CUHK Philosophy Department

[Venue Update | CUHK-ZJU Distinguished Humanities Dialogues]

Topics: Being One Body with All Things: A Confucian Worldview

Speaker: Prof. Peng Guoxiang (Professor, Zhejiang University; Visiting Professor, Department of Philosophy, CUHK)

Discussant: Prof. Cheng Chung-yi (Professor, Department of Philosophy)

Date: 27 Apr 2026 (Mon)

Time: 4:30pm-6:30pm HK Time

Venue: LT1, Institute of Chinese Studies (Opposite to the University Library)

Face-to-face Only
Registration Link: https://cloud.itsc.cuhk.edu.hk/webform/view.php?id=13731037

Enquiries:
Tel: 3943 7135
Email: [email protected]

Abstract:
This talk begins with a brief genealogy of the idea of “being one body with all things” within the Confucian tradition, highlighting several key representatives from different periods and their expressions of this concept. It then focuses on the interpretation offered by Wang Yangming, the Ming-dynasty Confucian philosopher who provides the most thorough exposition of this worldview. Finally, the talk reveals the distinctive characteristics of the Confucian understanding of “being one body with all things” through a comparative analysis with Daoist thought, particularly Zhuangzi’s concept of “equalizing all things” (qiwu), and briefly suggests two ways in which this Confucian notion remains significant in contemporary contexts.

Delivered in English.
All are welcome.

[CUHK-ZJU Distinguished Humanities Dialogues]

Topics: Being One Body with All Things: A Confucian Worldview

Speaker: Prof. Peng Guoxiang (Professor, Zhejiang University; Visiting Professor, Department of Philosophy, CUHK)

Discussant: Prof. Cheng Chung-yi (Professor, Department of Philosophy)

Date: 27 Apr 2026 (Mon)

Time: 4:30pm-6:30pm HK Time

Venue: Lecture Theatre 4, Lee Shau Kee Building

Face-to-face Only
Registration Link: https://cloud.itsc.cuhk.edu.hk/webform/view.php?id=13731037

Enquiries:
Tel: 3943 7135
Email: [email protected]

Abstract:
This talk begins with a brief genealogy of the idea of “being one body with all things” within the Confucian tradition, highlighting several key representatives from different periods and their expressions of this concept. It then focuses on the interpretation offered by Wang Yangming, the Ming-dynasty Confucian philosopher who provides the most thorough exposition of this worldview. Finally, the talk reveals the distinctive characteristics of the Confucian understanding of “being one body with all things” through a comparative analysis with Daoist thought, particularly Zhuangzi’s concept of “equalizing all things” (qiwu), and briefly suggests two ways in which this Confucian notion remains significant in contemporary contexts.

Delivered in English.
All are welcome.

[Venue Updated | Departmental Seminar]
Please note that the venue for today’s Departmental Seminar by Prof. Allinson has been changed to Room 215, Cheng Yu Tung Building.

Topics: Non-Relativism in the Zhuangzi: A Spiritual Journey
Speaker: Prof. Robert Allinson (Professor, Soka University of America)

Date: 13 Apr 2026 (Mon)
Time: 4:30pm-6:30pm HK Time
Venue: Room 215, Cheng Yu Tung Building

[Seminar organized by The Research Centre for Chinese Philosophy and Culture]

Topics: How Metaphor Functions in the Zhuangzi: The Case of the Unlikely Messenger

Speaker: Prof. Robert Elliott Allinson (Professor, Soka University of America)

Date: 17 Apr 2026 (Fri)

Time: 4:30pm-6:30pm HK Time

Venue: Room 101, 1/F., Fung King Hey Building (Limited seats. Registrations will be handled on a first come, first served basis.)

