NEWSLETTER | The American Philosophical Association Asian and Asian-American Philosophers and Philosophies SPRING 2018 VOLUME 17 | NUMBER 2 FROM THE GUEST EDITOR Manyul Im Ways of Philosophy, Ways of Practice SUBMISSION GUIDELINES AND INFORMATION ARTICLES Bin Song “Three Sacrificial Rituals” (sanji) and the Practicability of Ruist (Confucian) Philosophy Steven Geisz Traditional Chinese Body Practice and Philosophical Activity Alexus McLeod East Asian Martial Arts as Philosophical Practice VOLUME 17 | NUMBER 2 SPRING 2018 © 2018 BY THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL ASSOCIATION ISSN 2155-9708 APA NEWSLETTER ON Asian and Asian-American Philosophers and Philosophies PRASANTA BANDYOPADHYAY AND JEELOO LIU, CO-EDITORS VOLUME 17 | NUMBER 2 | SPRING 2018 FROM THE GUEST EDITOR SUBMISSION GUIDELINES AND Ways of Philosophy, Ways of Practice INFORMATION Manyul Im GOAL OF THE NEWSLETTER ON ASIAN AND UNIVERSITY OF BRIDGEPORT ASIAN-AMERICAN PHILOSOPHERS For this issue of the newsletter, my goal was to enable The APA Newsletter on Asian and Asian-American wanderings in some lightly beaten paths of philosophical Philosophers and Philosophies is sponsored by the APA exploration, leading the reader through some unusual Committee on Asian and Asian-American Philosophers and foliage. The authors here were invited to submit pieces Philosophies to report on the philosophical work of Asian about “practices” of Asian philosophy and encouraged to and Asian-American philosophy, to report on new work in discuss social and physical activities that bear relevance to Asian philosophy, and to provide a forum for the discussion particular traditions of inquiry and that potentially provide of topics of importance to Asian and Asian-American ways of “thinking”—in a broad sense—that are disruptive philosophers and those engaged with Asian and Asian- of the usual ways of imagining philosophy. American philosophy. We encourage a diversity of views and topics within this broad rubric. None of the varied Philosophy as essentially cogitative is a difficult template philosophical views provided by authors of newsletter from which to break. In exploring ways that we might begin articles necessarily represents the views of any or all the to pull away from it, two of the authors, Bin Song and Steven members of the Committee on Asian and Asian-American Geisz, understand the difficulties of reimagining the range Philosophers and Philosophies, including the editor(s) of activities that might count as “doing philosophy.” They of the newsletter. The committee and the newsletter emphasize somewhat different contexts of activity from are committed to advancing Asian and Asian-American each other within which one might explore the possibilities. philosophical scholarships and bringing this work and this Song focuses on codified ritual activity from the Ruist community to the attention of the larger philosophical tradition, while Geisz discusses a range of slightly less community; we do not endorse any particular approach to codified—though still scripted—meditative, movement Asian or Asian-American philosophy. practices from a variety of East and South Asian traditions. SUBMISSION GUIDELINES The third author, Alexus McLeod, remains closer to a more 1) Purpose: The purpose of the newsletter is to publish mainstream concept of philosophical activity, though he information about the status of Asians and Asian discusses the importance of paying attention to people Americans and their philosophy and to make the and sources that do not fall within the academically resources of Asians and Asian-American philosophy philosophical but are expert practitioners or manuals, available to a larger philosophical community. The respectively, of martial arts. McLeod takes us through some newsletter presents discussions of recent developments path-clearing as well, by removing certain misconceptions in Asians and Asian-American philosophy (including, of what East Asian martial arts and their practices entail. He for example, both modern and classical East-Asian also takes us through some ways of thinking about how philosophy, both modern and classical South Asian practice of those arts may develop intellectual and moral philosophy, and Asians and Asian Americans doing virtues. philosophy in its various forms), related work in other disciplines, literature overviews, reviews of My hope is that these discussions will inspire and the discipline as a whole, timely book reviews, and encourage readers to explore further—both the written suggestions for both spreading and improving the resources compiled for them by the authors as well as some teaching of Asian philosophy in the current curriculum. of the activities themselves—in the context of their own It also informs the profession