Cultivating Personhood: Kant and Asian Philosophy

Cultivating Personhood: Kant and Asian Philosophy Cultivating Personhood: Kant and Asian Philosophy Edited by Stephen R. Palmquist De Gruyter ISBN 978-3-11-022623-2 e-ISBN 978-3-11-022624-9 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Cultivating personhood : Kant and Asian philosophy / edited by Stephen R. Palmquist. p. cm. Proceedings of a conference held in May 2009 in Hong Kong. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-3-11-022623-2 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Persons Ϫ Congresses. 2. Philosophical anthropology Ϫ Con- gresses. 3. Kant, Immanuel, 1724Ϫ1804 Ϫ Congresses. 4. Philoso- phy, Asian Ϫ Congresses. I. Palmquist, Stephen R. BD450.C85 2010 128Ϫdc22 2010036203 Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available in the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de. ” 2010 Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin/New York Printing and binding: Hubert & Co. GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen ϱ Printed on acid-free paper Printed in Germany www.degruyter.com To Philadora Grace A genuine union of East and West Preface Chinese philosophy first came to my attention in the early 1980s, not long after I read Kant’s three Critiques in March of 1981. Even at that early stage, I felt instinctively that Kant is deeply Chinese in his think- ing, with close parallels (in very different ways) to both Confucian and Daoist philosophers. Soon after coming to Hong Kong to teach in 1987, I learned of Mou Zongsan and his intriguing challenge both to his own Chinese tradition (to take Kant more seriously) and to Western Kant scholars (to make use of Chinese philosophical resources to fill gaps in philosophical wisdom left by Kant). I gradually became convinced that a major international conference was not only possible, but increas- ingly urgent as a path to forge in cross-cultural philosophy, given the rising place of China on the world scene. Belonging to a department uncommonly blessed with scholars well-versed in Kant’s philosophy gave me confidence to believe that my own university would make an ideal venue for such a ground-breaking event. Yet it took over six- teen years to get past the idea stage. Not until May of 2007, when Prof. Cheng Chung-ying visited the Department of Religion and Philosophy at Hong Kong Baptist Univer- sity as a scholarly consultant and gave his resounding approval to the idea, did the planning process for the “Kant in Asia” conference actually begin. On a return visit later that year, Prof. Cheng suggested that the conference focus on the unity of personhood, a theme that was eventually adopted when the conference Organizing Committee held its first meeting in January of 2008. On the first day of the Chinese Year of the Rat, a preliminary Call for Papers was sent to Kant scholars around the world, and the response was so overwhelming that the Committee kept needing to increase the planned number of participants. The assistance of numerous philosophical societies around the world was essential in promoting the conference so effectively. In the end over 200 abstracts were submitted. With funding kindly promised by the Department in March of 2008 and by the University a few months later, we eventually invited three distinguished keynote speakers and 94 paper presenters, from over 30 different countries. As the Year of the Ox drew near (early 2009), almost as if to insure that our ideals of unity could not be realized too fully, the Organizing VIII Preface Committee began experiencing something like a Kantian “conflict of the faculties” first hand. Procedural tensions eventually led a minority on the Committee to stage a mutiny, casting a shadow over the Depart- ment’s involvement. Fortunately, the majority of my colleagues, together with a team of over 20 students, stuck with their commitments, providing much-needed assistance in the weeks preceeding the long-await- ed event. With the many challenges we faced together in the days lead- ing up to the conference, the second of the two sentences quoted at the beginning of the Editor’s Introduction became the motto for the major international conference that took place from 20–23 May 2009. “Kant in Asia: The Unity of Human Personhood” was a great success by all counts, even regarded by some participants as instigating a sea change in global Kant studies. Not long after the conference, Walter de Gruyter offered to publish the proceedings. The present volume includes revised versions of the three kenote lectures, followed by 64 out of approximately 80 contrib- uted papers that were submitted after the conference. In editing these essays I have sought to strike a balance between unity of form and di- versity of content. Certain stylistic and grammatical standards have been applied to the essays, and I would like to thank