“When we think about ancient Greek philosophy, Plato and Aristotle might come to mind at first. But in fact, there is a rich previous history and complex development in ancient Greek philosophy prior to these two giants of Western thought. Without a proper understanding of these earlier developments, it is very hard to understand the achievements and thoughts of later thinkers”, raises Dr David Bartosch.
On 30 and 31 March, the Whole Person Education Office (WPEO) hosted the third speaker of their “Building the Community of Common Destiny” Lecture Series. Special Foreign Expert at Beijing Foreign Studies University, Dr David Bartosch, gave two lectures during his visit, on ‘The Beginnings of Greek Philosophy’ and ‘Wang Yangming as a Universal Philosopher’.
Director of WPEO, Prof Guo Haipeng, introduced German philosopher, Dr Bartosch, who has studied many branches of traditional European philosophy and is also an expert on the thought of Wang Yangming as well as transcultural comparative philosophy of Eurasian civilizations.
On Friday, Dr Bartosch spoke to the students about Greek Philosophy. He detailed that “Philosophy is a reflection of cultural practices, a reflection of civilization, and it can start as implicit philosophy”. He then went into details about how the Greeks took this concept and made it their own.
For his talk on Saturday, Dr Bartosch’s talk focused on Wang Yangming, one of the most important philosophers and cultural heroes of Chinese history.
”Wang Yangming has reached the deepest core of understanding in philosophy, which is represented in his methodology of thinking and acting. These aspects in the philosophy of Wang Yangming are truly inspiring with regard to the discussion on Chinese Characteristics as well as in relation to the new intercultural and inter-civilizational contexts of the Belt-and-Road Initiative.”
Dr Bartosch’s talks certainly stimulated the UIC community, with many staff and students coming to hear him speak. He provided refreshing insight on philosophy within both an ancient Greek context, as well as within China.
Reporter/Photographer: Samantha Burns
Editors: Deen He, Samuel Burgess
