Liberal Arts as a Cosmopolitan Hope

Bin Song
Washington College

It’s an honor to address you all today. In this dynamic space, during this interesting time that challenges our hearts and minds, let’s contemplate the profound essence of a liberal arts education.

Back in 2018, when I became a part of Washington College, a dream I had held close to my heart was realized. Twenty years prior, as a young philosophy student in China, I found myself enchanted by the novels of Haruki Murakami, translated from Japanese to Chinese, which are also imbued with influences from iconic American writers like F. Scott Fitzgerald. Murakami’s evocative depictions of university life ignited a spark within me. It was then that I began to dream of teaching, reading, and writing with unbridled freedom, hopefully in the halls of a democratic college.

In our hallowed halls of Washington College, the dream has come alive. Each day unfolds as a chapter of discovery, brimming with fresh ideas, reaffirmed beliefs, and moments of unexpected joy. These experiences are surely amplified because of Washington College’s esteemed status as one of the most historic liberal arts institutions in the U.S. Yet, deep within my heart, I feel my journey is far from complete. Not simply because of my age and the countless collaborations I envision with my wonderful colleagues and the brilliant students who are joining our cause. But, more importantly, because I believe the noble ideal of liberal arts education faces immense challenges in today’s society. Given the very essence of this ideal, it is our duty, as educators of today and tomorrow, to champion and defend it, despite and indeed because of these challenges.

In my Introduction to Philosophy class, I strive to illuminate for our students the origin of the concept ‘liberal arts’ in ancient Greek philosophy. Think of Socrates — declared as the smartest human in Athens by the god Apollo, yet heartbreakingly sentenced to death by a democratic assembly. In a modern cartoon interpretation of the tragedy of Socrates’ death, we might envision it in this way: A mob, incited by democratic leaders and angered by Socrates’s steadfast loyalty to the law, gathers outside the Athenian supreme court, chanting “Hang Socrates! Hang Socrates!” In the end, Socrates successfully hanged himself.

This profound injustice plunged Socrates’s student, Plato, into despair. Plato came to view democracy as a mere rule of the uninformed masses, stifling the enlightened ideas of the truly educated. As an alternative Plato envisioned a society ruled by an all-knowing and supremely intelligent ‘philosopher king’. This king would take charge of guiding every facet of civic life — including which job you can take, whose poetry you should read, or read poetry at all, and even who you should marry and how you raise your kids. Trust me, when you read contemporary news articles about how authoritarian nations today defend their regimes against what they label as ‘Western liberal democracy’, you’ll realize Plato’s arguments are anything but antiquated.

While Plato had his convictions, his very own student, Aristotle, saw things differently. Aristotle asserted that no individual could ever achieve godlike infallibility; hence the dream of an all-knowing human ruler is just that—an illusion. However, acknowledging Plato’s critique of democracy, Aristotle’s advocacy for democracy is more sophisticated. He distinguishes two forms of democracy: one lower form of democracy, where the masses govern and since the electorate is uninformed, the elected officials can merely serve their own selfish interests. Then, another higher form of ‘democracy,’ termed as the ‘polity.’ Here, a knowledgeable and educated citizenry elects representatives who truly champion the common good of all citizens.

Therefore, at the heart of Aristotle’s vision was a delicate balance, weaving meritocracy into the fabric of democracy. And this is where the profound significance of a ‘liberal arts’ education shines forth. The word ‘liberal” implies the freeing of the human spirit. Authentic freedom isn’t limited to any particular sphere of knowledge. A liberal arts education is an invitation to expand our horizons, to think critically and rationally, propelling us on an insatiable quest for diverse knowledge. More than just a theoretical discipline, it’s an ‘art’ that cultivates virtues vital for a rich human experience—an experience Aristotle termed ‘eudaimonia,’ the Greek word for genuine fulfillment or happiness. Aristotle firmly believed that without such an education, we will risk becoming “mechanistic” in our thinking, surrendering our freedom and autonomy. Absent this foundation of liberal arts education, the heart-wrenching fate of intellectual luminaries like Socrates, judged by an uninformed majority, and the ascent of power-hungry authoritarian demagogues, both underscore the dire consequences of a democracy devoid of merit.

