Postgraduate "Work In Progress" Seminar
Postgraduate Work-In-Progress SeminarA weekly seminar for Philosophy postgraduates to present their in-progress work, followed by a well-spirited trip to the pub. OverviewThe WIP provides a risk-free and supportive space for postgraduates to present their work and receive feedback from other graduates and faculty.
Attendance optional but highly recommended. All postgraduates are welcome to present or attend -- whether MA, MPhil, PhD, Visitors, etc. Useful InfoThe WIP is a unique opportunity for graduates to develop their presenting and writing skills, take risks, test out ideas, and receive constructive feedback from peers.
Presentations need not be watertight or polished pieces at all. You are encouraged to present work at all stages of the writing process. "Should I present?"1. If you are a postgraduate, then you should present. 2. You are a postgraduate. 3. Therefore, you should present. |
NEXT TALKOscar Jenkinson (MA) Kant/Hegel Wednesday 01/07/2026 5pm - 6:15pm S0.08 ORGANISERS |
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CANCELLED: Department of Philosophy Colloquium
Speaker: (Oxford)
Talk: The Dialectics Rule: Chinese Philosophy As Seen From *M矛ng x霉n
Abstract: This paper looks at the way a philosophical argument is developed in a recently obtained, fourth century manuscript text from the Tsinghua collection of Ch菙 Warring States texts, titled *M矛ng x霉n. The text has a close counterpart in the received tradition (Y矛 Zh艒ush奴), which classes it as an utterance in the tradition of Sh奴 (Documents), one of the core classics. I analyse the strategies with which meaning is produced in *M矛ng x霉n and suggest that the text is articulated in a dialectic manner in which the philosophical premise seeks to test itself continuously to avoid becoming doctrine, and thus philosophically void. My choice of a Sh奴 text as an example of philosophically relevant meaning construction in early China challenges current methodology, which anachronistically considers 锄菒-type literature (the Masters) as a disciplinary equivalent to Philosophy in ancient Greece. I argue that since philosophically relevant activities are a non-disciplinary praxis in early China, the articulations of this praxis are also not genre specific but found across the foundational literary texts of China.