Events

This lecture series is brought to you by Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore; in collaboration with National Library Board Singapore.

Confucian China in a Changing World Order
Speaker         :  Professor Roger T. Ames, University of Hawai’i of Manoa, USA, and National University of Singapore
Discussant     :  Associate Professor Tan Sor Hoon, National University of Singapore
Chairperson    :  Professor William Callahan, University of Singapore

A perfect storm is brewing: climate change, food and water shortages, environmental degradation, pandemics, energy shortage, terrorism, nuclear proliferation, gross income inequities, and so on. An effective response to this human exacerbated predicament requires a radical change in values, intentions, and practices. The rise of China has precipitated a sea change in the world economic and political order, but what about the prevailing cultural order long dominated by a powerful liberalism? Confucian philosophy is being actively promoted both domestically and internationally by a collaboration of academic and political forces. Question: What impact will Confucianism—a philosophy that begins from the primacy of relationality—have on world culture in the ensuing decades?

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Roger T. Ames is Professor of Philosophy and editor of Philosophy East & West. His recent publications include translations of Chinese classics: Sun-tzu: The Art of Warfare (1993); Sun Pin: The Art of Warfare (1996) and Tracing Dao to its Source (1997) (both with D.C. Lau); the Confucian Analects (1998) and the Classic of Family Reverence: A Philosophical Translation of the Xiaojing (2009) (both with H. Rosemont), Focusing the Familiar: A Translation and Philosophical Interpretation of the Zhongyong, and A Philosophical Translation of the Daodejing: Making This Life Significant (with D.L. Hall) (2001). He has also authored many interpretative studies of Chinese philosophy and culture: Thinking Through Confucius (1987), Anticipating China: Thinking Through the Narratives of Chinese and Western Culture (1995), and Thinking From the Han: Self, Truth, and Transcendence in Chinese and Western Culture (1997) (all with D.L. Hall).  Recently he has undertaken several projects that entail the intersection of contemporary issues and cultural understanding. His Democracy of the Dead: Dewey, Confucius, and the Hope for Democracy in China (with D.L. Hall) (1999) is a product of this effort. Almost all of his publications are now available in Chinese translation, including his philosophical translations of Chinese canonical texts. Confucian Role Ethics: A Vocabulary (2011), his most recent monograph that evolved from the endowed Ch’ien Mu lectures at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, is an argument that this tradition has a sui generis vision of the moral life. He has most recently been engaged in compiling the new Blackwell Sourcebook of Chinese Philosophy, and in writing articles promoting a conversation between American pragmatism and Confucianism.

Tan Sor Hoon is Associate Professor of Philosophy, and heads the Philosophy Department at the National University of Singapore. She has authored Confucian Democracy: A Deweyan Reconstruction (2004). She edited Challenging Citizenship: Group Membership and Cultural Identity in a Global Age (2005); and is co-editor of The Moral Circle and the Self: Chinese and Western Approaches (2003), Filial Piety in Chinese Thought and History (2004), and Democracy as Culture: Deweyan Pragmatism in a Globalizing World (2008). Her works have appeared in Philosophy East and West, International Philosophical Quarterly, Journal of Chinese Philosophy, DAO: A journal of comparative Philosophy, History and Theory, among others, and in edited volumes on Chinese Philosophy and Comparative Philosophy, most recently in Confucianism in Context (SUNY Press, 2010); State and Secularism: Perspectives from Asia (World Scientific Press, 2010); Resolutions of Conflict in Korea, East Asia and Beyond(Academy of Korean Studies Press, 2012).

ARI ASIA TRENDS 2013 SERIES

ASIA TRENDS is an ARI flagship public outreach event. This annual series of public lectures is an opportunity for ARI to connect with the local Singapore community through informing and interacting with various public sectors (citizenry, government), civil society organizations, businesses, universities and colleges, by presenting cutting edge research on major trends in Asia. Some trends examined in the past include “Women and Religion in Asia,” “Green Urbanism: How does Singapore compare?” “From Adolescent to Young Adulthood,” “Families, Children, and Domestic Workers in Contemporary Asia,” “Waxing Korean Wave in East Asia.” Each ARI research cluster hosts an evening seminar, during which an overseas speaker, who is a prominent researcher or scholar, is invited to examine an emerging trend in that research field; a Singapore-based researcher then provides comments on local development with regard to the relevant trend. Past seminars have witnessed some interesting interaction between speakers and commentators; some have also seen lively audience participation in the discussions. ASIA TRENDS showcase the work of ARI’s research clusters, highlights the relevance of ARI’s research to Singapore, and relates Singapore to the rest of Asia from the perspective of significant trends in the region.

REGISTRATION

Admission is free, however, registration is required. Kindly register early as seats are available on a first come, first served basis. We would greatly appreciate if you write to Sharon via email at arios@nus.edu.sg your name, email, organisation/affiliation and contact number.