The Useless Tree

Philosophy

  • Why is this news?

    So there I am yesterday, preparing for my ancient Chinese philosophy tutorial (which begins next week), when I see this headline on CNN: "Stephen Hawking: God didn't create universe."   I then see a similar story on the AP wire,… Continue reading

  • Mozi gets some love

    Italian journalist Francesco Sisci continues his study of ancient Chinese philosophy with a story today in the Asia Times: "A New Battle for Confucius." (h/t Western Confucian).  It is a brief review of a new translation of Mozi (ca. 430… Continue reading

  • More on Confucianism and Modernity

    My last post elicited a couple of excellent responses and, instead of simply burying the exchange in the comments section, I will bring them up here for a new post. First up is Justsomeguy, who points out: Well, for starters,… Continue reading

  • Why Modernity Challenges Confucianism

    The new semester has started.  I am now busy with class preparation (I read everything that I assign for classes right before class so that it' s fresh…and that steals the time I have to read other things). And I… Continue reading

  • Ovid, Daoist Sage

    I am stepping beyond my competence here (how else do we learn?), but today I heard a passage from Ovid and it struck me.  It was from the Metamorphoses (in this version, Book 15, section 176): "Since I am launched… Continue reading

  • The Tao of Zombies

    A survey of professional philosophers (hat tip Sullivan) raised many interesting questions, but none more significant than this (scroll down to last question on the page): Zombies: inconceivable, conceivable but not metaphysically possible, or metaphysically possible? Accept or lean toward:… Continue reading

  • Chuang Tzu and Oakeshott

    Andrew Sullivan has two posts today on Chuang Tzu.  He uses them to suggests some parallels between Chuang Tzu and Michael Oakeshott, the British conservative political philosopher who is Sullivan's inspiration.  Sullivan picks up on Chuang Tzu's skepticism regarding the… Continue reading

  • Regression toward the Tao

    I find Taoist hints in all sorts of places.  This morning, during my usual perusal of the Sunday NYT, I hit upon this story in the Sports section: "To hang In, a World Series winner Must Learn to Let Go." … Continue reading

  • Confucianism between the Philosophers and the Psychologists

    David Brooks has a thought-provoking piece today, and the thoughts it provokes in me are about Confucianism.  It is a continuation of another of his recent articles, and is related to this review in the New York Review of Books. … Continue reading

  • In the Chinese Philosophy blogosphere

    I am behind in all of my work, including keeping up with my buddies who blog on Chinese philosophy.  Let me rectify that here. Manyul has a nice post up that asks the question, "scientific research supports Daoist ideas?" in… Continue reading