Title: Progressive Confucianism and Human Relations
Lecturer: Stephen Charles Angle (Professor of Philosophy and Mansfield Freeman Professor of East Asian Studies, Wesleyan University)
Chairperson: LIU Liangjian (Professor of Department of Philosophy and Institute of Modern Chinese Thought and Culture, East China Normal University)
Date: 1 pm, May 15th, 2017 (Monday)
Venue: Room 5103, Building of School of Humanities, Minhang Campus, ECNU
Sponsor: Si-mian Institute for Advanced Studies in Humanities, ECNU
Abstract of the Lecture:
The thesis of this talk is that when properly understood, human roles and human relationality are central to modern human life and are embraced by progressive Confucianism, which has been advocated and developed by the lecturer in recent years. While it has an important place for roles and relationality, progressive Confucianism does criticize one-sided or overly rigid understandings of these concepts for two major reasons: such interpretations fail to capture crucial insights of Confucianism, and they undermine the possibility of Confucianism’s playing a positive role in the modern world.
Brief Introduction of the Lecturer:
Stephen Charles Angle received his B.A. from Yale University in East Asian Studies and his Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Michigan. Since 1994 he has taught at Wesleyan University, where he is now Professor of Philosophy and Mansfield Freeman Professor of East Asian Studies. A philosophy writer and researcher specializing in Chinese Philosophy, Confucianism, Neo-Confucianism, and comparative philosophy, Stephen C. Angle’s research focuses on philosophy’s role in human rights, politics, and ethics both in China and globally. Angle’s books include Contemporary Confucian Political Philosophy: Toward Progressive Confucianism (Polity, 2012), Sagehood: The Contemporary Significance of Neo-Confucian Philosophy (Oxford, 2009), andHuman Rights and Chinese Thought (Cambridge, 2002).