CONFUCIANISM
Dr. Manyul Im
Office: Donnarumma Hall 339
Phone: (203) 254-4000 ext. 2861
Email: mim@mail.fairfield.edu
Office Hours: Tuesdays 3:30-4:30 & Fridays 11:00-12:00; by appointment on all other weekdays
Course Description
and Objectives
Confucianism is a reflective tradition that for over 2500 years has shaped social norms and moral values in East Asia. It underlies traditional political theory and religious practice and remains the template for many social interactions, both public and domestic. In this course, emphasis is given to the goal of drawing out the philosophical content of Confucian thought by engaging both traditional commentaries and recent philosophical interpretations. Focus will lie particularly on ethical and metaphysical theories of the person and his or her relationship to the community of persons. However, another important goal of the course is to assess the appropriateness of regarding certain practices and institutions as Confucian. This involves asking important questions about how Confucian ideals might have influenced—or continue to influence—social practices and policies. In this course we will focus on issues surrounding the influence of Confucianism on autocracy and human rights.
Readings will include both primary
texts and secondary studies, covering the sayings of Confucius, Mencius, and
Xunzi of the classical period; the Neo-Confucians of the Tang, Sung and Ming
dynasties, and the "New Confucians" of the twentieth century. Among
the general questions to be considered are: In what senses can Confucianism be
considered a philosophical tradition? How is Confucianism in China related to
the tension between tradition and modernity? Which aspects of the tradition are
culture-bound and which are universally applicable? The last few weeks will
focus on the question of human rights in relation to Confucianism.
Required Texts
á
Chichung Huang,
trans., The Analects of Confucius (Analects)
á
Wm. Theodore de Bary
and Irene Bloom, eds., Sources of Chinese Tradition, 2nd ed., vol. 1 (Sources)
á Wm. Theodore de Bary and Tu Wei-ming, eds., Confucianism and Human Rights (CHR)
Supplemental Works – on Reserve at Library
Some selections from the supplemental works are required, as indicated on the schedule of topics and readings. Some of the required selections will be on the LibraryÕs Electronic Reserve service (ERES); directions for using ERES will be handed out.
á
Stephen C. Angle,
Human Rights and Chinese Thought
á
Chan Wing-Tsit,
trans., Reflections on Things at Hand: The Neo-Confucian Anthology complied by
Chu Hsi and LŸ Tsu-ChÕien (Chan)
á
Julia Ching, To
Acquire Wisdom: The Way of Wang Yang-ming (Ching)
á
Herbert Fingarette,
Confucius: The Secular as Sacred
á
T.C. Kline and Philip
J. Ivanhoe, eds., Virtue, Nature and Moral Agency in the Xunzi (Kline)
á
Xiusheng Liu and
Philip J. Ivanhoe, eds., Essays on the Moral Philosophy of Mengzi
á
Kwong-loi Shun and
David B. Wong, eds., Confucian Ethics
á
Tu Wei-Ming, Confucian
Thought: Selfhood as Creative Transformation
á
Tu Wei-Ming, ed.,
Confucian Traditions in East Asian Modernity
Course Requirements and Grading
If you have a documented
disability and wish to discuss academic accommodations, please contact: Aimee
Tiu at Academic and Disability Support Services: (203) 254-4000 ext. 2615
(email: atiu@mail.fairfield.edu).
You need to inform me of any academic accommodations within the first
two weeks of the semester.
Please note: Plagiarism is the appropriation of ideas, data,
work, or language of others and submitting them as oneÕs own to satisfy the
requirements of a course.
Plagiarism constitutes theft and deceit. Students are often confused by
just what constitutes plagiarism.
When the ideas or writings of others are presented in assignments, these
ideas or writing should be attributed to that source. Special care should be
taken, when cutting and pasting materials or when paraphrasing, to cite sources
correctly and to use quotation marks around exact words from source materials. Actions that result in plagiarism may be intentional or
unintentional. Consequently,
students must understand the concept of plagiarism. When reading, processing, or using materials from any
source, appropriate documentation is always essential. Resources such as the
library (ext. 2178) and the writing center (www.fairfield.edu/writingcenter)
are available on campus to assist you in your academic endeavors. You are encouraged to take advantage of
these resources.
