CONWAY, Ark. (June 12, 2013) – Dr. Jay McDaniel recently returned from a three-week
visit to China
An increasing number of Chinese today are using the process philosophy of the
late philosopher and mathematician Alfred North Whitehead as a bridge between East
and West and a bridge toward a more sustainable future. They see Whitehead's philosophy
of organism as a promising alternative to the mechanistic ways of thinking that
dominated their recent past, McDaniel says.
McDaniel goes to China often at the invitation of more than 20 centers for process
studies in mainland China.
"Today Americans are creating a new American Dream and Chinese are creating a
new Chinese Dream," says McDaniel. "Much of the world's future depends on the content
of these two dreams and on the possibility that, in time, the two nations might
dream together. In the spirit of process philosophy, I go to China as a dream weaver
and bridge maker."
McDaniel, a religious studies professor, was the primary instructor for eighth
annual Whitehead Summer Academy for graduate students and faculty at the Harbin
Institute of Technology in Harbin, China. His syllabus and course schedule is
here.
He taught a course and gave nine talks, including:
- "Transdisciplinarity and the Modern University" at the Conference on Process
Thought and Transdisciplinarity at Beijing Normal University
- "New American Dream and New Chinese Dream" at Heilongjiang School for Chinese
Communist Party in Harbin, China.
- "New American Dream and New Chinese Dream" Harbin Institute of Technology.
- "New American Dream and New Chinese Dream" at the International Symposium
on Constructive Postmodernism and China Dream at Harbin Institute of Technology
- "Ecological Civilization" at the International Conference on Ecological
Civilization, Jilin College of Science and Technology in Changchun
- "The Beginning of Wisdom" at the 7th International Symposium on Whitehead
Wisdom Education in Beijing
- "Whitehead and Ch'an Buddhism" at the International Conference on Process
Philosophy and Chan Buddhism" in Xian, China
- "The Systems-Sensitive University" at the Conference on Process Philosophy
and System Management" in Guangzhou
- "Whole Person Education: East and West" at the International Conference
on Constructive Postmodernism and the Whole Person Education in Zhuhai
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to Colleges. Hendrix has been affiliated with the United Methodist Church since
1884. For more information, visit www.hendrix.edu.