Ai YUAN
Associate Professor of Chinese Philosophy
Department of Philosophy,
School of Humanities,
Tsinghua University
Oi19870727@gmail.com/ yuanai@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn
Personal Website: https://www.phil.tsinghua.edu.cn/philen/info/1016/1074.htm
Field of Interests
I am interested in Classical Chinese Philosophy and Comparative Philosophy, in particular topics such as: Nonverbal Communication; Silence; Laugher; Rhetorical Questions; Luck and Responsibility; Acceptance and Courage; Moral Expertise;
Academic Positions:
2022- Associate Professor of Philosophy, Tsinghua University
2020- Junior Fellow of the Tsinghua-Amsterdam University Joint Logic Centre (http://tsinghualogic.net/JRC/?page_id=2395)
2019-2022 Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Tsinghua University
Education:
2014-2018 D.Phil, Oriental Studies, University of Oxford
2012-2013 M.A. Sinology, SOAS, University of London
2010-2012 M.Phil, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Philosophy
2006-2010 B.A. Renmin University, Philosophy
Supervisions:
At MA level, I supervise projects on a broad range of topics related to Chinese philosophy, from Warring States Period, to the present-day philosophical discussions. Michael Schapers graduated in 2023, working on literary forms and argument in the Xunzi. The other two graduate students are currently working on the ethics of the Zhuangzi, and comparative perspectives on filial duties. I also supervise multiple undergraduate theses, with native speakers of Chinese and English. They work on topics including disability in early Chinese philosophy, toleration in the Laozi, and pluralism in comparison.
Teaching Activities
I have 4 years of experience in a variety of forms of teaching, hybrid, online and face-to-face. I teach Classical Chinese language and philosophy courses on all levels (BA, MA). My English course for the undergraduate level includes “Early Daoist Philosophy”, and “Writing and Communication-Cross Cultural and Inter-Disciplinary Perspective on Filial Duties”. My Chinese course for the graduate level includes, 先秦哲学研究，道家哲学研究.
Journal Experiences:
1. 2022- English editor and Chinese copy editor of International Studies on Confucianism 国际儒学 (CSSCI) (https://gjrxthu.cbpt.cnki.net/WKB/WebPublication/index.aspx?mid=GJXR)
2. Guest Editor with Prof. Chen Bisheng, Special Issue: Changes in Mainland Chinese Confucian Studies, Asian Studies 2024, Chief Editor Prof. Jana Rosker, (https://journals.uni-lj.si/as/)
Selected Publications:
1. Pre-Qin Logic: Beyond Mohism, co-edited with Fenrong Liu and Jeremy Seligman, (forthcoming 2024)
2. Dao Companion to the Philosophy of the Daodejing, co-edited with Liu Xiaogan. (Springer, forthcoming 2024)
3. “Toleration and Justice in the Laozi: Engaging with Tao Jiang's Origins of Moral-Political Philosophy in Early China”, Philosophy East and West 2023, 73 (2):466-475.
4. “Rhetorical Questions in the Daodejing: Argument Construction, Dialogical Insertion, and Sentimental Expression”, in Global Laozegetics: Engaging the Multiplicity of Laozi Interpretations and Translations, a special issue in Religions, guested edited by Mish Tadd, 2022, 13, 252. Translation in Chinese published as 《道德經反問句初探》in Wang Zhongjiang 王中江 eds., Laozi xue jikan老子學集刊, series 8, Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe, 2023.
5. “The Performance of Silence in Early China: The Yanzi chunqiu and Beyond”, Early China 44, 2021:321-250. Translation in Chinese published as 《跨文化视野下"沉默"在早期中国的开展与践行——从《晏子春秋》谈起》in Chuanshan xuekan 船山學刊, 2022(5):18.3.
6. “Laughter in Early China, The Zhuangzi and Beyond”, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 84(2), 2021: 321-340.
7. “Timeliness in the Huainanzi”, in Dao and Time – Classical Philosophy, edited by Livia Kohn, Saint Petersburg: Three Pines Press, 2021: 177-193.