Course Schedule
(Sources indicates Sources of Chinese Tradition; CHR indicates Confucianism and Human Rights; ERES indicates the DiMenna Nyselius Library Electronic Reserve System; Tu-1 indicates Tu Wei-Ming, Confucian Thought: Selfhood as Creative Transformation; Tu-2 indicates Tu Wei-Ming, ed., Confucian Traditions in East Asian Modernity)
á
Week One
(Jan. 16)
o
Introduction
á
Week Two (Jan.
23)
o
Confucius – Traditionally Attributed
Writings
o
Reading: Analects
Bks.1-14; Sources pp.318-325, 329-339
á
Week
Three (Jan. 30)
o
Mencius
o
Reading: Sources
pp.114-158
á
Week Four
(Feb. 6)
o
Xunzi (HsŸn Tzu) & The Mencius-Xunzi Debate
on Human Nature
o
Reading: Sources
pp.161-183; D. C. Lau ÒTheories of Human Nature in Mencius and XunziÓ (on ERES)
á
Week Five
(Feb. 13)
o
Review and Midterm
Exam
o
No Reading
á
Week Six (Feb.
20)
o
Han, Tang and Song Dynasty Developments
o
Reading: Sources pp.311-318, 325-329, 568-573,
582-586, 667-689
á
Week
Seven (Feb. 27)
o
Song Dynasty and Orthodoxy – Cheng
brothers & Zhuxi (Chu Hsi)
o
Reading: Sources pp.689-737, 800-804
á
Spring
Break (3/3-3/7)
á
Week
Eight (March 12)
o
Zhuxi continued
o
Reading: Chan pp.1-34, 88-153
á
Week Nine
(March 19)
o
To Be Determined
á
Week Ten (March
26)
o
Ming Dynasty Departure – Wang Yangming
o
Reading: Sources pp.842-855, Ching pp.52-103
á
Week
Eleven (April 2)
o
Modernity, Economic Development, and
Confucianism: Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan
o Reading: Tu-2 pp.191-227 and Hahm & Baik (both on ERES)
á
Week
Twelve (April 9)
o
ÒNewÓ Confucianism; Confucian Revival in the PRC
o
Reading: Tu-1 pp.51-80 and Billioud article (both on ERES)
á
Week
Thirteen (April 16)
o
Confucianism and Human Rights
o
Reading: Twiss, Rosemont, Bloom, Chang; CHR
pp.27-82, 94-141
o
Asian Studies Lecture by Professor Stephen Angle
(Wesleyan University), 4:30 – DiMenna Nyselius Library, Rm. 101: ÒShould Confucianism Matter to the Future of China?Ó
á
Week
Fourteen (April 23)
o
Confucianism and Feminism
o
Readings to be determined
á
Week
Fifteen (April 30)
o
Confucianism and Feminist Ethics
o Readings to be determined
á
Final
Exam: Thursday, May 8, 9:00 a.m.
James Legge. The Sacred Books of China: The Texts of
Confucianism. Sacred Books of the East; v. 3, 16, 27, 28. Delhi: Motilal
Banarsidass, 1968-70.
James Legge. The Chinese Classics, 2nd
ed. With a Translation, Critical and Exegetical Notes, Prolegomena, and Copious
Indexes. 1893; rpt. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1960.
Richard Wilhelm. The I
Ching, or Book of Changes. Eng.
trans. Cary F. Baynes. Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1967.
Richard John Lynn. The
Classic of Changes: A New Translation of the I Ching. New York:
Columbia University Press, 1994.
Richard Rutt. The Book of Changes (Zhouyi): A Bronze
Age Document. Richmond,
Surrey: Curzon, 1996.
Edward L.
Shaughnessy. I Ching: the Classic
of Changes. New York: Ballantine Books,
1997.
Arthur Waley. The Book
of Songs [Shih Ching]. New
York: Grove Press, 1987.
Burton Watson. The Tso Chuan: Selections from ChinaÕs
Oldest Narrative History. New
York: Columbia University Press, 1989.
