The Useless Tree

Confucius/Confucianism

  • Transracial Adoption: Confucius Agrees

          A good story in the NYT today about transracial adoption in the US, focusing on the complexities of white parents with black children.       As I read through it, it struck me that a Confucian point of… Continue reading

  • A Filial Yankee

         Not too many stories satisfy both my interest in ancient Chinese philosophy and my allegiance to the New York Yankees.  But this piece in today’s NYT, about the formidable Yankee pitcher, Chien-Ming Wang (or Wang Chien-Ming for purists),… Continue reading

  • Why Joe Lieberman Should Not Run As An Independent

        From The Analects (1.16): The Master said: "Don’t grieve when people fail to recognize your ability.  Grieve when you fail to recognize theirs.     Are you listening Joe?  Confucius is telling you to give it up.  It’s… Continue reading

  • Confucian Psychiatry

        I saw this obituary in the NYT today: Dr. Jean Baker Miller, a psychiatrist who disputed traditional notions of social roles and developed a theory that serves as a foundation for treating women’s depression and other disorders through… Continue reading

  • Naming “Civil War” in Iraq

          The news in the Washington Post this morning that the outgoing British Ambassador to Iraq seems willing to use the "c w" words is telling: Britain’s outgoing ambassador to Iraq has advised his government that the country is… Continue reading

  • Virtue Ethics and Confucius

         A great book review by Jim Holt of Deirdre McCloskey’s, The Bourgeois Virtues.  I laughed out loud when I read the last line: "Somewhere within this loose, baggy monster there has to be a slim, cogently argued treatise… Continue reading

  • Japan Isn’t a “Confucian Society,” Either

         What country is this quote referring to: In a culture that stresses the need to pull one’s own weight, a profound stigma surrounds welfare. Many needy elderly are too ashamed even to apply for it. Advocacy groups for… Continue reading

  • Better Late than Never?

        Breaking News! printResizeBFemale descendants included in Confucius family tree for the first time "In China, where men have traditionally been regarded as superior to women, and in a family in which tradition is strictly observed, it is of… Continue reading

  • Pearl Buck

       Bro. Bartelby, a regular and thoughtful commenter here sent an email asking my thoughts about the revival of Pearl Buck, author of The Good Earth.  He sent along a link to a piece in the Wilson Quarterly by Sheila… Continue reading

  • Ghosts and Taoists and Confucians

         A fun story in today’s LA Times about ghosts and Chinese culture.  It turns out that the best place to study the relationship of spirits and Chinese-ness is Taiwan: In Taiwan, ghosts are rarely a laughing matter. On… Continue reading