Atman in Advaita Vedanta: Variations on a theme from the Principal Upanishads”
DOTTIN, Paul (Fudan University, China)
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- DUAN, Xiaolin (Elon University) “Seeking Identity in Place: Hangzhou’s West Lake as Site for Cultural Pilgrimage”
- DUFRESNE, Michael (University of Hawai’i) “Abstraction and Narration: Interpreting Sagacity in the Confucian Tradition”
- DULL, Carl J. (Southern Illinois University) “Ox Mountain and Not-Even-Anything Village: The Importance of Place in the Moral and Political Psychologies of Mencius and Zhuangzi”
- DUNLAP, Rika (University of Hawai’i) “A Place for the Minorities: The Issues Surrounding the Ambiguous Subject of ‘We, the Minority’”
- EL-KHOLY, Yomna T. ( Cairo University, Egypt ) “Ibn Al-Hytham from the Place to the Space: A Comparative Approach” In Arabic, the word ‘ makān
- FECH, Andrej (University of Tuebingen, Germany) “Place in the Philosophy and Biography of Laozi”
- FINK, Brian ( West Chester University of Pennsylvania) “Synthesizing Qi and Zeitgeist
- FIRESTONE, Jessica ( West Chester University of Pennsylvania) “Exchanging Places of Yin and Yang : A Feminist Reiteration of Junzi
- FOX, Alan (University of Deleware) “Transcendence versus Immanence: Concrete Mysticism”
- FRENKIEL, Emilie (Université Paris Est Créteil, France)
- FREEMAN, Tim (University of Hawai’i-Hilo) “Place on Fire: Climate Change and the Summit of Mauna Kea”
DOTTIN, Paul (Fudan University, China) “ChinAfrican Philosophy: Places of Engagement” The recent exponential growth in Sino-African relations has captured the world’s attention. Economically, the value of exports between China and Africa has skyrocketed from 10 billion dollars to almost 200 billion dollars in the last 15 years alone. Demographically, both Chinese and African nationals have “followed the money” resulting today in two million Chinese living abroad in Africa while 500,000 Africans make lives in China. Now, for the first time in a colossal face-to-face, African and Chinese nationals struggle to come to a meeting of the minds vis-à-vis their respective values and broader systems of thought. Such trends and issues have spurred investigative and theoretical responses from philosophers. The collaborative work of Chinese philosophy scholar Daniel A. Bell and African philosophy scholar Thaddeus Metz on Confucianism and Ubuntuism (a southern African ethical system) is a major bridge connecting these fields. African philosopher Jim I. Unah’s study has expanded this search for “common grounds” to include West Africa’s Yoruba and Igbo traditions. African philosopher Chris Akpan’s pursuit of causality has drawn Buddhism into discourse with seemingly parallel formulations in traditional African conceptual schemes. Yet what these different scattered comparisons of African and Chinese philosophies have in common is their reliance on a sole orientation: Analytic philosophy. I argue that this approach, which favors the dissection of concepts and arguments, should be complemented with the “platial” methodology of African philosophy scholar Bruce Janz which favors the generation of concepts and arguments phenomenologically and hermeneutically in situ. I conclude that for “ChinAfrican philosophy” to develop systematically through both approaches requires theorizing its correct placement within the broader Chinese “constructive-engagement movement” delineated by Chinese philosopher Bo Mou. DUAN, Xiaolin (Elon University) “Seeking Identity in Place: Hangzhou’s West Lake as Site for Cultural Pilgrimage” West Lake, a scenic site next to the city of Hangzhou, is one of the most visited places in today’s China. Its status as a cultural landmark, however, was first established during the eleventh to the thirteenth century, when the capital was relocated to Hangzhou. Attracted by its beautiful scenery, increasing number of scholars paid visit to the lake and left extensive literature works. Examining how this natural landscape has been conceptualized and represented in these writings, this paper explores how the lake accumulated its cultural significance as a destination for “cultural pilgrimage” through scholarly practices of reading, traveling and writing. More importantly, this paper investigates how the lake was told by different voices as a way to reinforce visitors’ varying social identities. Traveling to the lake, literati participated into the virtual conversations with historical figures who were known for touring and living around the lake. By so doing, their senses of belonging to a cultural community were enhanced. Such identity as literati was also maintained and confirmed via gatherings on the lake and especially their writings about such gatherings. During and after the Mongol invasion, state officials regarded the emerging sightseeing activities around the lake as a symbol of empire-wide revival, in order to consolidate the ruling of the new regime. On the contrast, however, local