LECTURE INFORMATION

Michael Slote

2012 Soochow Lectures in Philosophy

Professor Michael Slote

For his C. V. and informations,

please click on the following URL

http://www.as.miami.edu/phi/v1/slote/index.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Slote

New Directions: East and West

Lecture One: "The Importance of Phenomenology"

This Lecture describes how a greater attention to our own awareness of things can yield results in ethics, epistemology, and the philosophy of mind. It turns out, among other things, that there are emotional aspects of our thinking or our minds that haven't been sufficiently recognized.

Lecture Two: "How Important is Moral Self-Cultivation?"

It argues that the Confucian tradition has been unrealistic to put so much weight on self-cultivation and that what we learn from others is more important to our moral development. Confucianism can benefit from recent work on the psychology of moral development.

Lecture Three: "Receptivity and Two Advantages of Chinese Thought"

It points out that Western philosophy has overemphasized rational autonomy/control and not paid sufficient attention to the value and virtue of receptivity. Chinese thought cannot be criticized in this way, and, in addition, Confucianism has implicitly recognized the significance of emotional elements in our thinking in a way that Western philosophers have not.

Preface of the Lectures:

These lectures will argue that Western philosophy needs to move in some new directions and that Eastern/Chinese philosophy needs to do so as well. Both Western and Chinese philosophers haven't paid sufficient attention to certain emotional aspects of the mind that are relevant to ethics and epistemology. But Chinese thought has assumed that moral self-cultivation can be more efficacious than it is realistic to expect it to be, and Chinese thinkers might profit from paying more attention to what Western developmental psychology has to say about the role *other* people play in someone's moral development. On the other hand, Western philosophy has been one-sided in overemphasizing rational control and autonomy and neglecting the countervailing value and virtue of receptivity. Receptivity underlies both caring and empathy and also plays an important role in learning about the world and in individualistic self-concern. By contrast, Chinese thought has not been one-sided in the way I am saying Western philosophy has been. The traditional counterpoint of yin and yang is some testimony to the difference, as is the fact that the Chinese term "xin" has both emotional and intellectual connotations. Western and Eastern philosophy start in different places and need to move in new but different directions.