The Center for Comparative Philosophy (CCP) at San Jose State University, California, USA, has established its Workshop/Conference Series since 2009 to promote and enhance the research and scholarship of comparative philosophy as broadly understood in a philosophically interesting way. The Series emphasizes critical discussion and exploration of how distinct approaches from different philosophical traditions and/or from different styles/orientations of doing philosophy can constructively engage each other to jointly contribute to the common philosophical enterprise. The Series is characterized by its flexibility and sensitivity to needs and situations: it might be a half-day workshop or a multiple-day conference; it might present a multiple-topic comprehensive forum or a symposium focusing on one subject; it might be a local meeting or an international conference. The 2011 term of the CCP Workshop/Conference Series is a symposium on the theme to be specified below (‘the Symposium’ for short below). The Symposium is co-sponsored by Philosophy Department at San Jose State University and Dr. Chaote Lin Endowment. Theme of the Symposium The theme of the Symposium is “Daoism and Contemporary Philosophy: Constructive Engagement”. It is to explore two closely related fronts on the theme: (1) how philosophical thoughts and resources of Daoism (such as those in the Dao-De-Jing and the Zhuang-Zi) can contribute to our understanding and treatment of a series of philosophical issues (in metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of language and mind, moral and social/political philosophy, etc.) through their constructively engaging relevant approaches/resources in contemporary philosophy; (2) how relevant resources in contemporary philosophy can help and enhance our understanding and elaboration of philosophical points and implications of Daoism through philosophical interpretation. Although it seems that the first front will especially address the interest of philosophers in general while the second front will especially address the interest of specialists in philosophical Daoism, the two fronts are intrinsically and closely related from the vantage point of the constructive-engagement strategy of comparative philosophy, which can be briefly presented as follows. One crucial goal and methodological approach of comparative philosophy as broadly understood in a philosophically interesting way (‘constructive-engagement strategy’ for short) is to explore how, via reflective criticism (including self-criticism) and argumentation, distinct modes of thinking, methodological approaches, visions, insights, substantial points of view, or conceptual and explanatory resources from different philosophical traditions and/or from different styles/orientations of doing philosophy, can learn from each other and jointly contribute to our understanding and treatment of a series of issues and topics of philosophical value and significance, which can be jointly concerned through philosophical interpretation and from a broader philosophical vantage point. The Symposium is to provide an effective channel and forum for critical-discussion on the theme. Submission of Papers to the Symposium Papers (in English, together with abstracts) for consideration of their presentations at the Symposium may be submitted electronically (as a MS Word attachment) to the review team c/o Bo Mou at bo.mou@sjsu.edu. Submitted papers will be reviewed by a peer team. [Submissions that demonstratively explore the constructive-engagement between philosophical Daoism and contemporary philosophy in the foregoing sense are expected and welcome.] Submitted papers are expected to be approximately 3000 words, to be presented comfortably in about 30 minutes; their abstracts should be 150-250 words. The deadline for submission is February 14, 2011. Notifications of the acceptance decision will be sent out no later than March 7, 2011. If the paper is accepted, the deadline for the final version is April 4, 2011. [Note: for the sake of encouraging a submission that really needs sufficient words to present well-developed, carefully elaborated approach, it is allowed to be up to 5,000 words for the review purpose; but the author of the accepted submission needs to effectively present the essence of the material in no more than 30 minutes so that sufficient time (at least 20 minutes) can be reserved for critical discussion.] The authors-presenters of the accepted papers via peer review will be honored and awarded US$100. All are welcome to attend the Symposium. Coffee/refreshments and free meals will be served to the registered participants. Contact information: |