Face-to-face Only
Register by 15 Apr 2026
Link: https://cloud.itsc.cuhk.edu.hk/webform/view.php?id=13730939

Enquiries:
Tel: 3943 7149
Email: [email protected]

Abstract:
What I would like to argue is that Zhuangzi utilizes literary devices in his writings for cognitive purposes. There are two major external purposes, which we can label, level 1 and level 2. Level 1 is to break down traditional valuation in order to free the mind; Level 2, once the mind is free, to point to a higher, spiritual freedom that is the main goal of the Zhuangzi. To accomplish this, the literary devices contain an unlikely messenger and a message. The unlikely messenger functions to break down traditional or habitual ways of thinking and the message points to the higher freedom that is sought. The unlikely messenger functions as a metaphorical device that possesses a cognitive function. The unlikely messenger awakens the child-like imaginative dimension of the mind and in so doing, re-engages that cognitive sphere. That sphere is the mind in its pre-adult, pre-conceptual modality. The pre-adult, pre-conceptual modality of the child’s mind does battle with the residue of adult, conventional values that have been assimilated in the course of its adult incarnation. The child’s mind wages war on two flanks. While it rejects the conventional values of its adult past and present, at the same time it opens itself to the message itself which is a message of freedom for the adult that can only be appropriated after it has vanquished its residue of adult, conventional values in an internal struggle. This struggle among three generates the state of freedom in an existential and not merely intellectual form for the reader of the text. It is not enough to say, as many writers do, that Zhuangzi makes use of metaphorical communication. The question is, how is it possible that metaphorical communication can be cognitive?

Delivered in English.
All are welcome.

[Departmental Seminar]

Topics: Non-Relativism in the Zhuangzi: A Spiritual Journey

Speaker: Prof. Robert Allinson (Professor, Soka University of America)

Date: 13 Apr 2026 (Mon)

Time: 4:30pm-6:30pm HK Time

Venue: Room 215, Cheng Yu Tung Building

【哲學系師生聚會】

感謝各位出席中大哲學系3月30日師生午餐聚會！Hayden和 Ru (Hayden Kee and Ru Ye) 兩位老師坦誠分享，討論心理健康與應付壓力的方法，令在場的聽眾獲益不小！Franz (Franz Mang) 答應會儘量替哲學系每個學期舉行一次聚會，協助同學們和老師們的聯誼和交流。下次見！👋

Thanks everyone for showing up to the CUHK Philosophy Dept luncheon on March 30! Hayden and Ru kept it real, sharing their thoughts on mental health and how to handle stress—surely everyone walked away with something useful! Franz said he’ll try to set up one of these get-togethers each semester to help students and teachers mix and mingle. See you again later! 👋

#中大哲學 #哲學 #中大

「現象學與尼采」學術研討會

日期：2026年4月10至11日（星期五至六）

時間：9:30 – 18:30（香港時間）

地點：馮景禧樓220室

登記（截止日期：4月9日）：
https://cloud.itsc.cuhk.edu.hk/webform/view.php?id=13729481

講者
吳增定 北京大學
王宏健 浙江大學
石磊 浙江大學
吳俊業 國立清華大學
李水杉 香港中文大學
尚靜 同濟大學
苑芳周 同濟大學
張振華 同濟大學
梁家榮 香港中文大學
郭成 南京師範大學
黃國鉅 香港浸會大學
黃晶 中山大學
楊婉儀 國立中山大學
楊德立 香港中文大學
趙千帆 同濟大學

議程�https://www.phil.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/~phidept/conferences/2026Phenomenology&Nietzsche/rundown.pdf

普通話主講 歡迎參加

香港中文大學哲學系鄭承隆基金亞洲現象學中心主辦
香港中文大學文學院贊助

查詢
電話：+852 3943 8524
電郵：[email protected]
網站：https://www.phil.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/~rih/phs/en/

[Departmental Seminar]

Topics: Hegel’s Idealism

Speaker: Prof. Gaetano Chiurazzi (Professor, University of Turin)

Date: 27 Mar 2026 (Fri)

Time: 4:30pm-6:30pm HK Time

Venue: Room 101, Fung King Hey Building (Limited seats. Registrations will be handled on a first come, first served basis.)

