Having spent decades teaching and researching the humanities, Wm. Theodore de Bary is well positioned to speak on its merits and reform. Believing a classical liberal education is more necessary than ever, he outlines in these essays a plan to update existing core curricula by incorporating classics from both Eastern and Western traditions, thereby bringing the philosophy and moral values of Asian civilizations to American students and vice versa. The author establishes a concrete link between teaching the classics of world civilizations and furthering global humanism. Selecting texts that share many of the same values and educational purposes, he joins Islamic, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, and Western sources into a revised curriculum that privileges humanity and civility. He also explores the tradition of education in China and its reflection of Confucian and Neo-Confucian beliefs. He reflects on history's great scholar-teachers and what their methods can teach us today, and he dedicates three essays to the power of The Analects of Confucius, The Tale of Genji, and The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon in the classroom.
The Great Civilized Conversation : Education for a World Community
Description
Table of Contents
Preface Introduction Part 1. Education and the Core Curriculum 1. Education for a World Community 2. "Starting on the Road" with John Erskine & Co. 3. The Great "Civilized" Conversation: A Case in Point 4. A Shared Responsibility to Past and Future 5. Asia in the Core Curriculum 6. What Is "Classic"? 7. Classic Cases in Point Part 2. Liberal Learning in Confucianism 8. Human Renewal and the Repossession of the Way 9. Zhu Xi and Liberal Education 10. Confucian Individualism and Personhood 11. Zhu Xi's Educational Program 12. Self and Society in Ming Thought 13. The Rise of Neo-Confucianism in Korea 14. Confucianism and Human Rights 15. China and the Limits of Liberalism Part 3. Tributes and Memoirs 16. Huang Zongxi and Qian Mu 17. Tang Junyi and New Asia College 18. Ryusaku Tsunoda Sensei 19. Thomas Merton, Matteo Ricci, and Confucianism Appendix. Wm. Theodore de Bary: A Life in Conversation Index
Author Description
Wm. Theodore de Bary is the John Mitchell Mason Professor Emeritus and Provost Emeritus of Columbia University and past president of the Association for Asian Studies. He has written extensively on Asian civilizations and is the coeditor of Sources of East Asian Tradition, Sources of Chinese Tradition, Sources of Japanese Tradition, and Sources of Korean Tradition. In 2014, he was awarded the President's Medal for Distinction in the Humanities.