Author Archives: Loy Hui Chieh

Raffles Institution Inter-school Philosophy Dialogue 2015: Call for Facilitators

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The Philosophy Department of Raffles Institution has been organising an annual inter-school philosophy dialogue for secondary school students for the past 11 years. The dialogue session have students engaging one another in small group discussions based on a variety of stimuli revolving around a number of philosophical themes.These discussion sessions are facilitated by teachers who are teaching philosophy in schools across Singapore, many of them alumni of NUS Philosophy. This year, in the spirit of SG50 and NUS 110, the Department of Philosophy, NUS, is sponsoring the event, with the aim of nurturing the art of philosophical discussion, as well as connecting with our alumni members at the event.

Event: Inter-School Philosophy Dialogue: SG50 Edition
Date: 30 May 2015 (Sat)
Time: 8.00 am – 12.30 pm
Venue: Raffles Institution (Year 1 – 4 campus)

The organisers have also extended an invitation for faculty members, graduate students and advance undergraduate students to join them as facilitators. If you are keen to join in this celebration of Philosophy, do sign up at: http://goo.gl/forms/AlJukGjplo and the organisers will get in touch with you with more detailed info at a later date.

Graduate Student Conference Call for Paper

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659px-Shiba_Kokan_A_meeting_of_Japan_China_and_the_West_late_18th_centuryThe second annual NUS-National Chengchi University (Taiwan)-Kyoto University Triangular Graduate Student Conference on Asian philosophy will be hosted here at NUS 6-8 March. This is a friendly, informal conference where students of these three universities share ideas and work in progress. The conference will commence with keynote addresses by Profs Loy Hui Chieh, Lin Chen-Kuo of Chenching National University and Yasuo Deguchi of Kyoto University.

Students are invited to submit proposals for either short (20 minute) talks or full (50 minute) talks for this conference. It is a great opportunity to share ideas and to meet fellow students from around Asia. Please send a title and abstract to Jay Garfield (jay.garfield-at-yale-nus.edu.sg) and Michael Pelczar (phimwp-at-nus.edu.sg) by 14 February.

Languages courses at YNC open to NUS students

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UPDATE: A poster for the Classical Chinese class is now available.

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This is from the instructor (Dr. Green Steven James):

You may be interested to learn that Yale-NUS will be running a beginners’ course in Ancient Greek this coming semester. This is, as far as I’m aware, the first time that such a course has been delivered here, and we are pleased to be able to offer it as an elective more widely across NUS.

The course, which assumes no prior knowledge of ancient Greek, will enable students to read right from the start adapted text drawn from the rich variety of Greek literature, including Plato, Greek historiography, and Athenian comedy (Aristophanes). For this reason, we feel that it might provide students with a very interesting and meaningful complement to their study of Philosophy.

A poster and information sheet is attached for your interest.

This course has only just been added to the general catalogue of electives, and so it is possible that students are not fully aware of it. I would be most grateful if you could draw it to the attention of interested parties, and do tell them to get in touch with me by email if they have any further queries.

There is also information that a Classical Chinese class may be in the works as well…

A Word from an Alumni: What can I do with a philosophy degree?

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3eb4b70(The writer of the following is Lester Lim, who graduated with a degree in philosophy from NUS in 2010. His honors thesis revolved around the treatment of language by French deconstructionist thinker Jacques Derrida, and the Madhyamika works of Nagarjuna. He currently works as an investment associate for a UK private equity firm.)

THE MOST COMMON questions undergraduates have when considering in taking up a degree in philosophy is “What can I do with such a degree?” or “What are my career prospects, other than being an academic?” Unfortunately these are also the most practical questions that put off otherwise what would be a very rewarding four-year undergraduate period reading philosophy. It is not too far off to say that philosophy is perhaps the most misunderstood degree in the today’s world.

I stood at that path some five to six years ago at the second year of my university when I had to decide on my major. Researching on what some philosophy graduates did after obtaining a degree painted a rather bleak picture – some ended up in teaching, others in generalist positions in the civil service or private sector – nothing that I was too excited about. I was convinced however that philosophy – being such a crucial study of human thought, and thinking – was critically needed in today’s world, where an overload of information oftentimes obscures clarity of thought, and innovation is strikingly absent.

