PRESENTATION ASSIGNMENTS

 

Your presentation should be 30 minutes long.  This is not much time, so organize your materials well!  You may work in teams, but in that case you must present for twice as long (sign up for two slots), and both team members must do equal work. 

 

Presentations are graded on clarity, organization, and understanding of the material.  Originality (i.e., clever ways of presenting the material) is nice, but not necessary and does not make up for a lack of the three main criteria.  If you diverge significantly from the assignment and questions(s), you must give justification for it.  Not liking the material is not justification.  Not knowing how to use the library is not justification.  Having your computer crash is not justification.  Putting off the assignment until the last minute and then having trouble finding materials is not justification.  If you want to use university AV equipment (we have available a VCR player, slide projector, and overhead transparency projector), you must inform the instructor at least one week in advance.

 

We will have a session on September 5th dedicated to the “nuts and bolts” of presentations, during which time students will be given practical advice about what to do in order to earn a good grade.

 

“Problems of Translation”

 

Assignment:

  1. Go to the library and find one or more different translations of Confucius’ Analects.  You can also find a different translation online at http://terebess.hu/english/analects.html. Compare your text’s translation with the one(s) you’ve found.

 

 

Questions:

  1. Are there passages that you think have a totally different meaning, depending on the translation?  Give examples.
  2. Why do you think the translators chose the terms they chose?
  3. What misunderstanding/misinterpretations do you think could arise from these different translations?
  4. Which translation is best in your opinion?  Why?

 

“Asian Values”

 

Assignment:

  1. Go to the library and find one or more periodical articles on “Asian Values.”  These could come from magazines, newspapers, or other journals.  Preferably, the article would be written in the last 30 years.
  2. Read the article(s) and try to characterize what the author terms “Asian Values” are.

 

Questions:

  1. What mores in the Analects are the same as the purported “Asian Values”?  Does the author of the article recognize Confucianism as the source of these values?
  2. Is Japan included in the term “Asian”?  (This may or may not pertain to your article.)  Or, is Japan held as a separate culture?
  3. How do the modern day values differ from those in the Analects? Are any of them contradictory to the Analects?
  4. Do the so-called “Asian Values” differ all that much from what we think are traditional Western values?

 

“Other Factors”

 

Assignment:

  1. Go to the library and find one or more books on Zen and the samurai.

 

Questions:

  1. In his article (the reading for today), Collcutt points out that other philosophies (besides Confucianism) influenced Japan.  In the case of the samurai, how did Zen Buddhsim influence the warrior class?
  2. Do Zen Buddhism and Confucianism have any common characteristics?

 

“Then and Now”

 

Assignment:

  1. Get a copy of the United States Constitution and read it.  It is available online at http://www.house.gov/Constitution/Constitution.html.
  2. Compare the U.S. Constitution and Prince Shōtoku’s.

 

Questions:

  1. How do the two constitutions differ qualitatively?
  2. Describe how the two documents reflect the motives of their authors.
  3. Are there points on which the two documents agree?  Think both specifically and abstractly.  For example, do they describe the structure of government (regardless of the fact that the prescribed structure is totally different)?
  4. What philosophical differences are reflected in the documents?  What principles are reflected in the documents?

 

“Neo Confucianism in Japan”

 

Assignment:

  1. Choose one of the following Neo-Confucian scholars: Ito Jinsai, Ogyo Sorai, Yamazaki Ansai, or Yamago Soko.
  2. Go to the library and research the scholar’s ideas.  Note: you probably will not find a single volume book on these men!  You’ll need to look general books on Tokugawa philosophy.  Also, check periodicals.

 

Questions:

  1. What variations on traditional Confucianism did your scholar make?
  2. Were his ideas influential, or did they die out in the Tokugawa Period?

 

“What would Confucius think?”

 

Assignment:

  1. Read through the Hagakure carefully.  Mark passages that echo or contradict the Analects and/or the Great Learning.

 

Questions:

  1. Are there sections of the Hagakure that directly contradict what Confucius said?  Give specific examples (making a chart may be helpful).
  2. Generally speaking, are there more or less contradictory (i.e., non-Confucian) statements in the Hagakure?  What philosophical influences caused this transformation of ideas?
  3. Are the observations in the Hagakure pertinent to today?  In America?

 

“The Western Tradition on Women”

 

Assignment:

 

  1. Find, either in the library or the World Wide Web, an analysis of women’s roles in the Judeo-Christian or Moslem traditions.  Be careful about your sources!  There are many poorly written and misinformed essays available, especially on the web.

 

Questions:

  1. What similarities are there?  What differences?
  2. How can we explain the similarities and differences?  What gave rise to the ideas of the Western tradition? (“It’s just a different culture” is not a complete or satisfactory answer.)

 

“Popular Confucianism”

 

Assignment:

  1. Go to the library and find a translation of a work(s) by Ihara Saikaku.
  2. Read the work(s), noting examples of Confucian values and/or contradictions to traditional Confucian values.

 

Questions:

  1. Do you think Saikaku really advocated Confucian values?  Or was he tongue-in-cheek about them?
  2. Were the values advocated for the townspeople dramtically different from those advocated for the samurai?  What would Confucius think of the townspeople culture?

“Traditions at the turn of the century”

 

Assignment:

Read one of the following:

 

Questions:

  1. How were Confucian values reinforces by the Emperor and/or the government?
  2. What elements of Confucian/samurai values appeared in these documents?

 

 

“World War II”

 

Assignment:

  1. Read “Confucianism in Japan after 1933” (available on ERES)
  2. Summarize the contents and arguments.

 

Questions:

  1. What philosophical dichotomy existed in Japan 1933-1945?
  2. How were Confucianists and Nationalists joined in this period?  (Hint: it was not through the emperor.)
  3. What trends were there in Confucianism at this time?

 

“Modern Values”

 

Assignment:

  1. Read the essay dialogue between Okazaki Hisahiko and Satō Seizaburō from Japan Echo (available on ERES).

 

Questions:

  1. What traditional Confucian values do the two men voice (without identifying them as Confucian values)?
  2. How has modernization changed those values?
  3. What characteristics of the modern era have caused these value shifts?
  4. Are there yet samurai/Confucian values to be found in Japan?