My fellow citizens in the Goose Nation, the societal and political challenges Aristotle confronted were strikingly akin to what we face today. And the remedy he proposed? It’s the very essence of what Washington College embodies in its daily pursuits as a bastion of liberal arts. I’ve often said to my students with immense pride that only in a vibrant setting like Washington College can a professor seamlessly traverse subjects as diverse as Descartes’ analytic geometry, Hobbes’ social contract theory, and Matso Basto’s Wabi-sabi haikus in the morning, only to delve into Simone de Bouvoir’s feminist existentialism, Nagajuna’s Mahayana Buddhism and lead a Yoga Sutra meditation by afternoon. While interdisciplinary teaching is an aspiration for many larger institutions, it is our starting point—a foundation we continuously seek to elevate.

In focusing on the “art” of our liberal arts commitment, our mission statement at Washington College explicitly emphasizes “moral courage.” The tight-knit nature of our community fosters a deep, personalized exchange of knowledge, instilling in each learner a robust ethical foundation and a sense of duty.

So, citizens of our beloved Goose Nation, when the weight of today’s societal challenges bears down upon you, remember Aristotle’s time-tested wisdom and embrace what Washington College has always been good at. Together, we’ll stand poised on the cusp of hope, flourishing, and eudaimonia.

For many of you, the tale I’ve just shared about the origins of liberal arts, rooted in its Western heritage, might feel familiar, especially considering the dedication of my co-educators to this grand Western tradition. Yet, with immense pleasure, I wish to enrich this narrative with a cosmopolitan dimension. It’s fascinating how the foundational principles of Western liberal arts resonate deeply with the visions of Confucius.

Many researchers have long recognized Confucius as the pioneer of the East Asian version of liberal arts education. To me, a particularly compelling piece of evidence is that Confucius established the very first private school in ancient China. He ardently championed the principle of “teaching without discrimination (有教無類)”. This was not merely a principle of pedagogy; it represented a revolutionary act. Confucius sought to dismantle the royal government’s monopoly over educational resources and embraced a democratic and inclusive approach. For Confucius, wealth was not the measure of a student’s worth; genuine intent to learn was. And in testament to this, if a student lacked money but showed a sincere desire to learn, Confucius accepted tuition in the humble form of a bunch of dried meat.

On the other hand, the democratic spirit of Confucius, deeply rooted in meritocracy, finds a remarkable echo in the teachings of Aristotle. Aristotle once warned against superficial education, cautioning that it could lead individuals to become “banausos”— which means being vulgar and mechanical in nature. Similarly, Confucius taught that a truly noble-minded human should broadly learn and be dedicated to self-cultivation, and thus, they should not be just a “utensil” with limited functions (君子不器). It’s noteworthy that one interpretation of the character 器 is “machine.” Thus, both philosophers believed that the core objective of liberal arts is to prevent the rise of individuals who are narrow-minded and mechanical, potentially jeopardizing the ideals of a meritocratic democracy.

In light of Confucius’ advocacy for liberal arts and its role in fostering democracy, my decision to join Washington College can be seen as a gigantic leap of faith—a vote by feet, if you will, as I find a place in America to embrace the ancient ideals of Confucius. Yet, I am far from the first to be influenced by this vision. It is astounding how principles of liberal arts from varied origins resonated with America’s founding figures, notably Benjamin Franklin. Franklin not only recognized these universal principles but actively bridged these worlds. He translated the Confucian classic, “The Great Learning,” from Latin to English, presenting it to the public in the Philadelphia Gazette in the 1740s. For Franklin, the heart of American democracy was a balance between rule by law and rule by virtue. Acknowledging that laws are best upheld by virtuous individuals, he and fellow founders drew insights from both East and West to shape our young Republic’s blueprint.

So, my fellow Goose citizens, allow me to offer this perspective: Washington College, the very first to be chartered in the sovereign United States, proudly bears the name of the founding president. This, to my mind, is a testament to our institution’s intrinsic connection to the universal essence of liberal arts, a vision championed alike by great minds such as Aristotle, Confucius and Ben Franklin. At the heart of this vision lies an enduring belief: that by fostering a robust democracy anchored in meritocracy, we pave the way for every individual to achieve their fullest potential, thereby ensuring the co-thriving harmony of human civilization.

Thank you.

Lecture in the course of
“Liberal Arts during the Pandemic”
at Washington College
2020 Summer

Hallo, This is Dr. Bin Song at Washington College.

