistent confusions, and stresses the constitutive gamble that lies at the heart of all comparative philosophy. There are several different ways to do comparative philosophy well; which method to employ depends on the values that motivate and the pragmatic situation that frames one’s inquiry, and on the ways in which one or more communities receive and respond to one’s contribution.

 

 

 

Call for Festschrift: Celebrating Chung-ying Cheng’s Contributions and Life (1935-2024)

Chung-ying Cheng, Ph.D. in Philosophy (Harvard University), Professor (since 1963) and Professor Emeritus (since June 1, 2024) of Department of Philosophy, University of Hawaii at Manoa, USA,  Founding Editor and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Chinese Philosophy (in English language) (since 1973), Founding President of the International Society of Chinese Philosophy (since 1975), Founding President of the International Society of the Yijing《易經》(since 1979), Founding President of the International Society of Hermeneutics (since 1980), honoris causa of the International Institute for Hermeneutics Agora Hermeneutica (since 2021), had departed from his contributive journey on this world (and headed to another magnificent march as he always was a tireless soldier), at Kaiser Moanalua Hospital, Honolulu, on July 2, 2024, US Time.

To celebrate Professor Chung-ying Cheng’s life-time service and prolific achievements, the Journal of Chinese Philosophy calls for full articles to be peer-reviewed, under a tentative theme: Festschrift: Celebrating Chung-ying Cheng’s Contributions and Life (1935-2024).  All topics of leading scholarship in high quality American English are welcome and submissions are immediately available. For Guidelines, please contact Dr. Andrew Fuyarchuk.