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1. SEMINAR SERIES> Jay Garfield on "Buddhist Philosophy Through a Sellarsian Lens: Two Truths and the Critique of the Given" (April 2020, UC Berkeley)
2. LECTURE SERIES> “Celebrating Fifty Years of East Asian Art History at the University of Zurich”, Switzerland

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SEMINAR SERIES> Jay Garfield on "Buddhist Philosophy Through a Sellarsian Lens: Two Truths and the Critique of the Given" (April 2020, UC Berkeley)

by Robert H Sharf

2020 UC Berkeley Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Presidential Chair Seminar Series: “Buddhist Philosophy Through a Sellarsian Lens: Two Truths and the Critique of the Given”
Taught by Jay Garfield, Doris Silbert Professor in the Humanities, Smith College
This seminar series is free and open to the public, but registration is required. To register contact: buddhiststudies@berkeley.edu
Thinking through the relation between Buddhist philosophy and contemporary science requires us to ask about the relationship between the world of ordinary experience and the world as it is. Buddhist exegetes, scientists, and contemporary philosophers of science all have a lot to say about this, whether their answers are articulated in terms of the relation between conventional and ultimate truth, between appearance and reality, or between different conceptual schemes. It is also to ask about the structure of knowledge itself, and particularly about the nature of our knowledge of our own minds. Just how can we use minds that we do not understand to investigate and to come to a deeper understanding of those minds themselves? Is consciousness transparent or opaque? Few recent Western philosophers have addressed these questions with the depth and acuity of Wilfrid Sellars (1912-1989).
For this reason, his philosophical work, which has had enormous influence in Western analytic philosophy of mind, epistemology, and philosophy of science, has recently attracted the attention of Buddhist philosophers as well. Two of his essays have proven particularly influential among those interested in Buddhism: "Philosophy and the Scientific Image of Man," and "Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind." This seminar will consider what those essays can contribute to Buddhist engagements with science. We will read the essays themselves as well as reflections on them by a range of contemporary Buddhist philosophers.
The first two sessions (April 14 and 16) will be devoted to "Philosophy and the Scientific Image of Man." Our first session will focus on that essay, together with essays by Monima Chadha and Cat Prueitt, each of which asks about the degree to which Sellars' distinction between the "manifest" and the "scientific" images of the world map onto the distinction between conventional and ultimate truth in Buddhist philosophy. In our second session, we will read papers by Douglas Duckworth, Tom Tillemans, and Sheridan Hough. These essays explore the idea of stereoscopic vision that might unite the two images, and that might provide a template for the unity of the two truths.
The last two sessions (April 21 and 23) will be devoted to "Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind." (Start reading early!) In the first of these two meetings, we will work to get a clear sense of the structure and argument of this complex and rather beautiful essay. In the final session we will read essays by Dan Arnold, Keya Maitra, Sonam Kachru, and myself, each exploring different implications of this essay for the project of coming to know one's own mind.
Schedule: The four seminars will take place on April 14, 16, 21, and 23, from 5 pm to 7 pm, in 370 Dwinelle Hall. (Jay Garfield will also be giving a public talk, “Buddhist Contributions to Contemporary Moral Reflection: Selflessness and Moral Responsiveness,” on April 15, from 5 to 6:30 pm, in 370 Dwinelle.)
Readings

Garfield, Jay L., ed. 2018. Wilfrid Sellars and Buddhist Philosophy: Freedom from Foundations. Routledge.

Sellars, Wilfrid. 1963. “Philosophy and the Scientific Image of Man.”

DeVries, Willem A., Wilfrid Sellars, and Timm Triplett. 2000. Knowledge, Mind, and the Given: Reading Wilfrid Sellars’s "Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind,” Including the Complete Text of Sellars’s Essay. Hackett Publishing.

Reading Schedule (asterisks denote suggested, but not required, reading)

Session I:
"Philosophy and the Scientific Image of Man"
Garfield anthology: Introduction and chapters 2 and 3
Session II:
Garfield anthology: chapters 4, 5, and 6*
Session III:
“Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind” (reproduced, with commentary, in Knowledge, Mind, and the Given). Only the root text is required.
Session IV:
Garfield anthology chapters 7, 8, 9*, and 10

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LECTURE SERIES> “Celebrating Fifty Years of East Asian Art History at the University of Zurich”, Switzerland

by A. Charles Muller

[X-posted from H-Asia]

Discussion published by Sabine Bradel on Sunday, March 1, 2020

Dear members,

In 1970, Professor Helmut Brinker established the discipline of East Asian art history at the University of Zurich, thereby inaugurating half a century of East Asian art history in Switzerland, where we still are the only chair specializing in Chinese, Japanese and Korean art history.

During the fifty years, the Section for East Asian Art (KGOA) has worked with hundreds of students, dozens of doctoral students, as well as numerous museums to undertake surveys, exhibitions, and international symposia. The KGOA will celebrate its anniversary this year with numerous activities, including the lecture series “Celebrating Fifty Years of East Asian Art History at the University of Zurich” that features leading specialists presenting on key aspects of the discipline.

More information about the lecture series and additional anniversary events are available at our department’s website: https://www.khist.uzh.ch/de/chairs/ostasien/KGOA50.html

Program:

04 March 2020 (Wednesday), 18:15-19:45, RAA-G-15

Prof. Dr. Lukas Nickel (University of Vienna)

«Die frühesten Darstellungen des Buddha in China»

18 March 2020 (Wednesday), 18:15-19:45, RAA-G-15

Prof. Dr. Nataša Vampelj Suhadolnik, University of Ljubljana

«Cosmology in Han Grave Art»

08 April 2020 (Wednesday), 18:15-19:45, RAA-G-15

Em. Prof. Dr. Matthi Forrer

«A Critical Review of What They Call Ukiyoe»

22 April 2020 (Wednesday), 18:15-19:45, RAA-G-15

Prof. Dr. JP Park (University of Oxford)

«Rescuing Art History from the Nation: Late Chosŏn Korea between Europe and Edo Japan»

 06 May 2020 (Wednesday), 18:15-19:45, RAA-G-15

Prof. Dr. Beatrix Mecsi, Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), Budapest

TBA

14 May 2020 (Thursday), 15:00-16:00 KOL-G-201

H.I.H. Princess Akiko of Mikasa (Kyoto Sangyo University)

«The Art of Copying: Creating Reproductions for the West»

The program is supported by the Swiss-Japanese Society (SJG) and the Swiss Japanese Chamber of Commerce (SJCC).

The sessions are free and open to the public.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have questions on the program.

Best regards,

Sabine Bradel

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Sabine Bradel, M.A.

Academic assistant, PhD candidate

Postal adress: University of Zurich, Institute of Art History, Section for East Asian Art History

Rämistrasse 73, CH-8006 Zurich, Switzerland

Office address: Rämistrasse 59, CH-8006 Zurich, Switzerland

Phone: +41 (0)44 634 45 95 / Room: RAA G 05

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