
Michael Puett’s book The Path draws on the insights of Chinese philosophers - a_w
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/26/can-harvards-most-popular-professor-and-confucius-radically-change-your-life
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KCFforecast
Just googling for some related ideas I found:

1) The Axel age,
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axial_Age](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axial_Age),
2) The concept of liminarity:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liminality](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liminality)

I think Hume ideas,
[http://www.iep.utm.edu/hume/](http://www.iep.utm.edu/hume/), for example
about utilitarity, and his idea that there is no permanent self. Obvious, is
your dynamic self is shaped by rituals then you can apply practice makes
perfect techniques. A recent comment about good study habits suggested small
time habits better than a strict but non-real schedule that in the end you are
not going to adhere to. Also there is a very old book, whose name I cannot
recall now, about Chinese culture and the art of living, in which the main
insight is that Chinese culture is not about a formal system of rules, but
about embracing nature and learning practical skills, that is you learn to
live your life by living (repl) read (sensor model) eval (action model) print
(show off yourself in society and take liability of your acts) and loop (think
about how to improve). In the interview the interviewer notes that the author
use the words great, good question, ...

So my takeaway is that a professor of 101 philosophy should motivate
(positively) students to question their assumptions , that's the role of
philosophy, and that is good to sell books. On the other hand, a bad cop is
needed to say students that they know nothing and that perhaps this book,
beyond motivating them to think about philosophy, is null. But the ultimate
role of philosophy is to make you think by yourself, so a null thing can be a
good think, the media is the message.

Edit: Recalled the book name: Author Lin Yutang, China - The Art of Living.
Don't follow if you need a pay check.

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Nomentatus
There's a strong connection between Hume and Eastern philosophy, especially
Buddhism, btw. He was likely well-versed in Buddhist thought.
[http://www.alisongopnik.com/papers_alison/gopnik_humestudies...](http://www.alisongopnik.com/papers_alison/gopnik_humestudies_withtoc.pdf)

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mathoff
His book: [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23492653-the-
path](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23492653-the-path)

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Jd
I've had several personal interactions with Prof. Puett. He's sort of like a
new American Emerson, spartan in lifestyle, and incredibly inspiring both in
his intellectual rigor and dedication to principles. I highly suspect he his
having an extremely outsized impact at Harvard.

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italicbold
All roads lead to enlightenment, there is no right/wrong way to get there. Its
not about the destination its about the journey, whatever path you choose.

------
mirimir
If you don't straighten your mat, your ass will get sore.

And damn, that man had _long_ thumbnails. Never noticed that.

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teddyh
In Chinese culture, long fingernails are a status symbol.

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mark_edward
Well they were, fell out of fashion in early 20th on the collapse of the Qing.
Another dramatic change around this time was the mass abandonment of the long
queue of hair, long associated with Confucian values

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nybblet
It's true that Confucian values talk about not self-injuring/damaging what
parents gave to children --- their physical bodies etc. --- but pretty sure
the abandonment of the long queue of hair on the collapse of the Qing was due
to the fact it'd been imposed on the Han Chinese by the Manchus as a form of
suppression.