Face-to-face Only
Register by 26 Mar 2026
Link: https://cloud.itsc.cuhk.edu.hk/webform/view.php?id=13729860

Enquiries:
Tel: 3943 7135
Email: [email protected]

Abstract:
For Hegel, idealism is not so much the belief in a supersensible world (as it is for Plato or Kant), nor the denial of the existence of matter, but rather the idea that nothing can be assumed as a self-subsistent and definitive reality; that is, as he writes in the Science of Logic, the recognition that the finite is not. Yet the non-being of the finite does not mean for Hegel that the infinite is something static and immobile, as in the case of the Platonic Idea. On the contrary, it means that the infinite—and consequently the ideal—is essentially becoming, transformation, that is, a transition into another. From this there also emerges an important difference between the way Kant and Hegel conceive the Idea, as a normative or emancipatory element of the real.

Delivered in English.
All are welcome.

[Postgraduate Workshop on Phenomenology]

Topics: Contemporary reading of Phenomenology: A Dialogue between the CUHK and the Husserl Archives (Köln & Leuven)

Date: 1 & 2 April 2026 (Wenesday & Thursday)

Time: 9:00 a.m.

Location: Room 220, Fung King Hey Building, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (In-person)

Keynote speakers:
Prof. Saulius Geniusas (CUHK)
Prof. Ka-Wing Leung (CUHK)

Rundown:https://www.phil.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/~phidept/conferences/2026Contemporaryreading/rundown.pdf

Register by 31 Mar 2026: https://forms.gle/EeeSCPGyMKQJysfe7

Enquires:
Ching Lam Janice LAW (CUHK): [email protected]
Julian LÜNSER (University of Cologne): [email protected]

Organized by
The Department of Philosophy, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
The Edwin Cheng Foundation Asian Centre for Phenomenology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Presentations and discussions will be in English
Attendance is free and open to all

唐端正教授追思會

新亞書院前成員、新亞研究所榮譽教授、香港中文大學哲學系榮休高級講師唐端正先生，於二○二六年二月二十五日與世長辭，享年九十六歲。唐教授為新亞書院哲學系首屆畢業生，師承唐君毅、錢穆兩位先生，執教中大杏壇三十載，德業雙修，教澤深長，各界同仁深表哀悼。

為緬懷唐教授一生之貢獻與師表風範，謹定於二○二六年三月二十八日舉行「唐端正教授追思會」，詳情如下：

日期： 二○二六年三月二十八日 (星期六)
時間： 下午三時正
地點： 香港中文大學新亞書院梅雲堂

由於場地空間有限，敬請有意參加追思會者，於 三月二十三日或以前填寫《唐端正教授追思會》報名表格 (https://cloud.itsc.cuhk.edu.hk/webform/view.php?id=13729582)，以便安排座位。追思會不設劃位，敬請提前十分鐘到達會場。

此外，唐教授告別儀式定於三月十七日（星期二）下午五時假寶福紀念館設靈，謹代家屬公告，供親友及門生參考。

如有查詢，請致電新亞書院林穎欣女士（3943-7635）。

追思會懇辭花籃，敬希垂注。

香港中文大學新亞書院
香港中文大學哲學系
新亞研究所
法住機構

敬啓

香港中文大學哲學系訃告：唐端正先生
本系榮休高級講師唐端正先生於二零二六年二月二十五日辭世，享年九十六歲。本系同仁深表哀悼，並向唐先生家屬致以深切慰問。

唐先生一九五三年畢業於新亞書院哲學教育系，隨後於新亞研究所哲學組取得碩士學位，師承唐君毅、錢穆兩先生，自一九六七年起於本系擔任副講師，後升等至高級講師，至一九九四年榮休。唐先生精研儒學，著有《解讀儒家現代價值》、《解讀孔子與儒家》、《先秦諸子論叢》、《先秦諸子論叢續編》、《唐君毅年譜》、《唐君毅傳略》、《雪泥鴻爪》等。

唐先生服務本系多年，同仁銘感於心，永誌不忘。

香港中文大學哲學系 敬啟
二零二六年二月二十六日

Obituary: Mr. Tong Duen-ching
Our department’s retired Senior Lecturer, Mr. Tong Duen-ching, passed away on 25 February 2026 at the age of 96. All colleagues of the Department express our deepest condolences and extend our heartfelt sympathy to Mr. Tong’s family.