gentry sought to mitigate the feeling of political instability by compiling gazetteers for this eternal natural landscape. It therefore argues that in the process of travelling and writing, the lake was transformed into an “anchor for identity” and thus enabled the visitors to claim and reinforce their identities with literati culture, state power and local history. In this process, place is no longer simply a context for historical events or an aesthetic target, but an acting role in shaping the social-cultural frameworks. DUFRESNE, Michael (University of Hawai’i) “Abstraction and Narration: Interpreting Sagacity in the Confucian Tradition” I seek in this paper to develop an understanding of sagacity (sheng聖) and of those who embody it that genuinely engages with the terms and texts of classical Confucian tradition, from which these notions emerged. Rather than making any explicit claims about sagacity, I instead attempt to understand it as it has unfolded within its own context. What I have determined in making these examinations is that, contrary to many interpretations of the sages (shengren 聖人), one cannot properly define them as individuals nor can one define sagacity as an achievement of individuality. To do so is to misconstrue what it means to be a person within this tradition and misinterpret what the attainment of sagacity entails. In order to highlight these concerns, I approach sagacity from two different but complementary perspectives. The first looks at it as a process of abstraction in an attempt to show that sages are abstractions and that the complexities of sagacity have frequently gone unrecognized. Sagacity can be understood as a movement from particularity to generality, but if this process is to be understood to the fullest extent, we must not let its connection to particularity be lost. The second perspectives looks at sagacity as a process of narration in order to clarify the place particularity occupies within it. Through persistent cultivation, each particular person may develop from a unique personal narrative into a social narrative shared by people, and finally into a cosmic narrative shared by myriad phenomena (wanwu 萬物). Sagacity is not some unattainable ideal possessed only by a few venerable figures we call “sages,” but is a quality shared by all who partake in sagely activity. DULL, Carl J. (Southern Illinois University) “Ox Mountain and Not-Even-Anything Village: The Importance of Place in the Moral and Political Psychologies of Mencius and Zhuangzi” Mencius and Zhuangzi both utilize models of emotion and cognition that are central components of their moral and political psychologies. Mencius famously describes the four principles of virtue (II.A.6) and Zhuangzi discusses the importance of 遊心 youxin or “wandering heart” (Books 4, 7, 8, and 21). Both models regard emotion and cognition as emerging from the heart and seeking completion in the social environment. For Mencius, acting on the four feelings of the 心 xin results in virtuous activity. For Zhuangzi the pursuit of completion (成 cheng) often results in strife or conflict. Both propose models of moral psychology that seek to help develop healthy emotional and cognitive activity: Mengzi through nourishing the four principles in healthy environments and Zhuangzi by cultivating the wandering heart. In the theme of this conference I am especially interested in demonstrating the relationship of moral psychologies of Mencius and Zhuangzi to the idea of place, and in examining the kinds of places and environments they believe are necessary for healthy psychological activity. The first part of this paper discusses the moral psychologies of Mencius and Zhuangzi, first reviewing Mencius’ theory of emotions and then examining Zhuangzi’s therapeutic approaches of wandering and emptiness. The second part of this paper examines these two approaches in relation to the concept of place and what kinds of places are most important to Mencius for moral development and to Zhuangzi for wandering at ease. I engage the stories of Ox Mountain (6.A.8) and Not-Even-Anything Village (Books 1 and 7), and demonstrate how both are important parts of creating first a moral psychology and then for Mencius’ and Zhuangzi’s differing visions of political psychology and appropriate governing. For the final part of this paper I suggest these models can be linked to contemporary discussions regarding emotional and cognitive health. I am particularly interested in discussions regarding the concept of “natural environments” and the reduction of stress and anxiety. A body of research growing since the 1990s suggests relationships between increased exposure to natural environments and decreased indications of levels of stress and anxiety (through physiological markers and self-reporting). Using the models of Mencius and Zhuangzi I propose one possible interpretation for these findings, and offer suggestions for using Classical Chinese