Thanks for Ben and Sara to invite me to share my teaching experience to such a vibrant learning community which is formed during this very special summer, the summer of 2020, when, most of time, students and teachers do not know how we will teach and continue our life in the fall.

This uncertainty intruded very abruptly into our life in this past spring, and ever since, every human on the earth needs to learn how to adapt to it, and in particular, how to manifest the resilience of life in this particular time.

I have made several major adjustments to my previous teaching during this pandemic, and the theme of self-care and resilience stands prominently.

In the course of “Ru and Confucianism,” which is a 300-level course of philosophy and religion, I started to systematically teach meditation. I am personally a long-time practitioner of meditation, and have learned it from multiple traditions. However, it is only until recent years that I started to develop a curriculum to instruct students to practice meditation and contemplation in the classrooms of a college or university.

There are many pedagogical concerns to teach contemplation in a college setting. For instance, how not to proselytize a specific religion or ideology? After all, we are a secular liberal arts college, and do not prioritize any religion or tradition-based belief system. A related question is how to respect and harmonize students’ preestablished worldviews, and make them feel safe and inspired to practice meditation, the technique and philosophy of which may derive from cultures other than their own? In my classrooms, students may be Catholic, Muslims, Methodists, Atheists, Agnostics, Buddhists, etc. Then, the question for the instructor is: how can we organize discussions and conversations on topics of meditation that can make everyone feel included and benefited?

My general strategy to deal with these concerns is

• 1) to contextualize, viz., to trace the origin of the history of any meditation practice so that I can present an authentic body of historical experience of meditation, rather than focusing upon my personal view, although I do express my personal views when they are needed.
• 2) to diversify and compare, viz., to show the rich diversity within a taught tradition, such as Confucianism, regarding how Confucian practitioners may debate their different views and conceptualizations of meditation; and to compare one tradition with other traditions, such as Daoism or Buddhism. In this way, students will still utilize their ability of critical thinking to decide which approach makes the best sense, and thus, have a conversation with their peers to exchange their views.
• and 3) to try to apply those traditional meditative skills in a modern context, which may mean bringing modern sciences such as brain science and evolutionary biology to account for the significance of meditation, or it may imply each individual student would be expected to create their own meditative method for the benefits of their own life.

In general, I embed the instruction of meditation and contemplation within the general pedagogy of liberal arts, try to use it as a major tool to regain the wholeness of students’ personal growth, and thus, manifest the holistic spirit of liberal arts education.

Once we have a pedagogical foundation to teach meditation, the benefits of teaching it will be very visible. And this is particularly so during the pandemic.

In the course of Ru and Confucianism, the final assignment is “Body Discipline and Video Production.” Students need to practice their favorite way of meditation inspired by philosophical concepts learned in the class, and make a video or powerpoint to demonstrate it. The examples of this assignment can be seen from my website (https://binsonglive.wordpress.com/2020/06/10/confucian-teaching/)

For instance, Theo explains one key concept of Qi (vital-energy) in Confucianism, and how he practiced meditation close to the ocean near his Californian home during the quarantine time.

Jason used his new knowledge of “harmony” or “harmonization” to re-describe his experience as a roller, and advocated the significance of this historically rooted, yet personalized practice of meditation for the contemporary world.

Christopher demonstrated superbly how he practiced archery to enhance focus and mental health during the quarantine. He was a senior to have written a joint thesis of philosophy and anthropology, and taken several courses in the final semester of his college; with the habit of meditative practice of archery deep in his heart, he seemed to navigate the busy, uncertain semester quite well. His thesis was actually awarded as an honor in the department of philosophy and religion.

In the following one, April used another philosophy we discussed in the class, Daoism, to reflect upon the seemingly over-development of human civilization. She believed Daoist ideas sincerely, and made a very nice video about it.

Finally, myself also made a series of videos to teach the breathing skills and varying postures of meditation such as cross-legged quiet-sitting, sitting on a chair, sleeping, walking, standing, martial arts, etc. Now, this is an established series in my youtube channel, and I can continue to use it for my future teaching. Let me remind the friends and students here that I continue to offer the course of Ru and Confucianism in the fall, and if you are interested in it, just give it a try.

Good, you now get a sense of how I teach meditation in a college class for the sake of self-care and personal development during the time of pandemic.

