Aim of the Conference
Looking back to the ancient world, a common thread connecting a wide range of traditions is an inherent link between theoretical questioning and therapeutic practices. Our aim is twofold. First, to bridge the purported gulf between theoretical philosophy and its corresponding practical aspects either in leading a good life in general or in specific therapeutic applications. Secondly, to highlight the transformational power of philosophical practices, and to illustrate how such practices have been deeply embedded in a wide variety of traditions throughout history.
This conference calls for an interdisciplinary approach. By drawing on ideas from different academic fields that traditionally do not engage with one another—including Philosophy, Classics, Oriental Studies, Theology, and Psychology—we will tap into the cultural and historical resources necessary to examine the philosophical foundations of therapy from various perspectives. As rigorous comparative studies are starting to show, bringing together ideas from around the globe can be eye-opening, insofar as such ideas can be mutually illuminating. We thus hope to reconnect the development of therapeutic practices to their theoretical underpinnings across different cultures.
This conference calls for an interdisciplinary approach. By drawing on ideas from different academic fields that traditionally do not engage with one another—including Philosophy, Classics, Oriental Studies, Theology, and Psychology—we will tap into the cultural and historical resources necessary to examine the philosophical foundations of therapy from various perspectives. As rigorous comparative studies are starting to show, bringing together ideas from around the globe can be eye-opening, insofar as such ideas can be mutually illuminating. We thus hope to reconnect the development of therapeutic practices to their theoretical underpinnings across different cultures.
Invited Speakers
Amber Carpenter (Yale-NUS College) has published widely on Plato’s ethics, moral psychology, epistemology, and metaphysics; her monograph on Indian Buddhist Philosophy appeared in 2014. She has held research fellowships with the Einstein Forum (Potsdam), the Templeton Religious Trust (‘Ethical Ambitions and their Formation of Character’, The Beacon Project), the University of Melbourne, and the University of York. She continues to publish in Greek and Indian Buddhist philosophy separately, while also pursuing questions that bring the two into critical conversation, focusing usually on the ethical implications and underpinnings of metaphysical and epistemological arguments. She is currently co-editing a volume of Portraits of Integrity.
Jessica Frazier (University of Oxford) is Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies and the founding editor of the Journal of Hindu Studies. She has published widely on Indian approaches to metaphysics and selfhood, and also works on twentieth century German philosophy. She also has a wider interest in comparative philosophy, with a forthcoming 'Theory of Comparative Philosophy' in the journal Religious Studies, and book with Cambridge University Press entitled Religion, Hinduism and the Sacred: Rethinking the Divine.
Barbara Jikai Gabrys (Zen Master in the Rinzai tradition; Academic Visitor, University of Oxford) is a physicist and Zen teacher. Her work in science has taken her all over the world. Her experience of international research centres has made her aware of the need to bridge the gap between different cultures, and especially the Eastern and Western way of life. She has studied with several Zen Masters, and finalised her Zen training at the hermitage of Gyōkuryuji in central Japan. There she received the Dharma transmission in the Hakuin-Inzan line of the Rinzai tradition from Shinzan Miyamae Rōshi in November 2016. She has founded Oxford Zen Society in 2010 (dissolved 2015) and Zenspace.org.uk in 2015. She is a member of Lay Zen Teacher Association (USA).
Christopher Gill (University of Exeter) has published extensively on ancient philosophy, especially ethics and psychology. His most recent books are Marcus Aurelius Meditations Books 1-6, translated with an introduction and commentary (Oxford University Press, 2013), and Naturalistic Psychology in Galen and Stoicism (Oxford University Press, 2010). He was the inaugural editor of 'Plato', the Internet Journal of the International Plato Society in 2000-3, and was co-editor of Phronesis in 2003-8. He is currently working on a book on Stoicism and its potential contribution to modern thought. In public engagement he works on the role of Stoic ethics as a source of life-guidance and the potential contribution of ancient (especially Galenic) ideas about healthcare to modern preventive medicine and self-care.
Livia Kohn (Boston University) serves as the executive editor of the Journal of Daoist Studies, and manages Three Pines Press, the Western voice of Daoism (www.threepinespress.com). In addition, she still serves on numerous committees and editorial boards, leads Daoist Qigong and Core Health workshops worldwide, and is the lead organizer of a series of major international conferences on Daoism, the latest of which is going to take place in Los Angeles this year from June 20 to 23. Her specialty is the study of Daoist religion and Chinese life practices. She has written and edited 45 books and over 100 articles, and has translated works from German, French, Chinese, and Japanese. She will speak about the Daoist underpinnings of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Tai-Chi.