models in contemporary settings. DUNLAP, Rika (University of Hawai’i) “A Place for the Minorities: The Issues Surrounding the Ambiguous Subject of ‘We, the Minority’” The minority group often confronts the majority with the first person plural form of the subject, “we, the minority.” However, this practice cannot help but perpetuate the structure that creates the problem, insofar as the ambiguous subject of “we, the minority” not only leaves behind a group of people who do not quite fit into either the majority or the specific minority group, but also tends to ignore the intersectional identities within the same group. The dilemma, however, is that the practice of becoming an ambiguous plural subject is the only effective way for the minorities to claim their place within society to become a visible subject at all. While this practice of becoming a visible subject can refer to the problem of the racial issues within the United States, I argue that the nationalism of Japan is a twisted form of the same practice, orientalism as a way to become a visible subject in the international community where they would otherwise feel invisible. Specifically, I would like to make a connection between David Haekwon Kim’s analysis of the problem surrounding the Asian-American assimilation in the United States and Naoki Sakai’s critical cultural studies on nationalism by focusing on the issues of the ambiguous plural form of the subject, “we, the minority.” EL-KHOLY, Yomna T. (Cairo University, Egypt) “Ibn Al-Hytham from the Place to the Space: A Comparative Approach” In Arabic, the word ‘makān مكان’ means both place and space. However, place is more definite and determined, whereas space is more comprehensive. From a human and cultural perspective the concept of place is more efficient. But from a physical and scientific perspective the concept of space is of a higher status; so Newtonian absolute space – with absolute time – then Einsteinian four dimensional Spatio-temporal continuum played essential roles in modern science. This paper explores how the prominent scientist-mathematician al-Hassan ibn al-Hytham (354-433 A.H / 965-1042 A.D.) contributed to the development of modern science. Till his time, philosophers and scientists had operated with the concept of makān as a notion closer to place. Ibn al-Hytham rejected this, criticizing his ancestors and contemporaries in details. In his elaborated concept of al-Makān, he introduced the idea of ‘al-aba'ād al-mutakhayyila الأبعاد المتخيّلة’ which means "imaginary dimensions". He thereby moved the concept into space, and contributed to a development which led to the formulation of "absolute space" in modern physics. This paper adopts comparative method, not only when examining Ibn al-Hytham and his ancestors and contemporaries, but also – for the sake of a dialogue between East and West and between past and present – in comparing Ibn al-Hytham and P. W. Bridgman (1882-1961) whose Operationalism assigned great role to space, spacialization and place. Let's see whose approach was more fruitful? FECH, Andrej (University of Tuebingen, Germany) “Place in the Philosophy and Biography of Laozi” In the philosophy of the Laozi, location and directionality play an important role and are invested with a wide range of meanings. The central notion of the text, the Way 道, signifying the origin of the world and the ideal mode of action, is associated with several directions and positions in space, such as the “center” (zhong 中), the “low” (xia 下), the “behind” (hou 後) etc. The emergence and unfolding of the universe is also often depicted with the spatial metaphors connoting locations and movements of the Way (or beings). Likewise, the actions of the exemplary person are often conceptualized in spatial terms both, static, as in “dwell in the deeds of inaction” (chu wuwei zhi shi 處無為之事) (ch. 2), and dynamic, as in “walking on the great Way” (xing yu da dao 行於大道) (ch. 53). The main idea of the text according to which the ruler should act in accordance with the principles of the Way entails that the former has to emulate the motions/take up the position of the latter. The ensuing moral teaching commanding the ruler to lower himself in front of his subordinates challenges the traditional understanding of human agency in the world. Besides showing how the characteristic understanding of the spatial arrangement of the universe and the state influenced the philosophical teaching of the text, including its concept of time, I also would like to address the alleged biographical account of Laozi in this talk. According to it, Laozi left China after having become discouraged with the political decline of the Zhou dynasty. The depiction as made in the Shiji allows the inference that he went to the West. While this direction was associated with the sacred purview during his supposed lifetime, making his choice understandable, I will argue that it is also possibly his preference for