The Alexander Hamilton Institute for the Study of Western Civilization (AHI) is pleased to announce that we will be sponsoring a lecture by Stephen J. Goldberg, 
Associate Professor of Art History, Hamilton College who will speak on “Cultural Legacies:  Classical Thought, Visual Art, and Contemporary Relations between China and the West.”  The lecture will be held on Friday, November 1, from 4:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. at the Kennedy Auditorium, Taylor Science Center, Hamilton College and is open to the public.

Much has been written and discussed of late about the coming “clash of civilizations” between China and the West. Is this inevitable? Can this be averted? Professor Goldberg’s presentation, will attempt to shed light on this matter through an inquiry into the distinctive differences in the fundamental assumptions and tacit dimension of foundational premises that underlie and define Western and Chinese ways of perceiving, conceiving, and representing the world.  This will engage us in an examination of the legacies of the classical thought and art of Mediterranean civilization and that of traditional China, that continue to inform the ways we respectively define our notions of self, relations to others and to the natural world. Informed by this knowledge and a familiarity with recent history, we may better understand the differences in social, political, and economic outlooks that lead to mutual misunderstandings and possible future conflicts between China and the West.

Professor Goldberg specializes in the history of Chinese art. He earned a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. Since the early 1990’s, he has participated as instructor and director of numerous summer institutes and region conferences of the Asian Studies Development Program (ASDP), a joint program of the University of Hawai’i and the East-West Center that was initiated to infuse Asian content and perspectives into the core curriculum at U.S. colleges and universities. He has published numerous articles and chapters in books on Chinese art and philosophy, with a particular interest in Chinese calligraphy. Publications include “The Primacy of Gesture: Phenomenology and the Art of Chinese Calligraphy,” in “Metamorphosis,”(2004); “Philosophical Reflection and Visual Art in Traditional China,” in “Teaching Texts and Contexts: The Art of Infusing Asian Philosophies and Religions,” (SUNY Press, 2004); and “Recognition of the True Self: Zen Buddhism and Bokuseki Calligraphy,” in “Zen no Sho: The Calligraphy of Fukushima Keido Roshi” (Santa Fe: Clear Light Publishers, 2003).