8^th Annual Midwest Conference on Chinese Thought

Indiana University, Bloomington, IN

April 13-15, 2012

Friday, April 13
Wylie Hall 015

3:35  Welcome by Aaron Stalnaker

3:45-5:30 Panel 1: Carving Out the Good Life

      Moderator: Aaron Stalnaker, Indiana University, Bloomington

      Rohan Sikri, DePaul University,  “A Conversation Amongst Butchers: Plato and Zhuangzi on the Therapeutic Art of Carving Bodies”

      Ben Huff, Randolph-Macon College, “Eudaimonism in the Mencius”

      Yinghua Lu, University of Illinois, Carbondale, “Mencius’ Idea of Moral Autonomy”           

6:15  Group dinner for those in town at The Uptown

Saturday, April 14

Wylie Hall 015

8:30-9:00  Coffee/Tea and Continental Breakfast

9:00-10:45  Panel 2: Venturing Into the Han

      Moderator: Cheryl Cottine, Indiana University, Bloomington         

      Esther Klein, University of Illinois, Chicago, “Sima Qian’s Confucius and the Western Han Lunyu"
          
      Michael Ing, Indiana University, Bloomington, “Unity, Prosperity, and the Role of Ritual in the ‘Liyun 禮運’”

      Alexus McLeod, University of Dayton,  “Two Problems Concerning Materialism in Wang Chong’s Lunheng”

10:45-11:00  Break

11:00-12:45  Panel 3: Literature, Divination, and the Mind

      Moderator: Frank Perkins, DePaul University           

      Michael Harrington, Duquesne University, “When Not to be Straightforward: Cheng Yi on Hexagram #39”

      Jennifer Eichman, Seton Hall University, “A Very Selective Synthesis: Zhou Rudeng’s Handbook on Mind Cultivation”

      William Sin, Hong Kong Institute of Education, “The Moral World of the Water Margin”

12:45-2:00  Lunch Break

2:00-3:45  Panel 4: Contemporary Encounters

      Moderator: Bob Eno, Indiana University, Bloomington       

      Benedict Chan, Tulane University, “Are Civil and Political Rights Universal Rights? An East Asian Challenge and Reply”

      Jonathan R Herman, Georgia State University, “Cramped Scholars and Creative Misinterpretations: Revisiting Martin Buber’s Encounters with Chinese Religion”

      Brian Hoffert, North Central College, “The Relationship between Ren and Li: Contemporary Implications of the Debate on Human Nature”

3:45-4:00  Break

4:00-5:30   Keynote Address: A Horizons of Knowledge Lecture

                                         “Progressive Confucianism”

                                    Stephen Angle, Wesleyan University

6:30  Group Dinner at Mama’s Restaurant

Sunday, April 15

Wylie Hall 015

8:15-8:45   Coffee/Tea and Continental Breakfast

8:45-10:30  Panel 5: Seeing and Arguing in Early China

     Moderator: Brian Hoffert, North Central College     

      Stephen Walker, University of Chicago, “Misology in classical China”

      Piotr Gibas , College of Charleston, “Punitive Ghosts, ‘Sagely Illumination,’ and History: The Concept of Ming 明 in Mozi’s ‘Ming gui’”《明鬼》

      Susan Blake, Indiana University, Bloomington, “A Problem of the Senses in Chinese Thought”

10:30-10:45  Break

10:45-12:30   Panel 6: The Varieties of the Dao

     Moderator: Doug Berger, University of Illinois, Carbondale              

      Frank Perkins, DePaul University, “The Mohist Daodejing”

      Clarke Hudson, University of Virginia,  “The Alchemists’ Daodejìng”

      Kristina Lebedeva, DePaul University,  “The Work of Weakness in the Daodejing”