certain spatial directions that could explain his move. FINK, Brian (West Chester University of Pennsylvania) “Synthesizing Qi and Zeitgeist: A Study of Hegelian Dialectic and the Flow of Yin-Yang” In this paper I argue that the logic of the Hegelian dialectic can be interpreted as giving a description of the flow of qi in Confucian philosophy. This argument is possible when we compare similarities between Hegel’s Zeitgeist and the Confucian idea of qi. We can also see that Hegel’s process of the thesis, antithesis and synthesis have a similar relationship to yin, yang and the myriad things. In Hegel’s The Science of Logic, Hegel argues that the starting point of dialectical logic is to take being as a thesis. Once being exists as a thesis, nothingness is immediately created as antithesis. I argue that the relationship between thesis and antithesis is a western interpretation of the flow of qi. Whereas the cyclical nature of yin and yang give rise to the myriad things, the interaction of thesis and antithesis of Hegelian dialectic give rise to synthesis. Being and nothingness are synthesized with the idea of becoming which becomes a new thesis and the cycle is repeated thus producing a multitude of other thesis and antithesis relationships. Ultimately, Hegel shows that this dialectical process continues until the idea of being then becomes a synthesis and the entire cycle starts over. The process of the Hegelian dialectic is then the manifestation of the Zeitgeist which moves and develops in terms of place. One major step in showing that Hegelianism is compatible with Asian philosophy is to argue against the philosophers who take Hegel’s philosophy as not allowing for there to be philosophy in Asian culture. I will show that we are able to find this compatibility when we view Hegel’s philosophy in a postcolonial context. This argument is in line with Hyo-Dong Lee’s argument in “Interreligious Dialogue as a Politics of Recognition: A Postcolonial Rereading of Hegel for Interreligious Solidarity”. I argue that, with this postcolonial reading of Hegel, it is possible to make some comparisons between the movements of Hegel’s Zeitgeist and the flow of qi. FIRESTONE, Jessica (West Chester University of Pennsylvania) “Exchanging Places of Yin and Yang: A Feminist Reiteration of Junzi (君子) ” Aristotle’s hierarchical method of categorization into genera and species implies an ultimate homogeneity of the myriad things. In conjunction with his misogynist views on gender norms, I will show that, for Aristotle, there is a single human genus predominantly made up of two species: the ideal human specimen -- man -- and the mutilated, inferior woman. This male chauvinism heavily influenced Western thought and perpetuated the problematic normalization of patriarchy, sexism, and strict gender roles. As a method of evaluating and potentially remedying this imbalance, I will compare Aristotle’s view with the implications of the Eastern concepts of yin-yang, which views masculinity and femininity as correlative polarities, and junzi, the ideal human being. In place of the Aristotelian assertion of the naturally superior position of the male gender, the yin-yang model views the feminine -- yin -- and the masculine -- yang -- as interdependent and interpenetrating opposites with equal import and function in humanity and the cosmos. Man and woman cease to be static, mutually exclusive species, as Aristotle views them, and become dynamic combinations of both masculinity and femininity. These qualities not only interpenetrate, existing in differing proportions in every entity, but serve to define and create one another. While the yin-yang paradigm ultimately seeks balance between the polarities of yin and yang, this system is not ignorant to the tradition and continual tendency to “fu yin bao yang [embody yin and embrace yang],” of which Aristotle seems to be guilty. To counteract this propensity, yin-yang philosophies advocate nurturing yin -- passivity, mystery, femininity, emptiness -- to place the energies on equal ground and establish harmony. The emptiness of yin, I will argue, is also the source of creativity and therefore resonance, the ultimate directive of Confucian praxis as articulated by Zhang Zai. Junzi can then be defined as a master of enhancing human life in the world and promoting the free flow of the cosmic qi by 1) resisting the human tendency to overvalue yang and thereby balancing yin and yang energies both internally and externally and 2) promoting creative interaction and resonance amongst humans and their environment. Just as Confucius sought to redefine junzi, making it available to every social class, I propose a second reiteration of this concept that respects and empowers the feminine. In contrast to Aristotelian ideality, which woman is fundamentally incapable of achieving, I will argue that the status of junzi is not only available to woman but she is naturally closer to this human ideal