EAST2504 - East Asia: Great Traditions
Course content
Today, as East Asia gradually recovers its erstwhile traditional position as the economical centre of the world, the understanding of the established regional paradigms in politics, social and religious life becomes a more important task than ever before. The aim of this course is to give a primary source-based understanding of East Asia’s regional traditions, with an added emphasis upon their concrete socio-political modes of functioning and their mutual interactions. Students will be given a thorough survey of the socio-political conditions of the Zhou and pre-Qin times, and be assigned reading of the main materials of the Confucian tradition as well as the Moist, Legalist and Taoist traditions, formed at that period and which have since continuously influenced the region up to the present day. Then, the regional Buddhist traditions will be studied through comprehending both the basic devotional and philosophical texts and the Chinese, Korean, and Japanese commentaries to them. In the same way, the course will include both the main Song Dynasty Neo-Confucian and Ming Dynasty Wang Yangming school texts. All source reading will be provided in English.
Learning outcome
- Understanding of the East Asian traditions
- Knowledge of the main modern approaches to the study of East Asia’s traditions
- Understanding of how the religious and philosophic paradigms have been functioning in the framework of socio-political dynamics in the region
- Understanding how the traditional paradigms influence the life of the region today
Admission
Students at UiO must apply for courses in StudentWeb.
International applicants, if you are not already enrolled as a student at UiO, please see our information about admission requirements and procedures for international applicants.
The examination in this course is not available for external candidates. Only students admitted to the course may sit for the examination.
Prerequisites
Formal prerequisite knowledge
Id does not exist in shared textRecommended previous knowledge
The course requires good knowledge of English. At least one of the following courses are recommended as prior knowledge:
- KIN1503 - Kinas historie
- JAP1503 - Japans historie
- KOR1502 - Korea: Philosophy and Religion
- KOR1504 - Korea: History, Society, Politics
or corresponding courses from other universities.
Overlapping courses
10 credits overlap with EAST1504 - East Asia: Great traditions (discontinued) and 10 credits overlap with EAST4504 - East Asia: Great Traditions.Teaching
The course is based on a combination of lectures and seminars, in total 10 classes of 2 hrs each. Active participation in class is encouraged.
A draft sketch of the term paper must be approved by the teacher in order to take the exam. The sketch should be ca. 2-3 pages long and encompass title, subtitle, chapter titles and brief contents of each chapter, along with a literature list. The draft sketch is to be submitted in Fronter within a given deadline.
An approved draft sketch is only valid for one semester.
Guidelines for obligatory instructional activity at the Faculty of Humanities (only in Norwegian).
Access to teaching
A student who has completed compulsory instruction and coursework and has had these approved, is not entitled to repeat that instruction and coursework. A student who has been admitted to a course, but who has not completed compulsory instruction and coursework or had these approved, is entitled to repeat that instruction and coursework, depending on available capacity.
Examination
The exam is an essay (term paper) with a list of references. The essay should be ca. 3000 words, not including the list of references. The topic of the essay should be approved by the teacher in the beginning of the semester and a draft sketch of the essay must be submitted for preliminary evaluation by the teacher in order to take the exam (please see "Teaching" for more information).
The term paper is to be submitted in Fronter within the given deadline. Before submitting your paper, you must electronically sign an "Obligatory statement concerning cheating" in Fronter.
Information on writing and submitting papers at IKOS (only in Norwegian).
Examination support material
No examination support material is allowed.
Language of examination
Id does not exist in shared textEnglish
Grading scale
Grades are awarded on a scale from A to F, where A is the best grade and F is a fail. Read more about the grading system.
Explanations and appeals
You may request an explanation of your grades, and you may also appeal against your grades or make a complaint about formal examination errors. Read more about explanations and appeals.
Resit an examination
You can usually resit an exam, but the conditions depend on whether you had a valid reason for absence from the regular exam. Read more about resitting an exam.
Withdrawal from an examination
A student may sit this exam up to 3 times. If a student wishes to withdraw from the exam, s/he must do so in StudentWeb at least two weeks prior to the first day of the exam. Failure to do so will be counted as one of the three opportunities to sit the exam.
Special examination arrangements
If you have a disability or a health problem that entails significant inconvenience in an examination situation, you may be considered for special examination arrangements. Mothers who are breastfeeding may apply for extra time to complete the exam.
Evaluation
Feedback from our students is essential to us in our efforts to ensure and further improve the high quality of our programmes and courses. All courses are subject to continuous evaluation. At regular intervals we also ask students on a particular course to participate in a more comprehensive, periodic evaluation of this course.