ASIAN 40

Main Course

Foundations of East Asia: Philosophical and Literary Traditions

Description

Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Orientation of foundational philosophical and literary texts in the classical Chinese or Sinitic/East Asian tradition. Shared by modern China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam, these texts provide the rhetorical, intellectual, and ethical framework for premodern cultural tradition; and also serve as political, aesthetic, and moral anchors for contemporary media, art, and social discourse. Reading of classical texts from the pre-Qin Chinese received tradition (Confucianism, Daoism, Legalism). Exploration of the religious canon of Mahayana Buddhism. Engagement with classical literary works representing Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese traditions. Students relate the philosophical and literary works to their own lived experiences. P/NP or letter grading.