about the work of the APA philosophical activity and in classrooms where relevant. Committee on Asian and Asian-American Philosophers and Philosophies. One way the dissemination of knowledge of the relevant areas occurs is by holding highly visible, interactive sessions on Asian philosophy at the American Philosophical Association’s three APA NEWSLETTER | ASIAN AND ASIAN-AMERICAN PHILOSOPHERS AND PHILOSOPHIES annual divisional meetings. Potential authors should philosophy in the current American academy, which sees follow the submission guidelines below: philosophy mainly as the art of argumentation aiming for true knowledge,3 the Ru tradition does not fall short of it i) Please submit essays electronically to the editor(s). but actually exceeds it. The “not fall short” part has been Articles submitted to the newsletter should be brilliantly argued by scholars such as Eric Schwitzgebel. That limited to ten double-spaced pages and must is, even according to the restrictive standard of philosophy, follow the APA submission guidelines. “Mozi and Xunzi clearly fit the bill,”4 among whom Xunzi is a Ruist philosopher. However, the “exceeding” feature of ii) All manuscripts should be prepared for anonymous Ruism has not yet been fully addressed by the previous review. Each submission shall be sent to two arguments made for the aforementioned case, and this referees. Reports will be shared with authors. feature is mainly evidenced by Ruism’s commitment to References should follow The Chicago Manual Style. practice. For Ruism, knowledge and practice are like the yin and yang aspects of human personality. They interact iii) If the paper is accepted, each author is required to and complete each other, and ultimately form a unity that sign a copyright transfer form, available on the APA is indispensable to the healthy living of a whole human website, prior to publication. person in evolving life situations. This holistic treatment of the relationship between knowledge and practice 2) Book reviews and reviewers: If you have published a means Ruism’s philosophical teachings on metaphysics, book that you consider appropriate for review in the ethics, and politics are all ensconced with rich practical newsletter, please ask your publisher to send the dimensions. As its long intellectual history shows us, Ruism editor(s) a copy of your book. Each call for papers uses all kinds of practical methods, including individual may also include a list of books for possible review. spiritual formation, communal ritual performances, skills To volunteer to review books (or some specific book), for social and governmental management, etc., to enact kindly send the editor(s) a CV and letter of interest Ruist philosophy as a comprehensive way of life, rather mentioning your areas of research and teaching. than just a way of arguing. 3) Where to send papers/reviews: Please send all articles, For readers who want to confirm this feature of Ruism within comments, reviews, suggestions, books, and other its textual tradition, in the period of Song and Ming Ruism, communications to the editor: Prasanta Bandyopadhyay the “identification of knowledge and practice” (zhixingheyi) ([email protected]). was a central theme of Wang Yangming’s philosophy. Moreover, although Zhu Xi and Wang Yangming disagreed 4) Submission deadlines: Submissions for spring issues with each other in regard to the order of Ruist learning— are due by the preceding November 1, and submissions whether one should have knowledge at first and then for fall issues are due by the preceding February 1. practice it (Zhu), or one needs to treat the acquaintance of knowledge itself as a sort of practice (Wang)—they all 5) Guest editorship: It is possible that one or more agreed that practice is the ultimate goal of Ruist learning.5 members of the Committee on Asian and Asian American Philosophers and Philosophies could act as In pre-Qin classical Ruism, all three major Ruist guest editors for one of the issues of the newsletter philosophers—Confucius, Mencius, and Xunzi—expressed depending on their expertise in the field. To produce their shared approval of the intimate relationship between a high-quality newsletter, one of the co-editors could knowledge and practice. We can use examples from the even come from outside teh members of the committee Analects to illustrate this point. The Analects says that depending on his/her area of research interest. “there may be those who act without knowing why. I do not do so.”6 The implication is that human practice needs to be enlightened by awareness of the raison d’être of the practice. Furthermore, “imagine a person who can recite ARTICLES the several hundred odes by heart but, when delegated a governmental task, is unable to carry it out, or when sent “Three