each contributor for her or his forbearance in putting up with the requirements of the chosen conventions, even when these conflicted with the author’s own preferred usages. Several features, however, proved so distinctive of different cultural approaches to the issues being discussed that I elect- ed not to impose a common standard. Perhaps the best example is the use of Chinese (and other Asian) names. As the form of these names, when expressed in European languages, can vary widely, and as names are among the most personal of all words, I have allowed each author to name both him/herself and others in whatever manner she or he prefers. The same goes for names of philosophies or traditions (e.g., “Daoism” vs. “Taoism”), except that I have ensured that all such names are capitalized. A brief biographical sketch of each contributor can be found at the end of the book. Following this Preface is an explanation of the referencing system used throughout the book. I would like to thank some of the many persons who, following Prof. Cheng’s crucial initial support, made this project possible. Without the backing of Kwan Kai Man, my Department Head in 2007–2008, the conference never would have materialized. The colleagues who joined me on the Organizing Committee (Jonathan, Leo, William, Kwok Kui, and Ellen) each made crucial contributions in shaping the Preface IX program as it developed over a period of more than a year; despite the conflict that arose, I will always cherish the collegial trust we six developed during those initial months of planning. For encouraging the Uni- versity to provide a substantial additional grant, shortly after the conference first became a Department event, and for continuing their support by appearing as honored guests at the Opening Ceremony, I thank HKBU’s Arts Faculty Dean, Chung Ling, and Vice President for Re- search and Institutional Development, Tsoi Ah Chung. Cheung Ping- ling helped design the poster and secured last minute sponsorship, in the hope that we would not need to utilize Department funds. Thanks also to Dean Chung for persuading the new Department Head to do the right thing by providing funds from a Departmnt account to cover most of the shortfall that remained after the conference. The list of students who assisted during the conference is too long to reproduce here, but a special thanks is due to the four who led teams of other students to look after virtually all the details of actually running the event itself: without the unflinching assistance of Bosco (Wu Wing Keung), Can- dies (Lo Kwan Yuk), Coey (Hui Ka Yu), and Ringo (Cheung Siu Ko), the conference could easily have descended into chaos. I also deeply appreciated the colleagues not on the Organizing Committee, and the numerous scholars from other institutions in Hong Kong, who assisted by chairing one or more of the conference’s 36 concurrent sessions. Ob- viously, the scholars who submitted papers, took the trouble to come all the way to Hong Kong for the conference, and especially those who re- submitted revised versions for this publication, deserve credit for actually making the conference so successful. But most of all, for the care and attention she paid to so many aspects of the planning, implementation, and aftermath of the conference (e.g., processing literally thousands of emails sent to the kantinasia gmail account), including this publication (e.g., helping to prepare the index), and for encouraging me to move forward with this long-standing dream even before Prof. Cheng did, my wife, Natalya (Lok Yuen Ching), deserves credit for the success of both the conference and its published proceedings. Together we ded- icate this book to our daughter, whose energetic disposition is a source of constant good cheer, engendering ever-renewed faith in the possibil- ity of the unity of personhood. Stephen R. Palmquist Hong Kong, 11 October 2010 Note on References References to Kant’s works are normally included in the main text, spec- ifying the volume and page numbers of the Berlin Academy Edition (or, in the case of Critique of Pure Reason, the standard A/B page numbering). English translations used are those of the Cambridge Edition of Kant’s works, unless otherwise noted. Some authors also use the following abbre- viations to refer to works named repeatedly: CPR: Critique of Pure Reason CPrR: Critique of Practical Reason CJ: Critique of Judgment GMM or Groundwork: Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals MM: Metaphysics of Morals RBR or Religion: Religion within the Bounds of Bare Reason The specific volumes of The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Immanuel Kant, general editors Paul Guyer and Allen W. Wood (Cambridge: Cam- bridge University Press), listed alphabetically by title, are as follows: Anthropology, History, and Education, ed.

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