Big in Taiwan: the British Idealism and Collingwoord Centre in the Far East

19th Feburary 2013

Professors David Boucher (Executive Director) and Andrew Vincent (Director) have toured Asia and South East Asia, including China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Japan, Lecturing and giving seminars on various aspects of British Idealism, and its relation to colonialism and human rights. Some of the lectures delivered in Taiwan at the Sun Yat Sen National University, Academica Sinica and the University of Tainan, have been translated into Chinese and published for the first time in David Boucher and Andrew Vincent, Liberalism and Human Rights: From the Perspectives of British Idealism, edited by Roy Tseng, translated by Chia-Hao Hsu. Taipei: Chu-liu Press, Feb. 2013. 182 pp.

British Idealism was the dominant philosophy in the English speaking world during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Its revival in the latter part of the twentieth century has been significantly accelerated by Cardiff University’s Collingwood and British Idealism Centre, part of the School of European Languages, Translation and Politics, which counts among its Life Members Lord Bragg, Lord Plant, Sir Roger Bannister and Lady Thatcher. Professors David Boucher (Executive Director) and Andrew Vincent (Director) have toured Asia and South East Asia, including China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Japan, lecturing and giving seminars on various aspects of British Idealism, and its relation to colonialism and human rights. ‘What interests non Europeans about British Idealism’, Professor Vincent, remarks, ‘is its emphasis upon spiritual development and self-realisation, facilitated by a state dedicated to removing obstacles to the achievement of individual goals’. Professor Boucher added, ‘The British Idealists contributed to all the major debates surrounding democracy, international relations, and the role of the state, and their ideas resonate throughout the far east, especially where fragile democracies are seeking to build firm foundations for the future.’ The Collingwood and British Idealism Centre has attracted Ph.D. students from across the world and among them those from Japan and Taiwan have been among the very best. The Centre, opened by Michael Foot in 1994, produces the journal Collingwood and British Idealism Studies: incorporating Bradley Studies. The Centre has also been closely involved with producing R. G. Collingwood, An Autobiography and Travels to the East Indies (Oxford University Press, 2013) edited by Collingwood’s daughter, Teresa Smith and David Boucher, with an essay contributed by Professor Bruce Haddock, a professor in the Centre.

Some of the lectures delivered in Taiwan at the Sun Yat Sen National University, Academica Sinica and the University of Tainan, have been translated into Chinese and published for the first time in David Boucher and Andrew Vincent, Liberalism and Human Rights: From the Perspectives of British Idealism, edited by Roy Tseng, translated by Chia-Hao Hsu. Taipei: Chu-liu Press, Feb. 2013. 182 pp. Professor Tseng will be a visitor to the Collingwood and British Idealism Centre for a year from March of this year and will be working on the relationship between western ideas of democracy and Confucius.