Introduction:
My Chinese name is 裴德思 (Pei Desi). I am a philosopher and cultural critic. My “philosophy” seems bold but it is rather practical: I have argued strongly for more Chinese loanwords to the English language. Why? Because Chinese loanwords are the brands, trademarks, and terms of the Chinese people, of course! Why would you ‘translate’ them into European brands, trademarks, and terms? That’s like handing to the West the keys to your intellectual country. Taoism is so successful in Europe precisely because 道 ‘Tao’, 阴阳 ‘Yin-Yang’, 无为 ‘Wu-wei’, 气 ‘Qi’, and 太极 ‘Taiji’ – and many more words – found their way into the global language. China profits from its new cultural sway. Europe profits from learning something new. It’s a win-win situation.
Class contents:
- Trickle Trickle Euro-Tao
- Tao Trademarks, Tao Brands, Tao Idols
- Academic Taoism
- The Competition for (Tao) Terminologies
- Translation is Tao Power
- Everyone’s a “China Expert”
- Tao Goes America
- Tao Feminism & Political Correctness
- The Tao of… Everything™
- Yin Yang Proto-Science
- Taoist Kitsch
- Thoughtful People Quote Taoism
- Star Wars Taoism
- The Way forward for Taoism in Europe
Bio:
Dr. Thorsten J. Pattberg (裴德思 Pei Desi) has written and published extensively about Global language, the Competition for terminologies, and the End of translation. He discovered the Shengren as a unique, untranslatable, non-European archetype of wisdom, and is actively promoting Eastern thought, in particular Chinese terminologies, on a global scale. Dr. Pattberg attended Edinburgh University, Fudan University, Tokyo University, and Harvard University, and earned his doctorate degree from Peking University. He studied under the guiding stars of Ji Xianlin, Gu Zhengkun, and Tu Weiming, whom he considers his spiritual masters.
The class is part of the DeTao Masters Academcy: Taoism and Western Culture.
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