Senior Philosophy Seminar: Dogen in dialogue with contemporary theorists, against arrogance of common sense

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Cursusdoel

After completing the course students are able to:

  • analyse and interpret Dogen’s (Japanese medieval philosopher, poet and Zen Buddhist monk) texts in multiple translations with the help of secondary sources;

  • recognize, articulate and adopt the distinctive philosophical argumentative methodology and bring it in dialogue with the methodology, frameworks and concepts of other disciplines, which provide insights in the 4 themes of the course;

  • write well-structured and well-argued texts, centered around a clear research question or thesis, paying attention to fundamental assumptions, definitions of words, different types of arguments and methodologies at work in the texts under discussion;

  • recognize and articulate —by means of concrete examples in the papers and discussions and explicit reflections through the course— the relevance of one's readings and writings to one’s life in the 21st century

Vakinhoudelijk

Intended for students with a specific interest in advanced research and an eye towards post-graduate studies in philosophy, the Senior Philosophy Seminar is designed to meet the needs of students who wish to reach a greater depth in philosophical studies. The Seminar relies on the expertise of a rotating variety of teachers at University College.

Topic for Spring 2023: Dogen in dialogue with contemporary theorists, against the arrogance of common sense

This course investigates the following concepts: embodied knowledge; decentering and situatedness; interdependence; continuous cultivation and presencing, in the writings of Japanese medieval philosopher, poet and Zen Buddhist monk Dogen, and of contemporary philosophers, anthropologists, linguists, and other theorists. These concepts are based on assumptions that differ from those that ground common-sensical behaviour, —even if such assumptions might not be explicitly accepted by those who act on them.

  1. Embodied knowledge. Against body-mind dualism (against the assumption that cultivation of body and mind happens in different places, e.g. gym vs university)

  2. Decentering and Situatedness. Against View from Nowhere assumption (against: we are at the center of the world; we can produce universal knowledge)

  3. Interdependence. Against discreteness assumption (against: Newtonian space and time correspond to reality: each of us is an individual is separate from the rest of the world; the now is separate from past and future. We as humans are radically other than other animals and inanimate objects)

  4. Continuous cultivation and presencing. Against finite knowledge acquisition and rule ethics (against: experts know how things are, can apply knowledge to predict, build, derive policies; once we know the rules, we can derive ethical behaviour).

Why is common sense problematic? Einstein referred to common sense as to a layer of prejudices learned by the age of 18. Dogen suggests investigating our common sense, cultural conventions, our language’s conceptualization —we might say, our intentional arc. Unexamined adherence to common sense makes us see new situations as copies of previous ones, induces automatic reactions and prevents us from continuously exerting ourselves to openly and creatively respond to new situations.

Format

Firstly, we will reflect on “intercultural dialogue” (Chakrabarti and Weber 2016) as our way of engaging in the ‘constructive dimension” of comparative philosophy (Connolly 2015); and we will familiarize with Dogen’s Zen Buddhism (Kasulis 1981. Zen action/Zen person). Then, for each of the 4 themes, we will bring Dogen’s primary texts in dialogue with the relevant contemporary theorists. Such dialogues will be prompted by students’ presentations, which will form the starting point for their papers.

Werkvormen

UCU hum 3 course

Toetsing

Paper 1

Verplicht | Weging 30% | ECTS 2,25

Paper 2

Verplicht | Weging 30% | ECTS 2,25

Discussions, presentations, reflections

Verplicht | Weging 40% | ECTS 3

*midterm FEEDBACK*

Niet verplicht

Ingangseisen en voorkennis

Voertalen

  • Engels

Cursusmomenten

Gerelateerde studies

Tentamens

Er is geen tentamenrooster beschikbaar voor deze cursus

Verplicht materiaal

Materiaal Omschrijving
BOEK Kasulis, T.P., 1981. Zen action/Zen person. University of Hawaii Press ISBN-9780824810238
BOEK Tanahashi, K. ed., 1985. Moon in a Dewdrop. Writings of Zen Master Dogen. Macmillan. ISBN: 9780865471863
READER Readings on Blackboard

Aanbevolen materiaal

Er is geen informatie over de aanbevolen literatuur bekend

Opmerkingen

Alternates with UCHUMPHI33 and UCHUMPHI35 Topic changes every time

Coördinator

dr. C. Robbiano c.robbiano@uu.nl

Docenten

dr. C. Robbiano c.robbiano@uu.nl

Inschrijving

Let op: deze cursus is niet toegankelijk voor studenten van andere faculteiten, bijvakkers mogen zich dus niet inschrijven.

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