Karyn Lai (University of New South Wales) researches on early Confucian and Daoist philosophies (pre 2nd century CE). She specialises in comparative Chinese-western philosophical research, drawing insights from Chinese philosophies to engage in debates in areas including moral philosophy, environmental ethics, reasoning and argumentation, and epistemology. Her books include: Lai, K. Introduction to Chinese Philosophy (2017, 2nd ed. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press), Lai, K., Benitez, R and Kim, HJ (eds.) Cultivating a Good Life in Early Chinese and Ancient Greek Philosophy: Perspectives and Reverberations (2018, London: Bloomsbury Press), Lai, K. and Chiu, WW (eds.) Skill and Mastery: Philosophical Stories from the Zhuangzi, (forthcoming, 2019, London: Rowman and Littlefield International). Karyn is editor of the Chinese Comparative Philosophy section, Philosophy Compass (Wiley-Blackwell), Co-editor of the Chinese philosophy section, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, and Associate Editor of the Australasian Journal of Philosophy.
Graham Parkes (University of Vienna) is a Professorial Research Fellow in the Institute of Philosophy at the University of Vienna, where he does research and occasional teaching in intercultural philosophy (European and East-Asian) and philosophies of nature and culture. Among his publications are: Heidegger and Asian Thought (ed. 1987), Nietzsche and Asian Thought (ed. 1991), Composing the Soul: Reaches of Nietzsche’s Psychology (1994), and some 120 journal articles and book chapters. He has just completed a book with the working title, Coping with Global Warming: A Philosophical Approach to Ousting the Obstructors, Reforming Democracy, Cooperating with China, and Enjoying Better Lives.
Graham Priest (City University of New York) has published in nearly every leading philosophy journal. He has published about 240 papers. He has also produced six monographs--including The Fifth Corner of Four: an Essay on Buddhist Metaphysics and the Catuskoti, One: Being an Investigation into the Unity of Reality and of its Parts, including the Singular Object which is Nothingness, and so on--as well as a number of edited collections. Much of his work has been in logic, especially non-classical logic, and related areas. He is perhaps best know for his work on dialetheism, the view that some contradictions are true. However, he has published widely in a wide variety of areas, such as contemporary metaphysics and logic, Buddhist philosophy, and the history of philosophy, both East and West.
Katja Maria Vogt (Columbia University) specializes in ancient philosophy, ethics, and normative epistemology. In her books and papers, she focuses on questions that figure both in ancient and contemporary discussions: What are values? What kinds of values are knowledge and truth? What does it mean to want one's life to go well? She has published widely on ancient skepticism and its interlocutors as well as related themes in philosophy today. Her most recent book –Desiring the Good: Ancient Proposals and Contemporary Theory (Oxford University Press, 2017) – focuses on questions about human motivation and agency. She is an editor of Nousand serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Philosophy, Apeiron, and Rhizomata, and as Associate Editor for philosophy of language, epistemology, and logic of Dialogoi: Ancient Philosophy Today.
Jessica Frazier (University of Oxford) is Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies and the founding editor of the Journal of Hindu Studies. She has published widely on Indian approaches to metaphysics and selfhood, and also works on twentieth century German philosophy. She also has a wider interest in comparative philosophy, with a forthcoming 'Theory of Comparative Philosophy' in the journal Religious Studies, and book with Cambridge University Press entitled Religion, Hinduism and the Sacred: Rethinking the Divine.
Barbara Jikai Gabrys (Zen Master in the Rinzai tradition; Academic Visitor, University of Oxford) is a physicist and Zen teacher. Her work in science has taken her all over the world. Her experience of international research centres has made her aware of the need to bridge the gap between different cultures, and especially the Eastern and Western way of life. She has studied with several Zen Masters, and finalised her Zen training at the hermitage of Gyōkuryuji in central Japan. There she received the Dharma transmission in the Hakuin-Inzan line of the Rinzai tradition from Shinzan Miyamae Rōshi in November 2016. She has founded Oxford Zen Society in 2010 (dissolved 2015) and Zenspace.org.uk in 2015. She is a member of Lay Zen Teacher Association (USA).