8. “Courage and Well-Being in the Zhuangzi”, in Cross-cultural Studies in Well-Being, a special journal issue in Science, Religion & Culture, guest edited by Owen Flanagan and Wenqing Zhao, 2019, 6(1): 85-95.
9. “If Moral Experts, What Do They Tell Others? Answers for Dilemmas from Early Chinese Expertise Zhuangzi and Confucius”, in Moral Expertise: New Essays from Theoretical and Clinical Perspectives, edited by Jamie Carlin Watson and Laura Guidry-Grimes, 2018: 143-156.
Selected Research Grants:
1. 2021- Beijing Social Science Fund Project, Project Name: Silence: Cross-Cultural Perspectives of Early Chinese Logic and Rhetoric. (Project number 21DTR002). 150.000RMB.
2. 2022- National Social Science Fund Junior Project, Project Name: Cross-Cultural Studies of Luck in the Zhuangzi (Program Number: 20CZX025). 200.000RMB.
3. 2020-2023 Tsinghua Creative Research Project, Project Name: Speech Act Theory and Silence in Early China (Project Number: 20205080091). 100.000RMB.
Awards
1. 2018. laughter in early China”, first place of the Charles Fu Young Scholar Award of the ISCP (International Society for Chinese Philosophy)
2. 2018. “Laughter in the Zhuangzi” first place of the SACP Young Scholar Award (Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy).
3. 2017. “Filial piety in the Zhuangzi”, second place of the EACP Young Scholar Award (European Association of Chinese Philosophy).
Work in Progress:
1. Nonverbal Communication in Early China. Monograph finished in draft to be submitted for review. This study is the first to focus on nonverbal communication as a field of inquiry in early China. It hopes to serve as a starting point for future scholarly discussions of nonverbal cues in early China and its communicative functions, by exploring the following questions. What are nonverbal cues in early China? How and why does early Chinese literature portray, emphasise, make sense of, and justify nonverbal behaviours, including body movements, facial expressions, interpersonal distances, and vocal sounds? Why do nonverbal cues such as silence, laughter, sighing, tearing and stumbling along become revealing information that deserves our attention in addition to speech and words? How do nonverbal cues communicate attitude, emotion, social identity, personal character and interpersonal relationships that affirm and subvert verbal arguments? How do classical Chinese nonverbal communication make sense in contemporary ethical, political or epistemological discourse? I show ethical, epistmological, interactioanl, and poltiical significane of nonverbal communication.
2. The Panorama of Silence in Early Chinese Philosophy (co-written with Avital Rom, Cambridge, and Dirk Meyer, Oxford University). This book (and an attached conference) will discuss early Chinese conceptualisations of silence in Chinese philosophy from three complementary angles, 'verbal silence' 'structural silence' (Dirk Meyer), 'aural silence' (Avital Rom). With this book we seek to develop a comprehensive picture of the rhetorical function of silence in early Chinese argumentative texts.
Recent Talks:
1. Invited Talk 2023.3 Warwick University Chinese Philosophy Series: “Silence in the Analects, Zhuangzi, and Yanzi Chunqiu”
https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/philosophy/research/worldphilosophies/activities/chinese_philosophy_seminar_series/
2. 2022.8 “Receptions of Confucius’ Silence”, in the EACS panel “Exploring the Sound of Silence: The unspoken, omitted, and hidden in Early and Medieval China” (online) organised by Lisa Indraccolo.
3. Invited Talk 2022.11. “Toleration in the Daodejing”, Beijing Normal University International Master Class
https://cn.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202211/30/WS63871f77a3102ada8b224a34.html
4. 2022.1 “Rhetorical Questions in the Daodejing”, Co-organised with Jeremy Seligman, and Yinlin Guan, Conference on “Textual Analysis as the Basis for Understanding Chinese Logical Thought”, https://warpweftandway.com/on-line-conference-textual-analysis-as-the-basis-for-understanding-chinese-logical-thought/