James Legge. Confucian Analects, The Great Learning,
and the Doctrine of the Mean. With critical and exegetical notes, prolegomena,
copious indexes, and dictionary of all characters. NY: Dover, 1971. [reprinted from The Chinese Classics]
Arthur Waley. The
Analects of Confucius.
London: George Allen &
Unwin, 1938.
Ezra Pound. Confucius:
The Great Digest, The Unwobbling Pivot, and The Analects. Stone text from
rubbings supplied by William Hawley. A note on the stone editions by Achilles
Fang. NY: New Directions, 1951. [More
useful for Pound than for Confucius.]
D. C. Lau. The
Analects. Harmondsworth: Penguin
Books, 1979.
D. C. Lau. The Analects (Lun yŸ) / Confucius. Bilingual edition. Hong Kong: Chinese
University Press, 1983.
Raymond Dawson. The Analects. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.
Simon Leys. The Analects of Confucius. NY: W.W. Norton, 1997
Huang Chichung. The Analects of Confucius: A Literal
Translation. NY: Oxford, 1997.
E. Bruce Brooks and A.
Taeko Brooks. The Original
Analects: Sayings of Confucius and His Successors. NY: Columbia, 1998.
Roger T. Ames and
Henry Rosemont, Jr. The Analects of Confucius: A Philosophical Translation. NY:
Ballantine, 1998.
David Hinton. The Analects / Confucius. Washington, D.C.: Counterpoint, 1998.
David H. Li. The Analects of Confucius: A
New-millennium Translation. Bethesda: Premier Publ., 1999.
Edward Slingerland.
Confucius: Analects—with selections from traditional commentaries.
Indianapolis: Hackett, 2003.
Edward Slingerland.
The Essential Analects: Selected Passages with Traditional Commentary.
Indianapolis: Hackett, 2006.
Daniel K. Gardner. Zhu
XiÕs Reading of the Analects: Canon, Commentary, and the Classical Tradition.
NY: Columbia University Press, 2003.
D.C. Lau. Mencius.
Harmondsworth; New York: Penguin Books, 1970.
D.C. Lau. Mencius.
Bilingual edition. Hong Kong:
Chinese University Press, 1984.
Van Norden, Bryan W.
Mencius: With Selections from Traditional Commentaries. Indianapolis: Hackett, 2008.
W.A.C.H. Dobson. Mencius: A New Translation Arranged and
Annotated for the General Reader. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1963.
Burton Watson, trans.,
HsŸn Tzu: Basic Writings. New
York: Columbia University Press,
1963.
John Knoblock. Xunzi [HsŸn-tzu]: A Translation and
Study of the Complete Works. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1988-[1990].
Homer Hasenpflug
Dubs. HsŸntze: The Moulder of
Ancient Confucianism. London: A. Probsthain, 1927.
Mary Lelia Makra,
trans., The Hsiao Ching [Classic of Filial Piety]. New York: St. JohnÕs University Press, 1961.
Richard Barnhart, Li
Kung-linÕs Classic of Filial Piety [handscroll] (NY: Metropolitan Museum of
Art, 1993)
Allinson, Robert E.,
ed. Understanding the Chinese
Mind: The Philosophical Roots. Hong Kong; New York: Oxford University Press,
1989. [P]
Ames, Roger T. Ames,
Wimal Dissanayake and Thomas P. Kasulis, Eds. Self as Person in Asian Theory and Practice. Albany: State University of New York
Press, 1994. [P]
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Recurring Themes in Four Thousand Years of Chinese Cultural History. New York:
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Berthrong, John
H. Transformations of the
Confucian Way. Boulder: Westview
Press, 1998.[H]
Berthrong, John H. and
Evlyn Nagai Berthrong. Confucianism:
A Short Introduction. Oxford:
Oneworld Publ., 2000.
Bishop, Donald H., ed.
Chinese Thought: An Introduction. Delhi: Motilal Banarasidass, 1985. [P]
Bloom, Irene, and
Fogel, Joshua A., eds. Meeting of
Minds: Intellectual and Religious Interaction in East Asian Traditions of
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Bodde, Derk. Chinese Thought, Society, and Science:
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Chan, Wing-tsit,
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ChÕeng,
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Theodore. East Asian
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