TEXTS: Ames & Rosemont, The Analects of Confucius; Chen, The Tao Te Ching (optional); Ivanhoe & van Norden, Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy (I&N); Ivanhoe, Confucian Moral Self-Cultivation; Watson, The Chuang-tzu (optional); Gier, Spiritual Titanism (optional).
RESERVED BOOKS: D. C. Lau, Mencius; Hall & Ames, Thinking from the Han (TH); Watson, The Chuang-tzu; Chen, The Tao Te Ching; Chan, Source Book in Chinese Philosophy (SB); Herbert Fingerette, Confucius: The Secular as Sacred; Hall & Ames, Thinking Through Confucius (TC); Tu Wei-ming, Centrality and Community; Tu Wei-ming, Confucian Thought; Benjamin Schwartz, The World of Thought in Ancient China; Fung Yu-Lan, A Short History of Chinese Philosophy; Gier, Spiritual Titanism (ST).
E-Text Reserve: Point your browser to www.lib.uidaho.edu and check reserve and then "G" for Gier's reserve list. Click the article that you want and enter phil30801 and then uzfqdn6o. Adobe Acrobat 4.0 is required to obtain these texts.
DEPARTMENT RESERVE (DR): Shirokauer, "Rationality in Chinese Philosophy"; Ames & Hall, TC, 1-25; Pin-Yin/Wades-Giles Conversion Table; O'Hara, The Position of Women in Ancient China; Ivanhoe, "Woman and Virtue"; D. C. Lau, "On Mencius' Use of Analogy"; Hsu's "Lao Tzu's Conception of Ultimate Reality"; others as needed.
1/17&22: INTRODUCTION (3). I&N, Introduction; Source Book, chap. 1; Ames & Hall, TC, pp. 1-25 (DR).
1/22: CHINESE RATIONALITY. Shirokauer, "Rationality in
Chinese Philosophy" (DR); Dialectic: East & West;
Synthetic Reason and Aesthetic Order. In-class
writing on Chinese rationality (10 pts.)
1/24: THE LIFE OF CONFUCIUS. A slide-lecture. Read ST, chap. 9. In-class writing (10 pts.)
1/29-2/12: CONFUCIUS (6). Chan, SB, pp. 3-13 (DR); read Analects (complete up to and including chapter 12 and selections from later chapters) in at least three translations (Ames & Rosemont, Muller, and Slingerland [I &N]); Fingarette, pp. vii-56; Tu, Confucian Thought, chapter v; Hall & Ames, TH, chap. 2 (DR) and TC as assigned; Ivanhoe, chap. 1. Paper on Analects due on Feb. 12.
2/14: VIRTUE ETHICS AND CHINESE WOMEN. O'Hara, The
Position of Women in Ancient China; Ivanhoe, "Woman and Virtue"; Raphals,
Sharing the Light, 1-7 (DR). Group work on Feb. 21; group
paper due on Feb. 26.
2/21-28: MENCIUS (4). Lau's Mencius on library reserve; I&N,
chap. 3; Source Book, chap. 3; Muller's web translation;
Lau, "On Mencius' Use of Analogy" (e-text),
also an appendix to Lau's Mencius; Schwartz, pp. 254-290; Tu, Confucian
Thought, chap. vi; Ivanhoe, chap. 2. Group work on human
nature on Feb. 28. Paper on Mencius due on March 5.
3/7: FIRST TERMS EXAM. Check the glossary at Terms.
3/5: DOCTRINE OF MEAN (2). Source Book, chap. 5; Tu, Centrality
and Commonality, pp. 23-122.
3/7&12: XUNZI (HSÜN TZU) (4). I&N, chap. 6; Source
Book, chap. 6; Schwartz, pp. 290-320; ST, chap. 10; Ivanhoe, chap. 3; Ivanhoe e-text. In-class
writing on Spiritual Titanism and Xunzi on March 12.
3/7: TAKE-HOME EXAM. (100 pts.) Study questions on website, four questions posted on March 7, and the exam is due on March 14.
3/14: MOZI (MO TZU). I&N, chap. 2. Source Book, chap. 9.
3/26-4/11: THE DAO DE JING (7). I&N, chap. 4; Source Book,
chap. 7; Read Hsu's "Lao Tzu's Conception of Ultimate Reality" (e-text). Group Work
and class presentations on the Dao De Jing on April 9. Paper on DDJ due on April 11. Note: paper topic and
group work cannot be on the same DDJ chapters.
4/16-25: ZHUANGZI (CHUANG-TZU) (7). I&N, chap. 5; Source
Book, chap. 8; Ivanhoe e-text;
Yearly, e-text; other translations of the Zhuangzi
on DR reserve; Premodernism, Modernism, and Postmodernism;
ST, Chap. 11. Papers on Zhuangzi due on April 25.
4/23: SECOND TERMS EXAM. Check the terms in the second section of this glossary.
4/30: DAOIST RELIGION. E-text reading on Daoist religion and slide show on a Daoist Temple.
5/2: YI JING ( I CHING). Source Book, chap. 13
5/7&9: NEO-CONFUCIANISM. Ivanhoe, Confucian Moral Self-Cultivation, chaps. 4-7; Chan, 460-480. In-class writing on May 7.
TAKE HOME FINAL. (100 pts.) Your final will be due Tuesday, May
15 at 5 PM. Exam questions will be posted on website on
Wednesday, May 9. You must use Pin Yin for all Chinese words and names (except for
20th Century Chinese philosophers) or be marked down.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS: One take-home exam and one take-home final exam
worth 100 pts. each; four in-class writings (40 pts.); four short papers (80 pts.); two
terms exams (20 pts.); three sets of group work (60 pts.); and ten postings on ConDao talk
(100 pts.). Total points for course are 500 and final grades are as follows: 450+=A;
400+=B; 350+=C; 275+=D.
CONDAO TALK. By the beginning of spring break, you should have five postings on Confucius, Chinese Women, Mencius, Doctrine of the Mean, and Xunzi. (Postings not done by this deadline will be forfeited.) By the end of dead week you should have another five postings on Mozi, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Daoist Religion, and Neo-Confucianism. These postings cannot overlap with any other assignment on these topics. Postings must be one substantial paragraph and many of them should engage the postings of other students.
NOTE: Students taking the course pass-fail need to fulfill all the requirements in order to pass the course.
OFFICE HOURS: MTWT 2:30-3:15 in Morrill Hall 403. Phone: 885-6284 (office); 882-9212 (home); e-mail: ngier@idaho.edu.
PIN YIN AND WADE-GILES. There are two ways to transliterate
Chinese characters. The 19th Century convention--called Wade-Giles and still used in Hong
Kong and Taiwan--gives a very poor approximation to actual Mandrin pronounciation. The Pin
Yin method was introduced by the Communist Chinese and does a much better job of
approximating proper pronounciation. Pin Yin will be our default transliteration style. You
must use Pin Yin for all Chinese words and names (except for 20th Century Chinese
philosophers) or be marked down.