New Fall 2023 MALAS Seminar! --> SEMINAR IN DAOIST PHILOSOPHIES: PAST AND PRESENT PHIL600_MALAS600C, Sandra A. Wawrytko, Ph.D

SEMINAR IN DAOIST PHILOSOPHIES: PAST AND PRESENT

PHIL600_MALAS600C, Fall, 2023 W 2-4:45, AL 422  

Sandra A. Wawrytko, Ph.D

“a morality which encourages man to detach himself from his animal origins 

and to regard all nature as subject to him does not offer our best hopes for the future”

Joseph W. Meeker, The Comedy of Survival; Studies in Literary Ecology

Grounded in Naturalism, Daoist philosophies emphasize our deep connection with Nature in terms of the yin of Dao—the way of reality. It also questions the viability of human civilization, which estranges us from Dao and its life-affirming virtuosity. We will examine the claims and strategies of Daoist philosophers set forth over thousands of years to evaluate their potential contributions to reversing the toxic effects of yang’s “cunning intellect.”  

 

primary texts     Lao Zi, Dao De Jing; Zhuang Zi, Zhuang Zi; Sun Zi, Bing Fa (Methods of Warfare); Neo-Daoist Sun Bu-er (female master), poems; Masanobu Fukuoka, The One-Straw Revolution: An Introduction to Natural Farming

commentaries   Lao Zi and Spinoza; Daoist Metaphysics and Heidegger; Zhuang Zi and Nietzsche

applications        ecology, conflict resolution, leadership, military strategy

 

Sandra A. Wawrytko, Ph.D., (Washington University in St. Louis, Philosophy) is a Professor in the Department of Philosophy at San Diego State University; former Director of the Center for Asian and Pacific Studies (2014-2021). Research areas—Buddhist and Daoist epistemology and aesthetics in the context of neuroscience; Global Aesthetics; Globalizing Philosophy. More than thirty years teaching intensive summer classes on Buddhism at Tsung Lin University, Taiwan. Author/editor of eight books, twenty book chapters, more than thirty journal articles, with sixty-two presentations at national and international conferences. Recent publications include “Murasaki’s Epistemological Awakening: Buddhist Philosophical Roots of The Tale of Genji” (Journal of Chinese Philosophy 2022), “Lessons in Non-Dualism from World Philosophies” (Journal of World Philosophies 2021), “Murasaki Shikibu of Japan” and “Sun Bu’er of China” in Women Philosophers from Non-Western Traditions: The First Four Thousand Years (Springer, 2023).