Download - Teaching Chinese philosophy
Challenges to teaching Chinese phil•Lack of interest in Asian philosophy as an
elective▫Varies by region and student demographic?
•What students (don’t) know: Starting from zero?▫Little prior exposure to China
•No prior exposure to philosophy?▫An advantage? Not looking for deductive
arguments?
A method that responds to these challenges…
An alternative approach:•Use methods that philosophy students are
familiar with:▫Careful reading and analysis,
identifying/constructing and assessing arguments
•But apply them to unusual themes, themes important to Chinese philosophy
The Basic Idea•Chinese thought deals with themes or
topics less discussed in ‘mainstream’ philosophy, and canonical texts.
•Thus, need to introduce these neglected themes to students
•By encouraging explicit reflection on these themes, students more deeply engage with the Chinese texts.
So, what are these themes?
Examples: 1. Tradition
The Analects’ emphasis on the role of history, sage kings, moral exemplars, the appeal of the Zhou dynasty…
Make students think about ‘tradition’:
•What is it? •How important is it? •What role does it play in determining a
person’s identity? •How and when should tradition be reformed? •Can we ever really escape tradition? Is the
ideal of individual freedom from tradition just one particular form of tradition?
•What role does tradition play in contemporary liberal consumer democracy?
The Reading:•Blend of:
▫Philosophical analysis of ‘tradition’ (non-China)
▫Contemporary Chinese philosophers on tradition
▫Classic text passages on tradition
•Modern work on ‘tradition’ as a philosophical (or intellectual) problem:▫Edward Shils (2006). Tradition. Chicago,
IL: University of Chicago Press, ch. 1.•Contemporary philosophers working on
Chinese thought who address tradition:▫Sor Hoon Tan, in Confucius Now (D. Jones,
ed)
•Other suggestions? ▫Gadamer?
• Analects passages on tradition: (Bold passages=priority)• • Ancestors 1.9 – Sacrifices to Ancestors:
▫ Observing the Father’s way 1.11, 4.20, 17.21. • Sage Kings; Historical figures and exemplars.
▫ 1.12 Harmony the way of the former kings▫ 7.15; 16.12, 18.8: Bo Yi and Shu Qi as revered figures of the past▫ 9.5. Confucius as representative of a culture 斯文
• Earlier Dynasties:▫ 8.18 -21 Yao, Shun and Yu as exemplary sage rulers. ▫ 3.14 Lover of the Zhou▫ 15.11 Creating a viable state using the traditions of earlier states
• Learning. ▫ 2.15, 7.28: Learning about the past and selecting from it
• Role of Ancient texts in Confucius’ teaching. ▫ 1.15 Book of Songs, 3.8. 2.21. Book of Documents.▫ 17.9-10 Learning the Songs to express experiences
• Problems of tradition?▫ Mencius 3B2. Gender distinctions – women’s way as marriage and obedience.
• Pragmatic attitude towards tradition:▫ 3.21 changing customs? ▫ 5.10: Allowing daughter to marry ex-convict – against popular tradition.▫ 9.3 Flexibility on hemp camp
Some other themes…
2. Ritual•Common student starting point: ritual as
restrictive and boring
•Aim: make students think of ritual in much richer ways
Rethinking ritualFor example:• Ritual can include habit
▫your morning ritual• Ways of training people to interact with others
▫learning to say hello in the morning• Shaping emotions and inclinations
▫saying hello in the morning to people we don’t care for
• Creating community by creating a shared event in which every participant can contribute something ▫Going to a football match, a college open day
Readings for Ritual Texts:• ‘Canonical’ scholarly texts:
▫Catherine Bell, Ritual •Chinese material (secondary):
▫Michael Ing The Dsyfunction of Ritual in Early Confucianism
▫Herbert Fingarette The Secular as Sacred, ch. 1•Contemporary snapshots of everyday ritual
▫New York Times: Ritual makes food taste better
•Analects on 禮 li: ▫1.13 Ritual and deference; 2.3 shame; ▫3.4 Ritual and grief, 3.12 Attitudes in
ritual, 3.18 Pedantry in ritual▫8.2 Ritual and virtues▫10.4 Bodily dimension of ritual▫12.1, Ritual as self-restraint ▫17.11 Ritual as more than ritual objects
•Questions: What is ritual? What role does or should ritual play in
contemporary life? What place or role does Fingarette ascribe to
‘ritual’ in the Confucian vision? What are the attractions and limitations of
his account? What role does Li (‘ritual’) play in the
Analects Is ‘ritual’ the best translation for ‘li 禮’ ?
3. The family
• Contemporary works: ▫Jane English ‘What do grown children owe to
their parents?’▫Christina Hoff Sommers ‘Filial Morality’▫Brenda Almond, The Fragmenting Family OUP
• China-focused scholarship:▫Richard Madsen, ‘Ethics and the Family:
China/West’ (20 pages)▫Lin Yutang??
Classical texts on family•Analects:
▫Xiao (family reverence): 1.6, 2.6 Worrying parents, 2.21 Family relations as government
▫Remonstrance (jian): 2.5 Acting contrary, 4.18-21
▫Problems with the family: 13.18 Sheep•The Xiaojing (The Classic of Family
Reverence):▫Chapters 1 Parent-child relation, 2 Emperor
and family, 8 Inclusiveness, 15 Remonstrance •Xunzi, chapter 20
4. Guanxi - Networks of interpersonal relationships
• Examining a modern social phenomenon to imagine a contemporary Confucian society▫Also: political philosophy debates over a modern
Confucian polity▫Also: the importance of ‘face’ (mianzi)
• Questions: ▫How are the networks of personal connections
prevalent in East Asian societies related to Confucian thought?
▫In what ways are they ethical or unethical? • Reading:
▫Mayfair Yang Gifts, Favors and Banquets, Ch. 3▫Andrew Kipnis, ‘On face’
5. Aesthetic Experience
• Analects connects aesthetic experience with personal conduct▫But traditional aesthetics often limits ‘aesthetic
experience’ to the disinterested contemplation of certain objects (art)
• How can we better understand the ‘aesthetic’ in the Confucian tradition?
• Solution: a debate in Anglo-American thought that seeks to describe an enlarged notion of the aesthetic
• Reading: ▫Sherri Irvin: ‘The pervasiveness of the aesthetic in
everyday experience’ British Journal of Aesthetics
•Zhongyong (Doctrine of the Mean):▫ Sections 1, 2, 3, 15 ▫25 (chengwu 誠物 – bringing events to
fruition) •Analects on harmony joy and delight:
▫1.1, 1.12, 6.20, 16.5, 11.26.•Mencius on delight
▫: 1A2, 1B1, 1B2, 1B4, 3A2, 7B36.
Limitations of this method?•Students find analytical texts too difficult
for an introductory course? •Danger of failing to let the texts speak for
themselves? Too much scaffolding?•Less direct focus on ren 仁 yi 義 etc.
•But: only an introductory method or 100-level course
•Later, wider reading in the Chinese corpus will result in students developing a fuller picture of relevant nuances and concepts, incl. ren, yi, etc.
Summary: Prospects
• Mirrors exciting cross-fertilisations in research: eg, Everyday aesthetics, the ethical status of cultivating social connections
• Philosophers working in areas relevant to articulating Chinese thought providing new ideas and concepts that make sense of the early texts
• An appealing gateway to Chinese texts:▫Identifying issues or concepts in the texts relevant
to students’ lives, with which they can identify (ritual, tradition, family, etc).
