Office: Arts and Sciences building, 2051
(O) 219 980 6981
Email: dchenlin@iun.edu
Website: https://dchenlin.pages.iu.edu
Office hours: weekly virtual office hours or by appointment
Purpose of Course:
In this course we will explore some basic Confucian concepts and their applications in modern East Asia, especially in China and Japan. A goal of the course is to provide an understanding of how traditional values are perpetuated and transformed to fit with new situations in these two countries. Though focused on China and Japan, this course explores continuity and change in modern societies that characterize most societies in this world today.
Required Readings:
Eno, Robert. The Analects of Confucius, annotated and with an introduction.
Other required readings are articles that are available via Canvas.
Requirements:
Requirements include
I. Weekly writing assignments:
II. One take-home paper, 13-15 pages The paper needs citations.
III. One movie review of Eat Drink Men Women.
IV. Weekly Quick Check assignments
IV. Weekly VoiceThread assignments
Method of grading: all grades are assigned in percentages, which will be tabulated at the end of the semester and converted to letter grades. The conversion is as follows: 93-100: A; 90-92.9: A-; 85-89.9: B+; 80-84.9: B; 75-79.9: B-; 70-74.9: C+; 65-69.9: C; 60-64.9: C-; 55-59.9: D+; 50-54.9: D; 45-49.9: D-; 44 and below: F. The grades are available in your Canvas gradebook.
Grade distribution is as follows:
Web Resources:
Map of ancient China
Asian topics: An Online Resource for Asian History and Culture
Class Schedule:
Week 1 (Aug.23-29) Confucius and his thought in historical perspective.
Readings:
I. Introduction: Confucius and his time. Introduction to Chinese thought. An Overview of Confucian Learning.
II. Confucius and Analects in historical perspective. Reading 1: Eno, The Analects of Confucius, Introduction, pp.i-xi; 2;
III. The Confucian concept of Humaneness (ren). Video clip: An explanation of humaneness. Reading:, The Analects,
IV. Confucius on rituals (li). Video clip: Confucius on rituals. Reading: The Analects of Confucius, Book 10 (X): 46-51.
Discussion question 1: Single out two or three aspects of Confucian teachings and discuss their significance against the historical context in which they were developed (500 words)
Week 2(Aug.30-Sept.5) Confucian learning and the Confucian school of thought.
Reading/viewing:EdX videos on the Analects, and EdX videos on Mencius and Xunzi.
A more extended reading of Confucian concepts in the Analects: filiality: The Analects of Confucius, 1.2, 1.6,1.7, 1.9, 2.5-2.8; humaneness (Ren): The Analects of Confucius, 1.1-1.10; 3.1-3.6, 4.1-4.15; rituals: The Analects of Confucius, 10.1-10.24.
Readings on Mencius/Mengzi and Xunzi.
Discussion question 2: Read the excerpts from Mencius and Xunzi, and write a comparative essay comparing and contrasting Mencius and Xunzi. (500 words)
Week 3(Sept.6-12)Confucian learning and the modern world: tradition, self and rituals.
Readings: Puett, Rituals and ritual obligations in classical China.
Lin, Confucian science and rituals in modern Chinese education.
Discussion question 3: Discuss the relevance of Confucian ideas to the modern world, including tradition, a conception of a socially connected self, and rituals. Draw on your own example to compare and contrast with modern Chinese in terms of how much rituals matter in your lives. (500 words) (500 words)
Reading: Li, "Li as cultural Grammar: On the Relation between Li and Ren in Confucius' Analects."
Discussion question 4: Li says he agrees that humaneness "symbolizes a holistic manifestation of humanity in its 'highest state of perfection,'" (Li, p.321) meaning humaneness rises above rituals. What is central to Li's concern and why does he believe so much in rituals? (500 words)
Week 5 (Sept.20-26) Humaneness and rituals: which weighs more in Confucian teachings?
Watch the following 1994 movie about the conflict between tradition, rituals and modern practices in Taiwan and write a 3-4 page review focusing on the following: how did Confucian values such as filiality and rituals get reflected in the movie? How did the protagonists in the movie move between traditional Confucian values and modern ones and reconcile the conflicts between the two, or were the conflicts reconciled?
Please use your knowledge of Confucian values from previous weeks this semester in your arguments. Also, please cite your sources.
Eat Drink Men Women
Week 6 (Sept.27-Oct.3)Confucianism and capitalism
p>Reading: Harriet Zurndorfer, "Confusing Confucianism with capitalism."Discussion question 5: Discuss Zurndorfer's critiques of the linkages between Confucianism and capitalism in recent years. (500 words)
Week 7(Oct.4-10)Confucian learning and modernization
Reading: Gilbert Rozman, Can Confucianism Survive in an Age of Universalism and Globalization?
Discussion question 6: Rozman believes ultimately a Confucian society may hurt further development of East Asian societies. Discuss Rozman's views on the family, government, group identity, and attitude toward authority, and provide your analysis of them. Give your assessment of where Confucian learning stands in relation to modernization. (500 words)
Week 8(Oct.11-17)Confucian learning as tradition and global political philosophy?
Reading: Chan, "Moral Autonomy, Civil Liberties, and Confucianism."
Discussion question 7: A moral person is key to the Confucian ideal human being. Chan assesses the relevance of Confucian morality to modern Western ideas of moral autonomy. Based on what we have studied so far, assess Chan's argument about the applicability of Confucian morality to a modern democratic system. Do you agree with Chan? (400-500 words)
Week 9(Oct.18-24) Confucianism as political philosophy, 2.
Reading: Ham, "The Ironies of Confucianism."
Discussion question 8: Assess Ham's views on the relevance of the Confucian value system to a Western-style political system with checks and balances and liberal representation. Name a few of Ham's points and assess their relevance in American society. (400-500 words)
Week 10 (Oct.25-31)Confucianism and East Asia.
Chen Lai, "Historical and cultural features of Confucian learning in East Asia."
Discussion question 9: What is new about this article that you learn about Confucian learning? Discuss a few points of the article that you find most useful in helping you to get a better understanding of Confucian learning. Or, you can talk about the reverse: what is not helpful about this article. (400-500 words)
Week 11(Nov.1-7) Asian values and global human rights.
A Confucian approach to human rights.
Discussion question 10: Please use our previous readings (such as Zurndorfer, Rozman, Chan, and Ham), to compare and contrast the arguments above with what Confucian ideas that you think are comparable to rights. Discuss how Confucian ideas have been evolved to be aligned with the Western ideas of rights and if such are appropriate uses of Western ideas of rights. (400-500 words)
Week 12 (Nov.8-14)Changing Asian traditions
The Confucian view: putting East Asian education in context.
Discussion question 11: Compare Cheng's arguments with Zurndorfer, Rozman, Chan, and Ham, and discuss whether the last four authors (or some of them) discussed Confucian values as changing values as Cheng did, or they discussed Confucian values as unchanging. Provide a critique of Cheng and some of the other authors mentioned above. (400-500 words)
Week 13(Nov.15-21) Relevance of Confucianism in today's East Asia.
Reading: "Traditional Confucianism and its contemporary relevance."
Discussion question 12: Use this week's reading about what Confucian values to appropriate for modern purposes to again compare and contrast with readings from past weeks, and find some critical perspectives on the question of appropriation through comparing and contrasting the similarities and differences in the authors' arguments. (400-500 words)
Take-home paper draft due Nov.22.
Week 14(Nov.22-28)Thanksgiving break.
Week 15(Nov.29-Dec.5)Two comments on fellow classmates' take-home paper draft due.
Week 16(Dec.6-12)Take-home paper due.