Christopher Gill (University of Exeter) has published extensively on ancient philosophy, especially ethics and psychology. His most recent books are Marcus Aurelius Meditations Books 1-6, translated with an introduction and commentary (Oxford University Press, 2013), and Naturalistic Psychology in Galen and Stoicism (Oxford University Press, 2010). He was the inaugural editor of 'Plato', the Internet Journal of the International Plato Society in 2000-3, and was co-editor of Phronesis in 2003-8. He is currently working on a book on Stoicism and its potential contribution to modern thought. In public engagement he works on the role of Stoic ethics as a source of life-guidance and the potential contribution of ancient (especially Galenic) ideas about healthcare to modern preventive medicine and self-care.
Livia Kohn (Boston University) serves as the executive editor of the Journal of Daoist Studies, and manages Three Pines Press, the Western voice of Daoism (www.threepinespress.com). In addition, she still serves on numerous committees and editorial boards, leads Daoist Qigong and Core Health workshops worldwide, and is the lead organizer of a series of major international conferences on Daoism, the latest of which is going to take place in Los Angeles this year from June 20 to 23. Her specialty is the study of Daoist religion and Chinese life practices. She has written and edited 45 books and over 100 articles, and has translated works from German, French, Chinese, and Japanese. She will speak about the Daoist underpinnings of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Tai-Chi.
Karyn Lai (University of New South Wales) researches on early Confucian and Daoist philosophies (pre 2nd century CE). She specialises in comparative Chinese-western philosophical research, drawing insights from Chinese philosophies to engage in debates in areas including moral philosophy, environmental ethics, reasoning and argumentation, and epistemology. Her books include: Lai, K. Introduction to Chinese Philosophy (2017, 2nd ed. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press), Lai, K., Benitez, R and Kim, HJ (eds.) Cultivating a Good Life in Early Chinese and Ancient Greek Philosophy: Perspectives and Reverberations (2018, London: Bloomsbury Press), Lai, K. and Chiu, WW (eds.) Skill and Mastery: Philosophical Stories from the Zhuangzi, (forthcoming, 2019, London: Rowman and Littlefield International). Karyn is editor of the Chinese Comparative Philosophy section, Philosophy Compass (Wiley-Blackwell), Co-editor of the Chinese philosophy section, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, and Associate Editor of the Australasian Journal of Philosophy.
Graham Parkes (University of Vienna) is a Professorial Research Fellow in the Institute of Philosophy at the University of Vienna, where he does research and occasional teaching in intercultural philosophy (European and East-Asian) and philosophies of nature and culture. Among his publications are: Heidegger and Asian Thought (ed. 1987), Nietzsche and Asian Thought (ed. 1991), Composing the Soul: Reaches of Nietzsche’s Psychology (1994), and some 120 journal articles and book chapters. He has just completed a book with the working title, Coping with Global Warming: A Philosophical Approach to Ousting the Obstructors, Reforming Democracy, Cooperating with China, and Enjoying Better Lives.
Graham Priest (City University of New York) has published in nearly every leading philosophy journal. He has published about 240 papers. He has also produced six monographs--including The Fifth Corner of Four: an Essay on Buddhist Metaphysics and the Catuskoti, One: Being an Investigation into the Unity of Reality and of its Parts, including the Singular Object which is Nothingness, and so on--as well as a number of edited collections. Much of his work has been in logic, especially non-classical logic, and related areas. He is perhaps best know for his work on dialetheism, the view that some contradictions are true. However, he has published widely in a wide variety of areas, such as contemporary metaphysics and logic, Buddhist philosophy, and the history of philosophy, both East and West.
Katja Maria Vogt (Columbia University) specializes in ancient philosophy, ethics, and normative epistemology. In her books and papers, she focuses on questions that figure both in ancient and contemporary discussions: What are values? What kinds of values are knowledge and truth? What does it mean to want one's life to go well? She has published widely on ancient skepticism and its interlocutors as well as related themes in philosophy today. Her most recent book –Desiring the Good: Ancient Proposals and Contemporary Theory (Oxford University Press, 2017) – focuses on questions about human motivation and agency. She is an editor of Nousand serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Philosophy, Apeiron, and Rhizomata, and as Associate Editor for philosophy of language, epistemology, and logic of Dialogoi: Ancient Philosophy Today.
Directions
Location: Worcester College, Sultan Nazrin Shah Centre, Oxford, OX1 2HB, United Kingdom
More details regarding conference venue: Nazrin Shah Centre
More details regarding conference venue: Nazrin Shah Centre