Wm. Theodore de Bary Confucian Tradition and Global Education

Annotation

Professor de Bary argues in these three lectures that China's Confucian tradition is still relevant in the democratic and pluralistic world order of today. First, Confucian tradition values free discourse and the pursuit of knowledge. Second, He goes into "further details of the content and method by which the Chinese classics can be restored to a place in a modern humanities curriculum" relevant to a global horizon. Third, de Bary envisions a global curriculum of "great books" through translation. Throughout these lectures, one can see de Bary's passion as a humanist and an educator and one who has had tremendous experience in conceiving and editing the Introduction to Oriental Civilizations Series, which have had so much impact upon the teachings of Asia in America's colleges. Two additional chapters by Professors Tze-wan Kwan and Cheung Chan-fai on the issues of Tang Chun-I's concept of general education and language media in education respectively are added.