Modern and Contemporary East Asian Thought
Code: 101536 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2500244 East Asian Studies | OB | 3 | 1 |
Contact
- Name:
- Gustavo Pita Céspedes
- Email:
- gustavo.pita@uab.cat
Use of Languages
- Principal working language:
- spanish (spa)
- Some groups entirely in English:
- No
- Some groups entirely in Catalan:
- No
- Some groups entirely in Spanish:
- Yes
Teachers
- Manuel Pavon Belizon
Prerequisites
To take this subject, students should have obtained all their first and second-year credits and, in particular, have taken subject 101537 Classical East Asian thought. They must be able to read and understand academic texts in English to carry out reading assignments.
Objectives and Contextualisation
The objective of this subject is to present various aspects crucial to understanding modernity and philosophical contemporaneity in China and Japan. It involves studying and questioning, in a progressive and correlative way throughout the semester, the main discourse frameworks that constitute the two countries’ modern and contemporary philosophical movements. To that end, the subject aims to provide students with the necessary knowledge about the specific context (historical, political, cultural) of authors, texts and schools of thought. It seeks to enable students to identify the authors, texts and schools of thought of China and Japan and to situate them in their individual and global context. Therefore, we will work on the dialogue between philosophical texts, specific positions of schools of thought and thinkers, problems within a particular context, specific central themes, philosophical questions, etc.
Competences
- Developing critical thinking and reasoning and communicating them effectively both in your own and other languages.
- Developing self-learning strategies.
- Ensuring the quality of one's own work.
- Following the characteristic code of ethics of the professional practice.
- Having interpersonal skills.
- Knowing and comprehending the classical, modern and late modern thinking of East Asia.
- Knowing the great literary, philosophical, and artistic movements of East Asia.
- Knowing, comprehending, describing and analysing the values, beliefs and ideologies of East Asia.
- Knowing, understanding, describing, analysing, and assessing the history, thought and literature of East Asia.
- Producing innovative and competitive proposals in research and professional activity.
- Respecting the diversity and plurality of ideas, people and situations.
- Respecting the gender equality.
- Solving conflict situations.
- Solving problems of intercultural communication.
- Students must be flexible and capable of adapting to new circumstances.
- Working in interdisciplinary and intercultural groups.
- Working in teams in an international, multilingual and multicultural context.
Learning Outcomes
- Developing critical thinking and reasoning and communicating them effectively both in your own and other languages.
- Developing self-learning strategies.
- Ensuring the quality of one's own work.
- Following the characteristic code of ethics of the professional practice.
- Having interpersonal skills.
- Knowing and comprehending the classical, modern and late modern thinking of East Asia.
- Knowing the great literary, philosophical, and artistic movements of East Asia.
- Knowing, comprehending, describing and analysing the values, beliefs and ideologies of East Asia.
- Knowing, understanding, describing, analysing, and assessing the history, thought and literature of East Asia.
- Producing innovative and competitive proposals in research and professional activity.
- Respecting the diversity and plurality of ideas, people and situations.
- Respecting the gender equality.
- Solving conflict situations.
- Solving problems of intercultural communication.
- Students must be flexible and capable of adapting to new circumstances.
- Working in interdisciplinary and intercultural groups.
- Working in teams in an international, multilingual and multicultural context.
Content
Module - Modern and contemporary Japanese thought
Japanese thought from the Edo period to the Meiji period (1603-1868).
Japanese thought from the Meiji period to the Pacific War (1868-1945).
Japanese thought from the postwar period to the present.
Module - Modern and contemporary Chinese thought
Sources of ‘modern’ thought in China.
Chinese thought in the context of late imperial reforms.
Revolutionary ideas: from the Republic to the Maoist period.
Currents of thought in today’s China (1980-present).
Methodology
This subject combines lectures with the individual work and active participation of the students. The subject’s essential content will be covered in lectures and complemented by reading assignments. Students will be encouraged to use the Moodle classroom as a common space for exchanging information related to the course (information, debates, materials, complementary resources, etc.).