In the coming Fall, another adjustment I will make to my teaching is that, after being encouraged by students’ performance and evaluation of my spring online teaching, I decide to make my teaching of ethics in an even more timely and practical manner. I will teach the skill of philosophical practice and how to apply traditional philosophical and ethical wisdom to coping with self-defeating emotions such as anger, distress, anxiety etc.

The course is called “foundations of morality,” and it is a two hundred level of ethics course. I design the course according to the procedure of philosophical practice, which is a very new and promising development in the area of mental health and good human living. In general, the philosophical practice comprises six steps:

First, identity the emotional reasoning. Since most human emotions are accompanied by beliefs and a cognitive process of reasoning, the first step is to use logic, a crucial aspect of philosophical training, to uncover the hidden process of emotional reasoning. So, you need to know what you believe or what you think when you emote.

Second, if you think it wrongly when your emotions are inappropriate and self-defeating, find those fallacies of thinking.

Third, refute these fallacies.

Fourth, find a corresponding virtue to correct each fallacy. For instance, you may demand perfection about either yourself or the outside world. In this case, you commit a fallacy of thinking when you indicate a strong, disturbing emotion towards a certain life event. Then, we need to point out a virtue, a habit of thought and behavior, for you to correct your fallacy. In the case of demanding perfection, the corrective virtue is called “metaphysical security,” which is to feel safe and secure even in an uncertain and imperfect world. This is also a very timely virtue for the pandemic.

Fifth, find an uplifting philosophy to promote the virtue. For instance, you can use the knowledge of Aristotle’s ethics, Stoicism or Confucianism to promote the virtue of metaphysical security. In this case, the prescription for philosophical counseling may be a movie, a novel, a philosophical treatise, a book, or a piece of music. In the area of mental health counseling, this is called biblio-therapy.

Sixth, to design a plan of action and implement it.

The wonderful thing is that since I decide to focus upon self-care and good human living for my teaching during the pandemic, all the readings, skills, and techniques I discuss with my students can actually be connected to each other. For instance, in the sixth step of philosophical practice, students can visualize the plan of action during meditation, and thus, enhance the transformability of their emotions and behaviors during this uncertain time.

Good, I hope my lecture helps you understand how I work with my students to adapt our college teaching and learning of liberal arts into this very unique situation of pandemic. To conclude my lecture, I will re-emphasize the joy of teaching I get during the process: it is really among the most wonderful things in human life. As Confucius said in the first verse of the Analects: to learn, and to timely practice what you learn, isn’t this a joy?

Hallo, This is Bin Song from Philosophy and Religion at Washington College!

Thanks for Meghan and CTL to invite me to talk about my experience to organize online discussions.

I have one formal way, and another informal way to do it.

In the fall of 2019, I taught the course ‘comparative religion: eastern’, and designed two assignments which are very conducive to online discussion. And these two assignments are actually combined.

The titles of the assignments are called, for one, “reflection essayist and discussion leader,” for another, “quote and discussion.”

The general idea for “reflection essayist and discussion leader” is that each student needs to write one reflection essay about one assigned reading, post it in the discussion board of canvas. So, in the screenshot of the discussion board as an example, you can see it is Allison who posts her essay, and every other student needs to comment upon it in the format of “quote and discussion.” In other words, they need to quote words from the submitted essay, present their interpretation, and ask questions. What the essayist needs to do is to gather all views and opinions from these discussions, bring them into the classroom, and then lead the discussion for about 40 minutes. My role is to facilitate each step of this combined assignment. Sometimes students choose to answer their peers’ questions online in advance, like what Allison did, but this is not required. If there are some concepts which I think students need to know before the discussion, I will respond to their discussions in detail in the online form.

As indicated by the screenshot, the discussion is very robust.

For grading, for the student who writes the essay and leads the discussion, each of these two parts takes half of their final score on this particular assignment. The essay will be graded as a paper, and the leading of the discussion will be graded as a presentation. For all the “quote and discussions”, they will be just checked or unchecked, no particular score attached.

