Week 14 — Philosophy Beyond Europe

Why this matters

A nursing student learning from colleagues and a family member helping care for a grandparent both live this week's question: what do other traditions say about goodness, action, and the self?

In plain language

This week you meet four traditions of philosophy from beyond Europe: Confucian, Daoist, Buddhist, and ubuntu philosophy. Each one asks questions this course has already asked, about how to be good, how to act, what a self is, and how to live with other people, and each gives its own argued answers. You will learn a handful of key ideas, such as ren (humaneness, goodness toward others) and wu wei (effortless, non-forcing action), and test each one against its strongest objection. Then you will compare the traditions with each other and with European views. Comparing is not ranking: no tradition here is treated as better, worse, stranger, or less philosophical than any other.

• Already covered: Week 7 met no-self and the chariot; Weeks 12 and 13 met Kant, Aristotle, and the social contract.
• This week: Confucian, Daoist, Buddhist, and ubuntu ideas, the chariot, and a comparison.
• How they connect: each tradition answers a question the course has asked.
• Where we're going next: Week 15 asks whether a life can be meaningful.

Focus

What do Confucian, Daoist, Buddhist, and ubuntu philosophy add to the questions the course has asked?

By the end of this module, you should be able to:

• [ ] sort Dataset I's 12 concepts by tradition
• [ ] explain why wu wei is not doing nothing
• [ ] say what no-self denies, using the chariot
• [ ] compare two views without ranking either

To-do

Plan your week

1. Read Chapter 14 (~45–55 minutes), then the lecture and slides.
2. Work the lecture tutorial (60–90 minutes).
3. Do the practice exercises (15–25 minutes).
4. Do the Philosophy Workshop (about 90 minutes), discussion, and assignment.
5. Take the quiz.

This week's checkpoint: sort the 12 concepts by tradition, and say where one tradition parts from a European view.

You've got this

Take it in order, and ask your instructor early if stuck.

Built with The Course Maker · samples.thecoursemaker.com