Julianne Chung
jnchung@yorku.ca

Office hours will be by appointment only. Students should email the instructor at jnchung@yorku.ca to make an appointment. An in person or Zoom meeting will then be scheduled.

The following questions are among the most intriguing and intractable in philosophy, as well as the most enduring and widespread, in that they have received a great deal of attention from thinkers hailing from an array of times, places, and traditions. In this course, we will look at what a variety of philosophers working in South and East Asian traditions have had to say about these (and related) issues:

• What is real, and what is the nature of things (in particular the self, if there is one)?
• How do we know what we know (if we know anything at all)?
• What is right, and what is wrong (and how can we tell the difference, if we can)?
• What is human nature like, and how fixed is it?
• How should we live, especially in light of the fact that we will eventually die?

Classes will be delivered in person TR 13:00-14:30.

N. Bommarito, Seeing Clearly: A Buddhist Guide to Life (Oxford University Press: 2020) (available through the library online at Oxford Scholarship Online) ISBN-13: 9780190887506

B. Van Norden, Introduction to Classical Chinese Philosophy (Hackett Publishing Company: 2011) ISBN-13: 9781603844680

Reflections: 20%

Exams: 40% (20% per exam)

Term paper: 30%

Participation: 10%

There will be 4 components to course assessment: i) eight reflections; ii) two exams; iii) one term paper, and; iv) participation.

Reflections: These assignments are designed to help students get started with respect to thinking and writing about some of the ideas expressed in our readings, as well as connections between them and other topics and activities that they are interested in. Unlike other course requirements, these assignments will be graded as complete or incomplete and questions will be distributed approximately weekly. Reflections need not be very long but must be at least 250 words or more per option. Each student will be expected to complete eight options in total.

Exams: Short questions on material explored will be circulated two weeks in advance of the exams. There will be two sets of five or six short essay questions distributed, and students will need to complete two options from each set in a closed-book, handwritten examination format, in class. The first exam may be rewritten. We will discuss expectations for these further in class.

Paper: You will be expected to write a 1000-1250 word (about 3-4 pages double-spaced) term paper on one of the suggested paper topics (which will be distributed two weeks prior to the term paper’s due date).

Participation: In this course, we will be focusing on reading, writing, and discussing philosophy. Thus, regular attendance and participation in class meetings and tutorials are required. It should be emphasized that attendance is a necessary, but not a sufficient, condition for doing well as regards the participation portion of the course: just as important as attending class are preparing for and participating in class meetings and tutorials. Students must do an excellent job of all three of these things in order to earn an excellent grade for this course component.

This course has four principal goals: i) To introduce students to an array of views about the philosophical questions noted above, and to aid them in developing a broad understanding of them; ii) To assist students in cultivating skill in both verbal and written philosophical discussion and argumentation, as well as in interpreting and evaluating philosophical texts and other forms of communication; iii) To enable students to think critically about the philosophical questions investigated and to draw connections between what they have learned in this class and what they are studying in others, in addition to other questions that they might wonder about, and; iv) To promote an appreciation of diverse philosophical approaches, as well as the values of humanistic inquiry, especially intellectual curiosity and humility.

Course policies

All written work must be submitted by the due dates specified (unless arranged otherwise in advance).

Please note in addition that any recordings: i) should be used for educational purposes only and as a means for enhancing accessibility; ii) cannot be copied or distributed outside the class (these acts can violate not only copyright laws but also FIPPA); and iii) all recordings will be destroyed after the end of classes.