The Moscow Annual International Conference: “Asian Philosophies: History, Methodology, Intercultural Approach”

The Moscow Annual International Conference:

“Asian Philosophies: History, Methodology, Intercultural Approach”

(Host Institution: Department of Eastern Philosophies, Institute of Philosophy, Russian Academy of Sciences)

October 24-26, 2023

Announcement

The Department of Eastern Philosophies of the Institute of Philosophy (Russian Academy of Sciences) invites you to take part in an inaugural International Academic and Practical Conference “Asian Philosophies: History, Methodology, Intercultural Approach” (October 24-26, 2023). The conference is designed in the first place for philosophers, as well as experts in various cultural traditions and religions of Asia (Indologists, Buddhologists, Sinologists, specialists in Asian country and area studies), who in their research reach the level of philosophical reflection: problematization, conceptualization, identification and theoretical understanding of categorical structures of the studied tradition, comparison of different intellectual and discursive practices of Asian cultures.

The preliminary topics of papers are:

1. Historical and philosophical study of specific texts, persons, systems, concepts and problems in both “direct” and comparative perspectives;
2. Methodology of research into Asian philosophical traditions, their understanding (textual exegesis, hermeneutics), translation, introduction to academic discourse and teaching;
3. Fundamental questions about the genesis of philosophy (“where did philosophy begin?”), the necessary “minimum” for it to be considered “philosophy”, its ethos and goals (e.g., the role of soteriology) as well as the specificity of philosophical texts in various Asian traditions in comparison with the Western ones;
4. Intercultural approach and the relevance of Asian philosophical traditions in contemporary context, attempts to engage them in today’s Western philosophical debates or even construct a contemporary philosophical discourse on their basis.

The Conference will be held in a hybrid format (offline and online) at the Institute of Philosophy, Russian Academy of Sciences, auditorium 313 (Moscow, Goncharnaya st., 12, building 1).

Working languages: Russian and English. Abstracts (300-600 words, Word format) should be sent at asian.philosophies@yandex.ru

The Organizing Committee will select abstracts according to their relevance to the Conference theme.

Submission deadline: September 15, 2023.

An Outline

The Conference pursues two main goals: first, to uncover some basic patterns (either methodological, historical or praxiological) of Asian philosophies, religions and cultures by singling out their differences from the Western ones; second, to enhance interest of contemporary scholars of Asian studies all over the world in perennial philosophical problems.

In order to reach these goals, the emphasis will be laid on the most controversial historico-philosophical issues both in Russian and international Asian studies, as well as methodological foundations of viewing a certain system of thought or a practice qua philosophical. The Conference will also tackle the methodological problems of understanding, studying, translating and teaching Asian philosophies.

Of special importance for us will be to explore the scope of applicability of intercultural philosophical approach and heuristic potency of Asian intellectual traditions, including their capacity to launch new forms of philosophizing. For example of such approach is the discussion of embodied and enactive mind in contemporary Western philosophy of consciousness inspired not only by Western phenomenology, but also by Buddhist philosophy of “non-Self”, and meditational practices. Another example is contemporary Russian sinological school of ‘structural analysis,’ which uses the eponymous method both to study Chinese classics and to learn from it. This school became paradigmatic in Russian sinology and has gone far beyond the scope of a mere history of philosophy. Yet another example is the school of ‘Boston Confucians,’ which seeks to explore different applications of Confucianism in the age of globalization in ethics, eco-philosophy, theology etc., and which can be seen as a proof of Confucianism's ability to be not only studied, but also practiced by Westerners.

The organizers of the Conference assume that the topic of philosophical discussions should not be limited to some well-known classical systems of Asian thought, such as darśana-s in India, zǐ (‘masters’) and jiā (‘schools’) in China or gakuha (‘schools’) in Japan, but should also include various aspects of religion, ritual, social practices, politics, literature, art, theatre etc. This approach will allow us to consider different rationalizations of religious and cultural practices in Asian traditions as containing important implicit philosophical contents to explore.

Therefore our Conference is addressed not only to philosophers, but also to those scholars whose academic activities lie within the fields of religious and cultural studies, linguistics, literary studies, textual studies, anthropology, history of ideas, art, theater, art criticism,  etc., and who in their personal intellectual and existential quests go beyond the boundaries of their academic disciplines towards a philosophical inquiry pursuing a wider and deeper conceptual grasp of the subject.

Organizing committee:

Dr. Liubov Karelova (Japanese studies).

Dr. Stanislav Rykov (Chinese studies).

Dr. Oleg Kocherov (Chinese studies).

Dr. Leo Titlin (Buddhist studies).

Dr. Vlada Belimova (Intercultural philosophy).

International member: Prof. Pradeep Gokhale (Indian philosophy and Buddhism, Pune University, India).

Chairperson: Prof. Victoria Lysenko, D.Sc. in Philosophy, Head of Department of Eastern Philosophies, Institute of Philosophy, Russian Academy of Sciences