City University of Hong Kong Dep
City University of Hong Kong
Department of Chinese, Translation and Linguistics,
Centre for Cross-Cultural Studies & Governance in Asia Research Centre
Research Seminar
The Ethics of Being and Non-Being :
Thoughts on the Recent Western and Confucian
Conceptions of the Self and Human Nature
Presented by
Dr. On-cho Ng
Date: 27 March 2006, Monday
Time: 4:30pm - 5:30pm
Venue: B7603 (Lift 3, 7/F, Blue Zone), Academic Building, CityU of HK
Abstract
Against the backdrop of the Western deconstructionist conceptions of an insubstantial and indeterminate self doomed to limited understanding and local knowledge, this lecture ponders the Confucian contestations of notions of the self in late Imperial China. It contends that the Confucian espousals of the non-being of the self, despite their resonance with postmodern sensibilities, are nevertheless underpinned by an ontological faith in the substantiality of the human being as ethical agent.
Speaker
On-cho Ng is Associate Professor of History and Religious Studies at the Pennsylvania State University, where he is also Associate Head of the Department of History. Professor Ng specializes in the intellectual culture of late imperial China, with abiding interests in Confucian hermeneutics, religiosity, and historiography. Apart from Cheng-Zhu Confucianism in the Early Qing (State University of New York Press 2001), and Mirroring the Past: The Writing and Use of History in Imperial China (University of Hawaii Press, 2005), he has published scores of book chapters and articles in flagship academic periodicals, such as Journal of the History of Ideas, Journal of Chinese Religions, Philosophy East and West, Journal of Chinese Philosophy and Journal of World History. His forthcoming publications include the editorship of The Imperative of Understanding: Chinese Philosophy, Comparative Philosophy, and Onto-Hermeneutics (Global Publishers), and authorship of A Historical Dictionary of Confucianism (Scarecrow Press). Professor Ng currently serves as Associate Editor of the Journal of Chinese Philosophy, chairs the Seminar on Neo-Confucianism at Columbia University, and sits on two Boards of Directors: Society for the Study of Chinese Religions, and Forum: Newsletter of Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy.
~ALL ARE WELCOME ~