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Conference on Confucianism and Global Chinese Society (in Mandarin)

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Organized by: The Nanyang Confucian Association, with presenters from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Singapore.
Date: Thursday 18- Friday 19 September 2014
Venue: Furama Riverfront Hotel (405 Havelock Road, Singapore 169633)
Program attached as a pdf: 【南洋孔教會】國際儒學會議日程表.

Note: A/P LO Yuet Keung from NUS Chinese Studies, and joint appointment NUS Philosophy, will be giving his paper on Friday morning.

Job Opening: Head and Full Professor at the Department of Philosophy, NUS

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Applicants are invited for the position of Head of Department with the appointment expected to be made at the level of Full Professor. The Department of Philosophy is part of the Faculty of Arts and the Social Sciences. It offers degree programs at the undergraduate, masters and doctoral levels. There are currently 18 faculty members in the department whose expertise covers analytic philosophy, Chinese philosophy, continental philosophy, and Indian philosophy. The successful candidate must have an international research reputation, a strong interest in teaching, and proven administrative experience and leadership qualities. Remuneration is internationally competitive. The appointment can be on tenure or term contracts. Continue reading →

Book Launch: Political Legitimacy in Asia

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Update: Some Photos from the Event

    

    

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You are cordially invited to the launch of

Political Legitimacy in Asia – New Leadership Challenges, edited by John Kane, Hui-chieh Loy and Haig Patapan

Palgrave Macmillian Series on Asian Governance

To be launched by Dr. Lam Peng Er (Senior Research Fellow, East Asian Institute, National University of Singapore) * 19 December 2011, 3 pm to 4:30 pm, FASS Faculty Lounge (L2, The Deck); Refreshments will be served

Political Legitimacy in Asia is an edited collection that explores the theory and practice of political legitimacy in contemporary Asia. Bringing together internationally recognized scholars of comparative politics and political philosophy, the book marks a contemporary re-examination of legitimacy in the region. Expansive in scope, with a detailed and nuanced analysis of 11 countries, the book explores the realistically available options for modernizing Asian nations seeking to shore up their legitimacy as they become more deeply enmeshed in the international order.

For more information and RSVP, email: philoyhc@nus.edu.sg. The book will be available for purchase from Palgrave Macmillian at a special launch price at the event. (Download invitation flyer.)

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The Historical Ethnography of Chinese Popular Wisdom: A Public Lecture by Christoph Harbsmeier

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A Public Lecture jointly presented by the Office of the Deputy President (Research and Technology), the Department of Chinese Studies & the Department of Philosophy

AS7 Seminar Room B, 25 Nov 2011, 5-6:30pm

Harbsmeier Poster 2011 (LowerRes)About the talk: The richness of the Chinese heritage of proverbial wisdom has struck many observers. Bertrand Russell has gone so far as to say that there is nothing more civilised than a civlised Chinese. In this lecture Christoph Harbsmeier will show in some detail how a subtle knowledge of classical Chinese is essential for any understanding not only of the subtleties of that proverbial wisdom that so many Chinese people continue to live by, but also of the intricate internal structure of modern Chinese words which are in fact mostly construed by the principles of classical Chinese syntax.

About the speaker: Christoph Harbsmeier is Professor of Chinese in the University of Oslo. He is also holds honorary professorships at Peking University, Fudan University (Shanghai), Wuhan University, Zhejiang University, Shanghai Normal University, and East China Normal University. His main work is in the history of science (logic), conceptual history, historical linguistics, and modern Chinese cartoons. He is the editor of the international project Thesaurus Linguae Sericae.

Google Calendar

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The department’s events are now updated on a public Google calendar “philosophy-at-nus events”, the upcoming items of which can be seen in the new widget on the right side bar. To add this calendar to your own Google account, click on icon with the plus sign in the widget. (More functionality forthcoming.) Enjoy.