Latest Posts
-
More on Yu Dan
A story in today’s LA Times about the revival of Confucianism and the irrepressible Yu Dan (whom I have blogged before here and here). Yu has attracted a host of critics, and the Times story quotes my friend… Continue reading
-
Nations Don’t Have Values, People Do
I linked to this piece a couple of days ago, but now notice that it has caught the attention of some other big sites. In coming back to it, I see it in a somewhat different light. … Continue reading
-
Dogs and Legalism
About ten days ago we got a new dog. Larry (he came with that name) is a seven-month old hound-mutt. He’s energetic and smart, and not aggressive toward our other dog, a four-year old beagle-mutt, Rudy (who also… Continue reading
-
Controlling Birth
With just under two weeks to go until the end of classes here, my mind is starting to turn from the daily routines of course preparation and grading (although a nice big stack of papers sits besides me… Continue reading
-
China in Three Pictures
This doesn’t have much to do with ancient Chinese philosophy (though I imagine I could paste on some reference to Taoism somewhere here…) but the idea has been kicking around in my head. In talking with… Continue reading
-
Taoism in the Service of the State
Add this to the "too ironic to be true (but it is!)" file (hat tip, CDT): China to build harmonious society with wisdom of Taoism XI’AN, April 22 (Xinhua) — China’s high-ranking officials have called for adopting the… Continue reading
-
What Should We Remember?
A controversy has arisen at my college, one that raises an interesting question (above the din of the usual freedom of speech v. standards of decency thing): what should we remember? Recent events run something like… Continue reading
-
Religious Confucianism
Richard Spencer, in a post about Hong Kong making Confucius’s birthday a holiday (in which he says some nice things about The Useless Tree), raises a question about the revival in China of the thought of the Venerable… Continue reading
-
Are We Born Moral?
In the most recent New York Review of Books, John Gray asks this question in connection with two books: Marc Hauser’s Moral Minds: How Nature Designed Our Universal Sense of Right and Wrong, and Frans de Waal’s Primates… Continue reading
-
The Responsibility of a Teacher
I talked yesterday, and had a pleasant dinner with, a group of alumni from my college. They were students of a famed teacher, Robert L. Gaudino. He was an immensely dedicated teacher, committed to the idea of "uncomfortable… Continue reading
The Useless Tree 