than her masculine counterpart, as she harbors stronger yin energy. FOX, Alan (University of Deleware) “Transcendence versus Immanence: Concrete Mysticism” I propose to introduce the idea of belonging as an example of what I will call a "concrete mysticism," using several Daoist and Confucian texts as my primary sources, but referring to other traditions and texts as well. The goal of a concrete mysticism is to merge, not with some abstract and metaphysical absolute, but with the concrete and immanent world around us. Concrete mystics seek to be at home in the world, rather than escape from it. The ideal person in such a sense is the one who is perfectly at ease in any and all situations. FRENKIEL, Emilie (Université Paris Est Créteil, France) “The World-Wide-Web and Social Networks as a Political Place: The Impact of Uncensored Internet Access on the Political Interest and Participation of Chinese Exchange Students” Recent statistics from the China Internet Network Information Center have revealed that China now has about 650 million Internet users with 70% of these so-called netizens connecting to the web with their mobile phones. When the Chinese Communist Party displayed a strong resolve to allow for a wide access to the Internet, analysts announced inevitable political change with optimism. The technological determinism manifest in early Internet studies as regards old democracies and as regards authoritarian countries like China promised that the web would help recruit previously inactive citizens into political participation and enhance robust political debate. Researches have however repeatedly shown that, with digital technology, political engagement and participation has mostly been enhanced among already active citizens and reinforces existing patterns of political participation (Davis, 1999); greater access to information, enabled by online does not directly lead to increases in political participation, or greater civic engagement, or trust in political process (Bimber, 2001; Kaid, 2002) and the internet is susceptible to the profit-making impulses of the market, which do not traditionally prioritize civic participation or democratization. However, the Internet’s challenge to traditional media is real and it can “give new voice to people who’ve felt voiceless” (Gillmor 2004). Collective use of the Internet can lead to greater political participation when it is characterized by trust and reciprocity (Kobayashi, Ikeda, & Miyata, 2006). Numerous studies have emphasized that among the young generations, the use of digital technology can have a strong impact on levels of political participation and engagement. This paper will reflect on our place in the world, on the impact of changing places and on the conception of the Internet as a political place. Based on a general review of the literature on Chinese Internet studies quantitative and qualitative interviews with a sample of Chinese exchange students in France, it aims to understand if, how and to what extent, depending on the location where they stay, especially through uncensored access to the web, Chinese citizens, especially youngsters, change their internet routine and come to political interest and active political participation. FREEMAN, Tim (University of Hawai’i-Hilo) “Place on Fire: Climate Change and the Summit of Mauna Kea” It has become obvious to all who take science seriously that the problem of climate change is perhaps the most difficult challenge facing humanity in the 21st century. In his later writings, Heidegger suggested the problem posed by the development of modern technology can be traced back to a way of thinking that has framed Western thought since the ancient Greeks. The danger that Heidegger warned of in this way of thinking is that everything is reduced to a resource for human use, like a forest of trees considered only as timber. The most difficult thing about this problem, Heidegger suggested, is that this way of thinking is so deeply entrenched that it is hard for modern humans to even comprehend that there could be a different way of thinking. This paper takes up a reflection on place through a consideration of the dispute concerning the summit of Mauna Kea. For the scientific community this place is perhaps the very best place in the world for the placement of telescopes and the new telescope will thus undoubtedly provide a significant advance in our knowledge of the universe. For many Hawaiians the obstruction of the landscape by the building of the telescopes has in some way been a violation of the sacredness of the place. It would be a terrible, final irony, if we discovered some secret about the origins of it all just as we became extinct because we never really figured out how to live in this place we call Earth. This paper will consider what implications this dispute about place might have in confronting the problem of climate change. 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