For the informal part of online discussion, which happens a lot in the past spring, I can give some tips about how to organize it using an example in the course of “Modern Philosophy.” I describe it as informal because no particular assignment is required for online discussion. But my general teaching in the spring is to combine synchronous and asynchronous teachings. So each week, I will assign a reading with a list of guiding questions, and then, I will post short videos to explain what I think need to clarify about the assigned reading. In the following, I will encourage students to discuss these short videos in the discussion board of canvas. Finally, on Thursday, we will divide students into manageable sizes of groups, and then, hold a virtual meeting with them, to continue to answer their questions or discuss issues raised in the discussion board.

As indicated by the screen shot, students in the class are indeed very dedicated to online discussion. I think if you ask tips, I can enumerate the following points, but they are definitely not exhaustive. And I believe some of my colleagues may have better ways to do this, but I will tell my own here:

(1) Online discussion is an extension of discussion in the classroom. In spring, whether students want to speak online rests upon their physical discussion experience in the classroom. So there are some normal standards for eliciting discussion such as: asking good questions, listening to each individual, tailoring your answers to each question and each student, being open to diverse views among students, be ready to change your own view when conversing with students, etc. You know, all these principles apply in an online environment, and among all of these, I feel the most important is to have students really feel safe, included, and will be surely benefited when they speak up. So, I would say this is a culture of liberal arts to nurture in one’s teaching, and if nurtured well, it will extend naturally to an online environment.

(2) As for online discussion per se, I think I answer the questions of students in an extra detailed way. This is because the answer to each question is visible to all students. And if you answer one question sufficiently well, other students will learn quite a lot from it. As indicated by the screenshot, sometimes this requires several rounds of discussion, because when I answer questions, I always try to, firstly, clarify what the students mean, and secondly, confirm whether my answer has addressed their issues. And I also like to connect students to each other when I address their questions. For instance, I will say, Peter’s question is relevant to the one asked by Holly. Quite often, these students can form a learning group because of this connection.

Ok, that’s all, I hope this is helpful, and would like to learn from you if you have your own way to do online discussions. Thanks!

2020 spring is the most tumultuous time I have ever got as a teacher. During the middle of the spring break, I received a short order to change everything online with only 10 day or so to prepare. And there is no standard format to follow. Basically, every teacher needs to figure out how to do it by their own.

The same went to my students, who, with a very breezy mood of spring travel and relaxation, were suddenly ordered to stay at home. For most of these students, they were struggling and wrestling with this abrupt disruption to their learning habit ever since.

However, it is still utterly joyful for me to witness and experience so many solid engagements of students with my newly designed remote teaching. In this online environment, these “real human” moments feel especially precious because you get to know that the humanity of these students was trying to gather enough authenticity, focus and persistence to radiate beyond the screen so that you can eventually feel it.

In this post, I will document the works of my students in one of my upper-division courses in philosophy and religious studies, “Ru and Confucianism” (PHL/REL 394), to commemorate this unique spring, and to let myself remember all these beautiful faces, voices, vignettes, and ways of human living in the depth of my heart.

Let’s start from Theo Barry (Washington College, 22′)’s explanation of one key concept Qi (vital-energy) in Confucianism, and how he practiced meditation close to the ocean near his Californian residence during the quarantine time:

Jason Economidis (Washington College, 22′) uses his new knowledge of “harmony” or “harmonization” to re-describe his experience as a roller, and expresses his best wishes for the world in the end.

Christopher Fuchs (Washington College, 20′) has graduated from the college. He took two classes with me in his final semester, and in this class of “Ru and Confucianism,” he found resonance of Confucian philosophy with his decade-long practice of archery. After knowing that archery is one of the six arts to be taught in the original Confucian school, he felt thrilled. So, during the time of quarantine, he continued to practice it, yet with a new understanding of it and also, of his life. (This is by far the best philosophical demonstration of archery I ever see!)

Elizabeth Hay (Washington College, 21′) was deeply inspired by the Confucian commitment to meritocracy. She explained how this contrasts with American culture, and per my frank view, her thought can be a par with many high-end scholarship on this currently very hot topic in comparative political thought. During a time of pandemic, doesn’t her view on expertise and authority sound particularly relevant? (She submitted a ppt with voice instruction, and you can download it below)

“Ru and Confucianism” includes an introduction to other schools of ancient Chinese thought: Daoism, Mohism, Legalism, etc., since you cannot understand Ruism without knowing its competitors. April Jones (Washington College, 20′) made an exquisite video to explain why Daoism can bring relief to humanity during the time of pandemic. April’s video on modern philosophy was once featured by my previous post, and obviously, she is a very good philosopher who is very good at video production! Although I, as a Confucian scholar, have some critiques towards Laozi’s understanding of the Dao, I still think April’s instructional video is among the best to indicate the value of ancient Chinese thought for the contemporary world! You must check this out!

