Workshop-Conference Series

International Virtual Conference on the theme “Comparative Philosophy toward World Philosophy” (co-organized by the International Society for Comparative Philosophy toward World Philosophy and the international journal, Comparative Philosophy) is co-sponsored and hosted by the Center for Comparative Philosophy, San Jose State University, USA (‘CCP-SJSU’), with the support of the Dr. Chaote Lin Endowment at SJSU, USA (and the CPWP’s back-up funding) is to be held during the week of 19 (Tuesday)-23 (Saturday) April 2022 through Zoom channels set by the host party [free]

- The 2022-4-19 update version of the program

- Zoom link info for individual sessions

Goal, Emphasis and Focus of the Conference:

To fulfill the shared concern and emphasis by the co-organizer/co-sponsor parties in their missions, this international conference is issue/topic oriented with emphasis on contribution to the contemporary development of philosophy (instead of historical figure or specific doctrine oriented) and of contemporary society, focusing on a range of philosophical issues/topics in various areas of philosophy that are or can be jointly concerned and approached in a way of cross-tradition engagement (via appropriate philosophical interpretation and from a higher and/or broader philosophical vantage point): how distinct approaches and resources from different philosophical traditions (whether distinguished culturally or by style/orientation), or from some (ancient) philosophical tradition and contemporary scholarship (philosophy or other intellectual pursuits), can talk to (rather than failing to communicate and understand), engage with (rather than passing by) and learn from (rather than totally rejecting or dismissing) each other and constructively make joint contributions to the development of philosophy and of contemporary society on the addressed jointly-concerned issues/topics.

Special notice (13 March, 2020):

In view of the current coronavirus situation and of a range of relevant developments concerning various school classes/activities, this workshop event has been canceled ["Comparative Philosophy Forum" workshop on the theme "Textual analysis and philosophical interpretation", hosted by the Center for Comparative Philosophy, and originally planned to be held on 4/8 at SJSU]: it is to be postponed to a time that would be suitable and sensitive to the situation.

“Comparative Philosophy Forum” 2020 Workshop

Theme: “Textual Analysis and Philosophical Interpretation in Cross-tradition Philosophical Engagement”

Workshop Description / Call for Discussion Papers
(2020-2-2 version)

Host and Sponsor: Center for Comparative Philosophy, San Jose State University

Academic Consultant: International philosophy journal Comparative Philosophy

Time: 8th April 2020, Wednesday

Location: Conference Room 255, King Library, San Jose State University, USA

The “Comparative Philosophy Forum” is a workshop series, initiated by the Center for Comparative Philosophy at San Jose State University in cooperation with the international philosophy journal Comparative Philosophy in 2020, to provide the interested scholars, who reside in the Bay Area of North California or travel to this area, with an effective critical-discussion forum on various jointly-concerned issues/topics in comparative philosophy (doing philosophy in cross-tradition comparative way).

Its first workshop, the 2020 workshop, will be held at San Jose State University on 8th April 2020. (Its future workshops might be sponsored/hosted by some other interested institutions in the Bay Area.) The 2020 workshop is a small-size (half-day or one-day, sensitive to situations), intensive-discussion-oriented workshop focusing on the theme “Textual Analysis and Philosophical Interpretation in Cross-tradition Philosophical Engagement”, covering a range of related issues concerning the relation between textual analysis (concerning any texts in philosophical inquiries, the Yi-Jing text, Confucian texts, Daoist texts, Buddhist texts, Hinduist texts, etc.) and philosophical interpretation for the sake of cross-tradition engagement in philosophy, which include but are not limited to these:

Would there be distinct goals and expectations for textual analysis in distinct contexts of the study of a philosophical tradition (or a though tradition) and of cross-tradition philosophical engagement?
Would textual analysis and philosophical interpretation be better treated as two separate stages or distinct but closely related dimensions of one whole process in a comparative engagement project?
How could textual analysis and relevant elements of philosophical interpretation jointly play constructively?
How to look at the “external-resources-employing” phenomenon [sometimes labeled “one-sidedness”, to the effect that one (adequately or excessively) employs more or less “external” and/or “present” resources from one side/tradition and/or contemporary scholarship in textual analysis of a target text in another side/tradition]?
How to look at the “generalization” phenomenon [i.e., one (adequately or excessively) generalizes some specific part(s) of a target text into a certain “general” ideological perspective that is intended to capture a certain aspect of the textual meaning, together with one’s “generalized” evaluative judgments regarding the status of this perspective in the text and/or what kind of issue (unique or jointly-concerned) addressed by this perspective]?

Any interested colleagues are welcome to participate in this workshop (either as speakers and/or no-obligation discussants). There are two ways as participating speakers. If one is interested in presenting one’s own research on the theme for critical discussion, please send an abstract (500 words or less, including references) to the coordinating team at bo.mou@sjsu.edu by 10th March; if the topic/content of one’s submission is rendered fitting the theme and relevant academic expectations, one will receive the notice for its presentation no later than 20th March. Or if one is interested in being a discussant speaker on some part(s) of an already-completed research essay on the issue which has yet to be published but is ready for critical discussion, please notify us at earliest convenience but no later than 1st March; one would then receive the current version of the research paper for critical discussion. In either way, one is expected to send a relatively detailed outline (or its full-text) of one’s paper or discussion note by 1st April 2020 (for the sake of the participants’ warming-up preview and of good critical discussion on scene).

For further info about host coordination, contact Bo Mou.