Original Web Document: http://www2.kenyon.edu/depts/religion/fac/Adler/reln77/handouts77.htm
THE CONFUCIAN TRADITION
Instructor
Joseph Adler
adlerj@kenyon.edu
Institution
Kenyon College, private liberal arts college
Course Level and Type
undergraduate seminar
Hours of Instruction
2½ hours, one evening/week; 14 weeks
Enrolment and Last Year Taught
12 students; 1999
Pegagogical Reflections
I have taught this seminar before with a mixture of students who had and had not previously taken my survey of Chinese Religions, in which about four weeks is spent on Confucianism. This year I enforced the prerequisite, allowing us to spend less time on the basic texts and more time on advanced articles and related topics. My aim in this respect is to convey a sense of Confucianism as a living tradition on various levels.
This seminar will explore the philosophical and cultural history of the Confucian tradition, primarily in China, from its inception to the present day. The emphasis will be on primary texts, from the Five Classics and the sayings of Confucius and Mencius, to the Neo-Confucians of the Sung and Ming dynasties, to the "New Confucians" of the twentieth century. We will also examine the influences of Confucianism on Chinese and other East Asian societies, its involvement in the tension between tradition and modernity, and its influence on East Asian family dynamics and values. Among the general questions to be considered are: In what senses can Confucianism be considered a religious tradition? Which aspects of the tradition are culture-bound and which are universally applicable? How has Confucianism contributed to the growth (and more recent decline) of East Asian economies? Prerequisite: Religion 29 (Chinese Religions), or the equivalent.
Available in Bookstore:
Wing-tsit Chan, trans., A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy
John H. Berthrong, Transformations of the Confucian Way
Raymond Dawson, trans., Confucius: The Analects
D.C. Lau, trans., Mencius
Burton Watson, trans., Hsün Tzu: Basic Writings
Walter H. Slote and George A DeVos, eds., Confucianism and the Family
On Course Reserve:
Classics
Richard John Lynn, trans., The Classic of Changes [I Ching]
Richard Wilhelm, trans., The I Ching, or Book of Changes
Arthur Waley, trans., The Book of Songs [Shih Ching]
James Legge, trans., The Shu Ching [Book of Documents], in The Chinese Classics,
vol. 3
James Legge, trans., The Li Chi [Record of Ritual], in The Sacred Books of the
East, vols. 27-28
James Legge, trans., The Ch'un Ch'iu [Spring and Autumn Annals], in The Chinese
Classics, v.5
Mary Lelia Makra, trans., The Hsiao Ching [Classic of Filial Piety]
Others
Benjamin I. Schwartz, The World of Thought in Ancient China
Donald Hall and Roger Ames, Thinking Through Confucius
Wm. Theodore de Bary and Tu Wei-ming, eds., Confucianism and Human Rights
Henry Rosemont, Jr., ed., Chinese Texts and Philophical Contexts: Essays Dedicated to
A. C. Graham
Wm. Theodore de Bary, ed., Sources of Chinese Tradition, vol. 1
Daniel K. Gardner, Learning to Be a Sage: Selections from the Conversations of Master
Chu
Patricia B. Ebrey, The Inner Quarters: Marriage and the Lives of Chinese Women in the
Sung Period
Hoyt Cleveland Tillman, Confucian Discourse and Chu Hsi's Ascendancy
Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Berthrong, eds., Confucianism and Ecology: The
Interrelation of Heaven, Earth, and Humans
David L. Hall and Roger T. Ames, The Democracy of the Dead: Dewey, Confucius, and the
Hope for Democracy in China
Tu Wei-ming, ed., Confucian Traditions in East Asian Modernity: Moral Education and
Economic Culture in Japan and the Four Mini-Dragons
Hung-chao Tai, Confucianism and Economic Development: An Oriental Alternative?
Journal of Chinese Religions, no. 20 (1992) -- article by Christian Jochim,
"Confucius and Capitalism: Views of Confucianism in Works on Confucianism and
Economic Development"
- - - - - - - - - - -
Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
Max Weber, The Religion of China
Peter L. Berger and Hsin-Huang Michael Hsiao, eds., In Search of an East Asian
Development Model
The Economist (1980) -- article by Roderick McFarquhar, "The Post-Confucian
Challenge"
Tu Weiming, Milan Hejtmanek, and Alan Wachman, eds., The Confucian World Observed: A
Contemporary Discussion of Confucian Humanism in East Asia
COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING
1. Participation (20% of grade). The seminar format requires regular attendance, completion of reading assignments, and active participation in discussion by all members. Necessary absences must be cleared in advance with the instructor; unexcused absences will result in a grade penalty.
2. Written/oral reports (15% each): Four 3-5 page critical responses to specific readings, with short oral presentations in seminar. The last oral presentation will be in the form of a debate (the group will be divided into two teams) on the question of the relevance of Confucianism to the economic successes (and recent downturns) of East Asian countries.