Finally, I will present Emily Wiest (Washington College, 21′)’s explanation of the idea “Humaneness” in Confucianism. Normally, it is not easy to capture the relationship among varying virtues advocated by Confucius. But Emmy did a great job to do this with a carefully selected, beautiful background song! In the time of pandemic, I hope “humaneness” still be the cardinal virtue to guide humanity.

Last but not least, as you may infer from the above, I included a contemplative portion in the course, and produced a series of podcasts and youtube videos to explain and demonstrate “Confucian Meditation” starting from its most simplest breathing method. The playlist includes 9 videos in my youtube channel.

Some continuous projects during the teaching of the pandemic:

• In 2020 fall, students in the course of Ru and Confucianism continued to present great works. Maggie Blake (Washington College, 22′) made a devotional video to commemorate her father and explained it using the Ru concept of filiality. Such a moving story!

With a feeling of delight, confidence and concern, I present all these works of my students and mine in this post, and I hope they can bring inspirations on the values of liberal arts higher education, comparative philosophical, religious and civilizational studies, and most importantly, on how to live through uncertain times with joy and firm will!

• In the 2022 Fall, Avery-Grey Dos Santos demonstrated her baking-of-bread as a deeply meditative and therapeutic act to connect to her family, peers, and the universe!

[Click here to check the syllabus and student evaluation for “Ru and Confucianism” (PHL/REL 394)]

In 2019 Fall, I continued to help students to discipline/nurture their bodies in light of philosophies and religions they learned in the course “Introduction to Comparative Religion: Eastern,” (PHL 112, Washington College), just like what we have done in “Introduction to Ruism/Confucianism” in 2018 Fall (https://atomic-temporary-150405650.wpcomstaging.com/my-ru-pedagogy/). The new feature of this assignment is that students can conceptualize their practices from the perspectives of multiple traditions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Ruism (Confucianism) and Daoism. In the following, you will find some examples of amazing works that students have contributed:

Archery was one of the six classical arts that constituted the major curriculum at Confucius’ school. Confucius once used the practice of archery to explain the importance of civil and rational debate (Analects 3.7), and his follower, Mencius, used it to describe his method of self-cultivation (Mencius, Gong Sun Chou I). Therefore, let’s see how Kate, a certified archery trainer, performed and explained archery in Ruist terms. In my view, she should start a club of spiritual archery somewhere in the United States.

In this course, we spent much time to study and practice varying forms of meditation in different traditions. As intrigued by this learning process, Jack, an athlete student, explained how meditation in locker rooms can help him to play games better. The power of “visualization” in the state of deep meditation was highlighted, and engendered many discussions from other students as well.

Since this is a class of Eastern Religions, we cannot miss the practice of Taiji martial arts. I actually invited one Taiji teacher to come to the classroom for a demonstration during the semester. Inspired by this, Laura started to learn the art through watching Youtube videos. I am extremely proud of her excellent performance, given such a short period of her learning and practice. As encouraged by Laura’s performance, in 2020 Spring, I will teach the full 24 moves of the Yang-style Taiji martial art in the class “Ru and Confucianism” (PHL 394, Washington College), so students that are able to finish all the moves can get a certificate from the class!

Calligraphy is the Taiji martial art in strokes, and because the practice of it combines one’s muscle and intelligence, it is especially favored by scholars. In the class, Maegan belongs to the sort of students who, because of their intelligence, are always suspicious towards traditions that downplay languages and discursive thinking. Therefore, she chose Chinese Calligraphy as the fittest way for her to meditate her mind and discipline her body.

I have to admit that Lanning’s work in this assignment is among the most impressive. He made a drum following some indigenous tradition in the U.S., played it, and explained the entire practice using Daoist terms from Zhuang Zi! He described that this is how he connects to the cosmic Dao and follows the natural Pattern to imitate the example of the Butcher Ding! Oh, Gosh, can this assignment be performed even better?

Big Congratulations to All of these Wonderful Students! I am so proud of them!