David Wong’s new ‘Moral Relativism and Pluralism’ available for free download until Jan 20

Readers of this blog might be interested in David Wong’s new Moral Relativism and Pluralism by Cambridge University Press. It is available to download for free directly from CUP until January 20. If you’re interested, don’t delay!

It’s part of the Cambridge Elements series (specifically, Elements in Ethics), so it’s meant to be a succinct yet authoritative guide to the topic. Here is a summary of the book:

The argument for metaethical relativism, the view that there is no single true or most justified morality, is that it is part of the best explanation of the most difficult moral disagreements. The argument for this view features a comparison between traditions that highly value relationship and community and traditions that highly value personal autonomy of the individual and rights. It is held that moralities are best understood as emerging from human culture in response to the need to promote and regulate interpersonal cooperation and internal motivational coherence in the individual. The argument ends in the conclusion that there is a bounded plurality of true and most justified moralities that accomplish these functions. The normative implications of this form of metaethical relativism are explored, with specific focus on female genital cutting and abortion.

 

New Book: Acharya, et al, eds., Bridging Two Worlds

The University of California Press with support from the Berggruen Institute has published Amitav Acharya, Daniel A. Bell, Rajeev Bhargava, and Yan Xuetong, eds., Bridging Two Worlds: Comparing Classical Political Thought and Statecraft in India and China. The full text is available for download here; the Table of Contents is below.

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Getting Chinese-language books outside of East Asia

A colleague wrote to me asking about acquiring Chinese-language books (he was asking especially about Zhu Xi, but it’s a more general issue) from within the US. Until the pandemic I travelled often enough to China, Taiwan, or Hong Kong that I was able to pick things up there, and have never ordered from the US. Does anyone have good (or bad) experiences to share?

Upcoming 四海为学 “Collaborative Learning” Seminars and Lectures

The 四海为学 “Collaborative Learning” project, an online philosophy lecture and seminar series promoting learning across cultures, will host three seminars and four lectures in the next few months.

Our seminars include:

“The Philosophy of Guo Xiang” Led by: Paul D’Ambrosio, East China Normal University. Taking place January 9, 10, 11, 16, 17, 18, 23, 24, 25; from 22:00-23:30 Beijing Time.

“Confucianism Today” Led by: Robert A. Carleo III, East China Normal University. Taking place March 7, 9, 14, 16, 21, 23, 28, 29; from 20:30–22:30 Beijing time

“The Bad Confucius” Led by: Dimitra Amarantidou, University of Macau. Taking place May 9, 11, 16, 18, 23, 25, 29, 31; from 21:00-22:30 Beijing Time

For more information, including links to the meetings, see https://www.sihaiweixue.org/seminars

Our lectures include:

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English-based MA and one-year visiting programs in Chinese philosophy at Fudan

Dear friends,

Thanks to your support, since it was launched in 2011, the MA and Visiting programs in Chinese philosophy (with courses taught in English) at Fudan have been extremely successful. In spite of the pandemic that has seriously affected the enrollment, 121 students have been enrolled in either the M.A. program (101 students) and the visiting student program (20 students). They are from 38 countries (the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Barbados, Uruguay, Brazil, Chile, Australia, the U.K., Ireland, Iceland, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Russia, Israel, Turkey, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, India, Bangladesh, and Gambia, with student from North America and Europe forming the majority of the student body), and many of them are top students in their classes, majoring in philosophy, classics, and/or East Asian or Chinese studies. The above facts make these programs simply the most successful of their kind (English-based post-graduate programs in Chinese philosophy) in mainland China.

The program boasts perhaps the largest community of English-speaking postgraduate students interested in Chinese philosophy in the world, a community our students have enjoyed greatly. The comprehensiveness and specialization of our curriculum in Chinese philosophy are unmatched by other programs. We have also assigned tutors to our students, helping them read classical Chinese texts, in addition to the normal language classes. Because of the number and the quality of our students, our programs are a “favorite” of the university administration. As a result, we have been EXTREMELY successful at securing fellowships for students applying for the MA program. (For the visiting student program, only partial fellowships are available through Fudan, but students can apply through some external channels, like the Chinese Scholarship Council, the EU, Chinese consulates, Confucius Institutes, etc..) One additional piece of good news is that students were already allowed into China, and given the recent development, the international travels to and from China should become normal in Fall 2023.

To continue its success, I ask you to help us to distribute the information about the programs and encourage your students to apply. If they are already in a doctoral program and wish to spend a year in China, they are also welcome. I’ll attach a flier to this email. You can also directly go to the following website for more detailed information: https://iso.fudan.edu.cn/isoenglish/41/98/c16952a475544/page.htm

Thank you, and be safe and well!

Happy Holidays!

Tongdong