Ruism

Engaging in existential discourse beyond the European tradition, this book turns to Asian philosophies to reassess vital questions of life's purpose, death's imminence, and our capacity for living meaningfully in conditions of uncertainty.

Inspired by the dilemmas of European existentialism, this cross-cultural study seeks concrete techniques for existential practice via the philosophies of East Asia. The investigation begins with the provocative writings of twentieth-century Korean Buddhist nun Kim Iryop, who asserts that meditative concentration conducts a potent energy outward throughout the entire karmic network, enabling the radical transformation of our shared existential conditions. Understanding her claim requires a look at East Asian sources more broadly. Considering practices as diverse as Buddhist merit-making ceremonies, Confucian/Ruist methods for self-cultivation, the ritual memorization and recitation of texts, and Yijing divination, the book concludes by advocating a speculative turn. This 'speculative existentialism' counters the suspicion toward metaphysics characteristic of twentieth-century European existential thought and, at the same time, advances a program for action. It is not a how-to guide for living, but rather a philosophical methodology that takes seriously the power of mental cultivation to transform the meaning of the life that we share.

O filósofo Xún Kuàng 荀況 (310-211 AEC) viveu durante o final do período chamado  de  Estados  Combatentes  (403-221  AEC),  em  que  a  disputa  bélica  por  poder e a busca por justificativas às escolhas políticas e pessoais era intensa. Xún 荀era seu sobrenome, e zǐ 子 significa “mestre” ou “filósofo” na antiguidade chinesa. Ele recebeu esse reconhecimento por fazer parte da primeira experiência de “ensino superior” na China antiga, a Acadêmia Jixia ( Jìxià Xuégōng 稷下學宮), onde foi aluno e depois professor e diretor.  É considerado o terceiro maior filósofo da “Escola dos Eruditos” (Rújiā 儒家, Confucionismo), depois do próprio Confúcio (Kǒngzǐ 孔子) e de Mêncio (Mèngzǐ 孟子), escola que defendeu de forma argumentativa e sistemática, diferente dos diálogos breves dos seus antecessores (KNOBLOCK, 1988). Sua  obra  recebeu  o  mesmo  nome  do  autor,  Xúnzǐ 荀子,  e  é  constituída  de  32  capítulos  de  tamanhos  médios  ou  grandes,  com  diferentes  linguagens  que  variam entre discursos argumentativos, diálogos dialéticos, poesias e recomendações de  ações.  O  capítulo  17  faz  parte  de  uma  fase  mais  madura,  em  que  ele  já  tinha  estudado,  trabalhado  como  ministro,  e  provavelmente  estava  como  diretor  e  professor da Acadêmia Jixia (KNOBLOCK, 1982-1983, p. 38 e 46). Aqui  apresentamos  uma  tradução  direta  da  língua  chinesa  antiga  para  o  português  brasileiro  desse  capítulo  17,  “Discurso  sobre  o  Céu”  (Tiān  Lùn天論).

An explanation of the "three sacrificial rituals" in Ruism (Confucianism) to indicate further the practicability of Ru philosophy. A more refined version of this article has been published at APA Newsletter on Asian and Asian-American  Philosophers and Philosophies, Vol. 17, No.2, 2018 Spring.

This article makes the following comparative claims about the contributions of Song- and Ming-dynasty Chinese discourses to recent work in the related fields of new materialism and speculative realism: (1) emerging trends in so-called new materialism can be understood through the Chinese study of qi (氣), which can be translated as “lively material” or “vital stuff”; and (2) the notion of “speculation” as this is used in recent speculative realism can be understood as the study of, engagement with, and ultimate transformation by li (理), a term meaning “principle” or “structure.” However, the focus of the article is as much polemical as it is comparative. By arguing that these contemporary Western movements be categorized by Chinese schools, I challenge and reverse the tendency to subsume non-Western philosophies under Western categories and intervene in the academic practices that continue to define the “new” on Eurocentric models alone.

This article first considers Hegel's treatment of Ruist thought, especially the Berlin-era lectures. While Hegel and Hegelian thought cannot integrate non-Western material, five interesting analogues in their social thought deserve consideration: the family as society's relational foundation; ritual as cultural language; Hegelian necessity as Ruist fate; rulers as relational centers; and tools for evaluating ritual.