Mr. Tong graduated from the Department of Philosophy and Education of New Asia College in 1953 and subsequently obtained his master’s degree in the Philosophy Division of the New Asia Institute of Advanced Chinese Studies, studying under Prof. Tang Chun-I and Prof. Ch’ien Mu. He joined our Department as an Assistant Lecturer in 1967, was promoted to Senior Lecturer, and retired in 1994.

Mr. Tong was a devoted scholar of Confucianism and authored works (in Chinese) including Interpreting the Modern Value of Confucianism, Interpreting Confucius and Confucianism, Essays on Pre-Qin Philosophers, The Sequel to Essays on Pre-Qin Philosophers, Chronology of Tang Chun-I, A Brief Biography of Tang Chun-I, and Traces in the Snow.

Mr. Tong served our department for many years; colleagues remember him with deep gratitude and will always cherish his legacy.

Department of Philosophy,
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
26 February 2026

[Departmental Seminar]

Topics: Metaphysical Explanations in Ordinary Life

Speaker: Prof. Yang Xiao (Professor, Kenyon College; Visiting Professor, East China Normal University)

Date: 2 Mar 2026 (Mon)

Time: 4:30pm-6:30pm HK Time

Venue: Room 220, Fung King Hey Building (Limited seats. Registrations will be handled on a first come, first served basis.)

Face-to-face Only
Register by 1 Mar 2026
Link: https://cloud.itsc.cuhk.edu.hk/webform/view.php?id=13728144

Enquiries:
Tel: 3943 7135
Email: [email protected]

Abstract:
What I shall do in this talk is to try to make sense of the most astonishing phenomenon of today’s young people’s enthusiastic embrace of Xuanxue 玄學 in the sense of “esotericism 神秘學”. Recently I have met so many young people in mainland China (almost all of them are college-educated), who have been passionately engaging in the practice and theory of 祈福 (visiting temples of any kinds and pray for happiness, success in exam, job, health, wealth, love, marriage – almost all aspects of life), 星象學 (Western astrology), 命理學 (Chinese numerology), 算命 (all forms of fortune-telling, from 八字, to 易經, or Tarot 塔羅), and many other types of popular new age philosophies and religions. They have successfully changed the meaning of the modern Chinese term, Xuanxue 玄學, which used to mean a branch of philosophy, also known as 形而上學 or metaphysics (in its narrow sense). In this lecture, we will use the term Xuanxue 玄學 in this new sense of esotericism, and we use “metaphysics” in its broad sense so that it includes Xuanxue (one can find such a use of the term in Barnes & Noble bookstores). I will use “Yuanxue 元學” to mean a type of metaphysics that is different from Xuanxue 玄學. This is our reality today: although science has won in the academia (wo do not teach esotericism in our schools), Xuanxue has triumphed outside the academia. We now live in the golden age of Xuanxue. If one agrees with certain stereotype of Hong Kong, one may even want to say that this is the Hong Kong-lization of mainland China.

In this talk, making creative use of concepts and ideas from thinkers such as Jin Yuelin 金岳霖, Montaigne, Wittgenstein, and examples from history of sciences, “scientific explanation” studies, anthropology, popular culture, and ordinary life, I shall try to answer the following two sets of questions:
1. Why people will always be practicing metaphysics in their everyday life even when they also believe in science? Why a certain type of metaphysical “explanations” (which we shall call “Yuanxue 元學”) is actually a manifestation of ordinary Chinese people’s “ethical wisdom”? Under what conditions might Xuanxue 玄學 become Yuanxue 元學?
2. Why considerations in metaphysics and philosophy of science will not be enough for a critique of Xuanxue? Why the ultimate ground of such a critique will have to be both “ethical” and “metaphysical”?

Delivered in English.
All are welcome.