Professor :Julius Vaitkevicius
email: juliu@nju.edu.cn
Course Title: Great Thinkers of China
Contents:
This course serves as an introduction to some of the most influential thinkers of China. As this course is designed to be more interactive than academic, students will not only learn about the intellectual and historical shell of the subject matter but also engage with it through class discussion, by relating classical Chinese thought to their own lives, and by translation and memorization of short passages.
Aims:
• Introduce the main ideas of thought of great Chinese thinkers
• Make students interested in Chinese thought and culture through reading and discussing classical texts (translated into English)
• Introduce the historical and cultural background of classical texts
• Present the historical relevance and influence to Chinese society of classical philosophical ideas
• Introduce the basic tenets of Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism
Class work:
• Reading of Chinese classical texts
• Discussing Chinese philosophical ideas and their relevance to modern days
• Memorization of one short passage from a Chinese classical text
• Students give one presentation about the read text, its author and historical context
• Providing a paper on the ideas of a selected Chinese Thinker
Preliminary outline:
Week 1-2:Introduction to “Great Chinese Thinkers” course and a review of thinkers, why it is important.
Week 3-4:Introduction to Confucianism. Kongzi and “Analects”
Week 5:Mengzi and his work
Week 6-7: “The Great Learning” and “The Middle Way”
Week 8-9:Introduction into Daoism. Laozi - “Daodejing”
Week 10-11:Zhuangzi
Week 12-13:Inner Teaching of Guanzi – Neiye.
Week 14:Ge Hong - Baopuzi
Week 15-16:Introduction into Buddhism, Huineng – The 6th Patriarch
Reading list:
1.Confucius. The Analects. Translated with an introduction by D.C.Lau, Penguin Books, 1979.
2.The Analects. Library of Chinese Classics. Translated into English by Arthur Walley. Hunan People's Publishing House, Foreign Language Press, 1999.
3.The Analects of Confucius. A Philosophical Translation. A New Translation Based on the Dingzhou Fragments and Other Recent Archaelogical Finds. Roger T. Ames, Hentry 4.Rosemont, Jr. Ballantine Books, New York. 1998.
5.Mencius. Library of Chinese Classics. Translated into English by Zhao Zhentao and others. Hunan People's Publishing House, Foreign Language Press, 1999.
6.The Great Learning. The Doctrine of the Mean. Huayu Education. Beijing. 1996.
7.Laozi. Library of Chinese Classics. Translated into English by Arthur Walley, Hunan People's Publishing House, Foreign Language Press, 1999.
8.Tao Te Ching. The Definitive Edition. Translation and commentary by Jonathan Star, New York, 2001.
9.Zhuangzi. Library of Chinese Classics, Translated into English by Wang Rongpei, Hunan People's Publishing House, Foreign Language Press, 1999.
10.Original Tao. Inward Training (Nei-yeh) and The Foundation of Taoist Mysticism. Harold D. Roth. Columbia University Press. New York. 1999.
11.The Platform Sutra of The Sixth Patriarch. Translated from the Chinese of Zongbao by John R. McRae. Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research. 2000.
