East Asian Thought from UCSD

What is the core of East Asian thought and how does it affect actual behavior?

That is the question that political science Professor Victor Magagna from the University of California at San Diego says he will strive to answer in the new summer session course, East Asian Thought (feed).

In the introductory lecture Magagna begins by contrasting a western and an eastern corporation. He talks about General Motors, which operates on the “stockholder model,” in which the corporation sees its main goal to maximize profits.  By contrast, there is Toyota, which operates on the “corporate community” model, and takes into account other goals as well as profit, such as providing lifetime employment for its workers, if at all possible.

Magagna argues that the difference in perspective and behavior between the two corporations is rooted in different philosophies.  Specifically, East Asian philosophies such as Confucianism emphasize relationships and interconnectedness as opposed to the individuality of the West.

Magagna has not posted the course syllabus on the public part of the UCSD website, but he mentioned three course textbooks: Sources of Chinese Tradition, edited by William. Theodore de Bary, An Introduction to Confucianism by Xinzhong Yao, and Beyond Liberal Democracy by Daniel Bell.