Asian and Comparative Philosophy

In recent years, the notion of “tiger mother” has been popularized since Amy Chua’s publication of her memoir, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother (2011). This notion is allegedly representative of “Chinese” mothering that produces “stereotypically successful kids” (ibid., p.3). No wonder, the characteristics of the tiger mother revolve around strict disciplining and pressuring of children to excel academically based on her assumption that children “owe everything” to her and that she knows “what is best for [the] children” (ibid., p.53). Chinese mothering is based roughly on Confucian mothering—a traditional mothering style originating from Confucian East Asia. Given the intense debate that has been generated by this popular book, it seems timely to theorize about what Confucian mothering involves, which has been largely neglected by Confucians themselves or contemporary feminists.
This chapter attempts to start a conversation on this very important topic and explores the idea of Confucian mothering as follows: In sections II and III, I examine exemplary mothers in Confucian East Asia of the past in order to derive a preliminary idea of Confucian mothering. In order to consider whether Confucian mothering is conducive to promoting the Confucian ideal, I first identify the Confucian ideal in section IV by providing a plausible conception of Confucianism as a universal philosophical system. In section V, I elaborate on how Confucian mothering in its goal and style has been conducive to enabling male children to realize the Confucian ideal. Yet these historical instances of Confucian mothering cannot be incorporated into the universal Confucian philosophical system because Confucian mothers themselves were prevented from realizing the Confucian ideal. I therefore argue in section VI for a reconceptualization of Confucian mothering consistent with Confucianism as a universal philosophical system. Reconceptualized in this way, I show in section VII the ways in which Confucian mothering is distinct from tiger mothering and argue that tiger mothering is morally unjustifiable. Finally, I conclude by examining why Confucian mothering is relevant even for contemporary American parents in the 21st century.

Modernity, a trigger to much of the opening to extra-European continents, was also the big historic rift which made translation almost impossible by making many concepts normative, and particularly that of the political. Concepts and terms of “european” origin, through a process of universalization (a “westernisation”), assumed a genealogical and etymological continuity, imposing a corresponding discontinuity on those originating in other regions and languages.

https://academic.oup.com/jhs/article/12/1/28/5540289?guestAccessKey=3bb498e4-45cd-43b6-a66a-e185800e1766

This article examines the nature of the spatial transition of liberated jīvas, a special episode in the life of jīvas that according to Jaina philosophy takes place between the destruction of all karman that binds them to saṃsāra on the one hand and their dwelling in the space of liberated beings on the other. As the place of karmically bound jīvas that are capable of attaining liberation is located far below the space of liberated beings, the disembodied liberated jīvas must travel upwards to reach it. Focused on Umāsvāti’s Tattvārtha-sūtra with four commentaries, the article describes and analyses the discussions and issues that developed around the doctrine of the jīva’s final journey.

ACCEPTING SUBMISSIONS ON HINDU, BUDDHIST, JAIN, & YOGA STUDIES ACADEMIC PAPERS.
~CURRENT SPECIAL ISSUE: "RASA & AESTHETICS"
https://www.springer.com/journal/42240
SPRINGER

ACCEPTING PAPERS -- The Academic Study of Hindu, Jain, Buddhist, and Yoga Thought and Practices.
The mission of the Journal of Dharma Studies: Philosophy, Theology, Ethics, and Culture is to employ theoretical and empirical methodologies for the intersubjective understanding of, and real-world applications of the conceptual resources, textual sources, and experiential practices—including ritual, social, ethical, liturgical, contemplative, or communitarian—to foster critical-constructive reflections on Hindu, Jain, Buddhist, and Yoga traditions (what is now referred to as Dharma Studies). The journal seeks to contextualize these traditions in reference to the contemporary global era, with large diasporic populations affiliated with these religions to be found across the globe. It tries to uncover both the interconnected histories of these traditions and, simultaneously highlight the significant differences and rich diversity of philosophy and practice found within the Dharma Traditions. Its scope lies beyond purely descriptive, journalistic, methodologies and moves towards an expansion of Dharma Studies to intersect with emerging areas and disciplines with the aim of a robust and rigorous interdisciplinary discourse on Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist Philosophy, Theology, Ethics, and Culture in engagement with areas including but not limited to: Sustainability Studies and Religions, Ecological Economics, Environmental Ethics, Social Equitability, Peace and Conflict Studies, Medicine and Religion, Contemplative Studies, Aesthetics and Semiotics, Consciousness Studies, Philosophy of Ritual, Theology and the Natural Sciences, Religion and Bioscience, Cross-Cultural and Diaspora Studies in Religion.

I distinguish between several different registers of reading Dōgen’s text, which all have different functions and are equally valid for readers who approach the text with different goals. The philological way of reading aims at establishing the correct sense of the text, the reading of the intellectual historian traces the influences of historical circumstances as well as other texts on the author, a religious reading aims at a transformative experience that affects the life of the reader, a philosophical reading interprets the text by extracting what it says from its immediate environment and trying to see a rational conceptual system behind it, a system that can be compared to other thinkers. A philosophical reading allows the reader to understand the text, but also to disagree with it.
Many philosophical readers of Dōgen have up to now usually upheld two ideas. First, it is believed that Dōgen’s use of language is a way to convey the totality of his experience, not contained in ordinary language, and therefore each of the permutations of characters he presents does not necessarily have semantic sense. Secondly, it is sometimes said that Dōgen’s ideas reflect an enlightened understanding of reality that is mediated by mystical experience. My paper presents an effort to challenge both these claims.

One of the most characteristic features of the philosophy of Do ̄gen is his idiosyncratic use of language, in particular, the replacement of expected semantic connections between two adjacent Chinese characters with improbable, but grammatically possible ones, from which new philosophical concepts are then derived. The article places this writing technique in the context of the linguistic changes that were taking place both in China and Japan at the time of Do ̄gen’s writing as well as the general attitude of Chan/Zen thinkers toward language, arguing that the Chan/Zen critique was not pointed to language as such, but its reified and alienated forms. Do ̄gen’s concept-making could accordingly be seen as an effort to keep language ‘alive.’ The article offers two possible ways of interpreting his concepts: they can either be seen as relativisations of the mainstream reading norms, or as the creation of total semantic links in which all the existing ways of linking two characters are simultaneously possible.

Asked to serve in an ongoing position as Editor for the International Review of Information Ethics, I join a team of seven editors for IRIE. "The IRIE is the official journal of the International Center for Information Ethics (ICIE). It envisions an international as well as intercultural discussion focusing on the ethical impacts of information technology on human practices and thinking, social interaction, other areas of science and research and the society itself."