3. Research paper (20%): A 10-15 page paper (plus bibliography) on any subject in the field of Confucian studies, using at least two books or articles outside of assigned reading. The topic and preliminary bibliography must be discussed with me by Friday, March 26.
SEMINAR SCHEDULE
1. 1/21
Berthrong, Transformations, Introduction
Slote and DeVos, Family, ch. 1 (Tu Wei-ming)
Schwartz, The World of Thought [CR], ch. 2: "Early Chou Thought" (pp. 40-55), and ch. 10: "The Five Classics" (pp. 383-406)
I. Wilhelm, I Ching, pp. 3-15 (first two hexagrams), 262-272 (Discussion of Trigrams), 280-355 (Great Treatise)
II. Waley, The Book of Songs, pp. 226-280
III. Legge, Shoo King [Shu Ching] (following Prolegomena), pp. 1-75, 92-127, 141-151, 184-198, 213-219, 281-297, 300-305
IV. Legge, Li Ki [Li Chi]
V. Legge, Ch'un ts'ew [Ch'un-ch'iu]
2. 1/28
Learning the cultural tradition (wen) and reviving the Way (tao) of the
Sages
Being humane (jen), ritually proper (li), and appropriate (i)
A religious dimension?
Oral reports on key Confucian terms
Dawson, The Analects
Selections from Hall and Ames, Thinking Through Confucius [CR] (assigned in class)
Berthrong, Transformations, ch. 1
3. 2/4
Lau, Mencius, sections 1A, 1B, 2A, 3A:3, 4A, 4B:28, 5A:5-6, 5B:9, 6A, 7A, 7B
Roger T. Ames, "The Mencian Conception of renxing: Does it Mean 'Human Nature'?" in Rosemont, Chinese Texts and Philophical Contexts [CR]
4. 2/11
Chan, Source Book, ch. 5
Irene Bloom, "Mencius and Human Rights," in de Bary and Tu, Confucianism and Human Rights [CR]
5. 2/18
Watson, Hsün Tzu, pp. 1-32, 79-111, 121-138, 157-171
Chan, Source Book, ch. 4
6. 2/25
Berthrong, Transformations, chs. 2-3
Chan, Source Book, chs. 13-16, 19 (sections 1-5), 27
7. 3/4
Berthrong, Transformations, ch. 4
de Bary, Sources of Chinese Tradition, vol. 1 [CR], pp. 393-436 (read intros, skim texts)
Group 1 read:
Adler, "Chou Tun-i" [handout]
Chan, Source Book, chs. 29-30
Group 2 read:
Chan, Source Book, chs. 31-32
8. 3/25
Gardner, Learning to Be a Sage, pp. 3-56
Chan, Source Book, chs. 33-34
Recommended:
Ebrey, The Inner Quarters
Tillman, Confucian Discourse and Chu Hsi's Ascendancy
9. 4/1
Berthrong, Transformations, ch. 5
Chan, Source Book, ch. 35
K'ang Yu-wei
10. 4/8
Read:
Berthrong, Transformations, chs. 6-7
Chan, Source Book, chs. 36-39
11. 4/15
Slote and DeVos, ch. 2 (Slote, "Psychocultural Dynamics within the Confucian Family")
ch. 7 (Tu, "Probing the 'Three Bonds' and 'Five Relationships' in Confucian Humanism")
ch. 10 (Cho, "Male Cominance and Mother Power: The Two Sides of Confucian Patriarchy in Korea")
ch. 13 (Lee, "Confucian Tradition in the Contemporary Korean Family")
12. 4/22
Slote and DeVos, ch. 8 (Young, "The Orthodox Chinese Confucian Social Paradigm versus Vietnamese Individualism")
ch. 6 (DeVos, "A Japanese Legacy of Confucian Through")
ch. 11 (Lebra, Confucian Gender Role and Personal Fulfilment for Japanese Women")
13. 4/29
Slote and DeVos, ch. 12 (Kuo, "Confucianism and the Chinese Family in Singapore")
ch. 14 (Jordan, "Filial Piety in Taiwanese Popular Thought)
ch. 17 (DeVos, "Confucian Family Socialization: The Religion, Morality, and Aesthetics of Propriety")
14. 5/6
Tu Wei-ming, selections from Confucian Traditions in East Asian Modernity[handout]
Hung-chao Tai, "Introduction: An Oriental Alternative?" in Tai, Confucianism and Economic Development [CR]
Christian Jochim, "Confucius and Capitalism: Views of Confucianism in Works on Confucianism and Economic Development," in Journal of Chinese Religions, no. 20 (1992) [CR]Recommended: Last five items on Course Reserve list
Term Papers due: Friday, May 14 (in my office)
Chu Hsi's calligraphy