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Activities
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Lectures | 49.5 | 1.98 | 4, 7, 6, 8, 9, 1, 10, 14, 11, 12, 15, 17, 16, 3 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Individual work, guided reading assignments and tutorials | 5 | 0.2 | 4, 7, 6, 8, 9, 2, 1, 10, 14, 13, 11, 12, 15, 5, 17, 16, 3 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Reading assignments and preparation of academic work | 52.5 | 2.1 | 4, 7, 6, 8, 9, 2, 1, 10, 15, 3 |
Assessment
Assessment is continuous. Students must provide evidence of their progress by completing tasks and tests. Task deadlines will be indicated in the course schedule on the first day of class. All activity deadlines are indicated in the subject's schedule and must be strictly adhered to.
Students will have to carry out the following assessment activities:
Activity 1: Final written exam Module China (30% of the subject's final mark)
Activity 2: Final written exam Module Japan (30% of the subject’s final mark)
Activity 3: Essay - philosophical paper (40% of the subject’s final mark)
Related matters
The above information on assessment, assessment activities and their weighting is merely a guide. The subject's lecturer will provide full information when teaching begins.
Review
When publishing final marks prior to recording them on students' transcripts, the lecturer will provide written notification of a date and time for reviewing assessment activities. Students must arrange reviews in agreement with the lecturer.
Missed/failed assessment activities
Students may retake assessment activities they have failed or compensate for any they have missed, provided that those they have actually performed account for a minimum of 66.6% (two thirds) of the subject's final mark and that they have a weighted average mark of at least 3.5. Under no circumstances may an assessment activity worth 100% of the final mark be retaken or compensated for.
The lecturer will inform students of the procedure involved, in writing, when publishing final marks prior to recording them on transcripts. The lecturer may set one assignment per failed or missed assessment activity or a single assignment to cover a number of such activities.
Classification as "not assessable"
In the event of the assessment activities a student has performed accountingfor just 25% or less of the subject's final mark, their work will be classified as "not assessable" on their transcript.
Misconduct in assessment activities
Students who engage in misconduct (plagiarism, copying, personation, etc.) in an assessment activity will receive a mark of “0” for the activity in question. In the case of misconduct in more than one assessment activity, the students involved will be given a final mark of “0” for the subject.
Students may not retake assessment activities in which they are found to have engaged in misconduct. Plagiarism is considered to mean presenting all or part of an author's work, whether published in print or in digital format, as one's own, i.e. without citing it. Copying is considered to mean reproducing all or a substantial part of another student's work. In cases of copying in which it is impossible to determine which of two students has copied the work of the other, both will be penalised.
More information: http://www.uab.cat/web/study-abroad/undergraduate/academic-information/evaluation/what-is-it-about-1345670077352.html
Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essay - philosophical paper | 40% | 39 | 1.56 | 4, 7, 6, 8, 9, 2, 1, 10, 14, 13, 11, 12, 15, 5, 17, 16, 3 |
| Final written exam Module China | 30% | 2 | 0.08 | 4, 7, 6, 8, 9, 2, 1, 10, 14, 11, 12, 15, 3 |
| Final written exam Module Japan | 30% | 2 | 0.08 | 4, 7, 6, 8, 9, 2, 1, 10, 14, 11, 12, 15, 3 |
Bibliography
Basic bibliography: Modern and contemporary Japanese thought
González Valles, Jesús, Historia de la filosofía japonesa; Madrid: Tecnos, 2002.
Heisig, James W., Kasulis, Thomas P., Maraldo, John C., Bouso García, Raquel (Eds.), La filosofía japonesa en sus textos; Barcelona: Herder Editorial, 2016.
Taguchi, Shigeru, Altobrando, Andrea (Eds.), Tetsugaku Companion to Phenomenology and Japanese Philosophy, Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2019.
Online: https://link-springer-com.are.uab.cat/book/10.1007/978-3-030-21942-0#about
Basic bibliography: Modern and contemporary Chinese thought
Cheng, Anne, Historia del pensamiento chino; Barcelona: Edicions Bellaterra, 2006.
Cheng, Chung-Ying, Bunnin, Nicholas (Eds.), Contemporary Chinese Philosophy; Oxford: Blackwell, John Wiley & Sons, 2002.
Online: https://onlinelibrary-wiley-com.are.uab.cat/doi/book/10.1002/9780470753491
Feng Youlan, Selected philosophical writings; Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1991.
Xinzhong Yao, El confucianismo; Madrid: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
Software
The course does not require any particular software. Students will only need the kind of apps necessary to conduct common academic tasks.