Title: Joseph Butler and Wang Yang-ming
Lecturer: Peter T. C. CHANG (Senior Lecturer of Institute of China Studies, University of Malaya)
Chairperson: Xudong FANG (Professor, Department of Philosophy, East China Normal University)
Date: 10 am, January 7th, 2019 (Monday)
Venue: Room 3102, Building of School of Humanities, Minhang Campus, ECNU
Sponsor: Si-mian Institute for Advanced Studies in Humanities, ECNU
Abstract of the Lecture:
Joseph Butler (1692-1752) was an English bishop, theologian and philosopher. He is known for his critique of Deism, Thomas Hobbes's egoism, and John Locke's theory of personal identity. Butler influenced many philosophers and religious thinkers, including David Hume, Thomas Reid, Adam Smith, Henry Sidgwick, John Henry Newman, and C. D. Broad, and is widely considered “as one of the preeminent English moralists.” Wang Yang-ming (1472-1529) was an Official in Ming dynasty, Neo-Confucianist Scholar. He is commonly regarded as the most important Neo-Confucian thinker, with interpretations of Confucianism that denied the rationalist dualism of the orthodox philosophy of Zhu Xi. It is attaching importance to conscience that link Butler with Wang Yang-ming. This lecture mainly contrasts Butler and Wang in two senses, i.e., conscience and self, conscience and its vulnerability.
Brief Introduction of the Lecturer:
Peter T. C. CHANG received his PhD from Harvard University, and now he is Senior Lecturer of Institute of China Studies, University of Malaya. His research field includes Chinese Culture and Comparative thoughts. He is the author of Bishop Joseph Butler and Wang Yang-ming: A Comparative Study of their Moral Vision and View of Conscience.