Teaching Asian Philosophical Classics

The APA Committee on Asian and Asian-American Philosophers and Philosophies seeks participants for a roundtable panel on how to teach Asian philosophical text at the AAPT-APA Teaching Hub at the 2020 APA Pacific Division meeting, April 8–29, 2020, in San Francisco, CA.

Teaching a pre-modern philosophical text presents special challenges to both the instructor and the students. Teaching classics from non-Western traditions compounds the difficulty. This panel is designed to convey the experiences of instructors who have taught Asian philosophical classics with the purpose of easing the way for others who would like to do the same but aren’t sure how to do it or even where to begin.

Regardless of your own background in Asian philosophy, if you have experience teaching Asian philosophical classics and would like to share that experience for the benefit of others, we welcome your participation in this roundtable panel. We seek a range of backgrounds and expertise, from the Asianist who has a competent command of relevant languages to the metaphysician, epistemologist, etc., who has explored Asian texts as a supplement to more canonical texts. The aim of the panel is to bring teachers into conversation about useful ways of teaching Asian philosophical classics. What has worked and what hasn’t? What difficulties have you encountered in finding, researching, or conveying the material of Asian classics? How is teaching an Asian classic distinct from teaching other texts? Which texts have you found useful? How have you helped students access a distinct set of concepts and intellectual contexts?

We envision a 3-hour panel with five approximately 20-minute presentations and a full hour for discussion among panelists and audience members.

Submissions: Proposals prepared for anonymous review of 250 words should be sent to Brian Bruya, Chair of the APA Committee on Asian and Asian-American Philosophers and Philosophies, at bbruya@PROTECTED with the subject line “TH Submission: Asian Classics.” In the body of the email, please include your name, institutional affiliation (if any), position (if any), and contact information. Attach to the email proposals that address to the following items: 1) the text or texts that you have taught, 2) the subject matter and level of the course in which each text was taught, 3) your own background in Asian philosophy and language with regard to both formal training and informal study, 4) an abstract of your proposed presentation.

Deadline for Proposals: September 3, 2019. Extended to September 10!

Selection of Presenters: late September 2019

Questions about this session should be directed to Brian Bruya at the address above. A stable version of the call will live on the CTP page of the APA website:http://www.apaonline.org/group/teaching, where you can find additional information about other Teaching Hub calls, the CTP's Facebook page, and our committee's activities.

By submitting a proposal, you commit to participating in the panel at the APA Pacific Division Meeting (April 8–29, 2020) should your proposal be selected.

The AAPT-APA Teaching Hub is a series of interactive workshops and conversations designed specifically for philosophers and created to celebrate teaching within the context of the APA divisional meetings. Jointly organized by the APA Committee on the Teaching of Philosophy (CTP) and the American Association of Philosophy Teachers (AAPT), the Teaching Hub aims to offer a range of high-quality and inclusive development opportunities that address the teaching of philosophy at all levels, pre-college through graduate school.

For general information about the AAPT-APA Teaching Hub, please check out the AAPT website and Facebook page and the CTP website and Facebook page. For more specific information about the Teaching Hub at the 2020 Pacific APA meeting in San Francisco, California, please contact Renée Smith at rsmith@PROTECTED.