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Chinese Religiousness:
A New Look at Godless ConfucianismRoger Ames
University of Hawaii
Click images to enlarge. Roger Ames is Professor of Philosophy, Director of Chinese Studies, and Co-director of the Asian Studies Development Program at the University of Hawaii. He studied at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the University of British Columbia (B.A. in Philosophy and Chinese, M.A.), National Taiwan University (M.A.), Osaka University of Foreign Studies, Tokyo University of Education, and the University of London (Ph.D.). Honors include the University of Hawaii Regent's Medal for Excellence in Teaching and an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from Okanagan University College. Professor Ames serves as editor of Philosophy East and West and executive editor of China Review International. A prolific scholar, he has authored, coauthored, and edited 27 books, 50 book chapters, and 65 articles in various journals. His recent publications include translations of Chinese classics: Sun-tzu: The Art of Warfare (1993), Sun Pin: The Art of Warfare (with D.C. Lau, 1996), Tracing Dao to its Source (with D.C. Lau, 1997), The Analects of Confucius (with H. Rosemont, 1998), and Focusing the Familiar: A Translation and Philosophical Interpretation of the Zhongyong (with David L. Hall, 2001).
Other books include interpretative studies of Chinese philosophy and culture: Thinking Through Confucius (1987), Anticipating China: Thinking Through the Narratives of Chinese and Western Culture (1995), and Thinking From the Han: Self, Truth, and Transcendence in Chinese and Western Culture (1997) (all with David L. Hall). Recently he has undertaken several projects that entail the intersection of contemporary issues and cultural understanding, including Democracy of the Dead: Dewey, Confucius, and the Hope for Democracy in China (with David L. Hall, 1999).
-- Abstract --
Classical Confucianism is at once a-theistic, and profoundly religious. It is a religion without a God; a human-centered religion that affirms the cumulative human experience itself.
There are several profound differences between this kind of religiousness and that of the Abrahamic traditions that have largely defined the meaning of religion in the Western cultural experience. In my lecture, I will argue that, unlike the "worship" model which defers to the ultimate meaning of some temporally prior, independent, external agency, Confucian religious experience is itself a product of the flourishing community, where the quality of the religious life is a direct consequence of the quality of communal living. Religion is not the root of effective living, it is its flower. Confucianism celebrates the way in which the process of human growth and extension is shaped by, and contributes to, the meaning of the totality. The human being is co-creator with the natural processes.
Website constructed and maintained by Douglas Shrader / Department Chair Philosc@Oneonta.edu November 28, 2001
